The New York Mets traded veteran starting pitcher Jason Vargas on Monday, which led to immediate speculation that Noah Syndergaard and/or Zack Wheeler may end up staying put to join the newly-acquired Marcus Stroman as part of the team’s rotation down the stretch. That may happen, but the Mets are still listening to offers.
According to Tim Britton of The Athletic, the Mets were still shopping both Syndergaard and Wheeler even after trading Vargas.
The Mets are still shopping both Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard. It's not clear whether they would trade both of them between now and the 31, or just go with what they view as the best value for one of them.
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) July 29, 2019
It’s unclear what the Mets are trying to accomplish, and that is probably the way they want it to stay until Wednesday’s deadline. One line of thinking is that they acquired Stroman as a replacement for Syndergaard, while another is that they are gearing up for a playoff push despite being six games back in the NL wild card race.
One report claims the Mets are more likely to keep Syndergaard now after trading for Stroman, as they believe they have helped limit the amount of starting pitchers available and can now get more in trades for Vargas and Wheeler. One half of that theory has already played out with Vargas being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Syndergaard is having a down year with a 7-5 record and 4.33 ERA, but he’s under team control through 2021 and still highly coveted. Wheeler is 7-6 with a 4.71 ERA and went on the disabled list with arm fatigue earlier this month, but he threw 5.1 innings and allowed three earned runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
