The New York Mets are expected to trade one of their starting pitchers in advance of Wednesday’s deadline after they acquired Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays, but it may not be Noah Syndergaard.
Many assumed the Mets’ motivation for the Stroman trade was to create a path to trade Syndergaard, but one National League source told Matthew Cerrone of SNYTV’s Mets Blog that he does not believe that is the case. Rather, he thinks acquiring Stroman will make it easier for the Mets to get a better return for Zack Wheeler or Jason Vargas.
NL source on #Mets:
“I don’t think they’ll flip Stroman. This also says to me they aren’t trading Syndergaard. Because by controlling the supply of arms, they now get more for Wheeler & Vargas.”
This makes sense to me, @snytv, @Ken_Rosenthal, @JonHeyman.
— Matthew Cerrone (@matthewcerrone) July 29, 2019
Vargas is 36, so the return for him is unlikely to be significant despite his 6-5 record and 4.01 ERA this season. Wheeler, however, is 29 and has drawn interest from several teams. The right-hander went on the disabled list with shoulder fatigue earlier this month, but he allowed three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in a decent start against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
The Mets traded two of their top three pitching prospects in the Stroman deal, so the quickest way to replenish their farm system would be to trade Syndergaard. The 26-year-old is under team control through 2021, which makes his value even higher.
However, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said his goal is to win now when he took over last offseason, and the team six games back in the NL wild card race and still technically in the playoff hunt. Syndergaard has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be traded, and perhaps Van Wagenen is trying to position the Mets to make a playoff push.
