Mets, Syndergaard avoid arbitration
NEW YORK -- The Mets avoided salary arbitration with one of their highest-profile players, agreeing to a one-year deal with Noah Syndergaard, the club announced on Tuesday. The contract is worth $9.7 million, according to a source.
Syndergaard made the same salary on a pro-rated basis last season, which he missed entirely after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in March. Mets president Sandy Alderson said recently that a June 2021 return would be a “reasonable expectation” for Syndergaard, who continues to rehab.
How Syndergaard returns from surgery will be critical to his short- and long-term future, considering he is scheduled to reach free agency after the 2021 season.
“From what I’ve heard, he’s on schedule or maybe a little bit ahead of schedule,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said last week. “You know how Noah works and goes about it. He’s a hard worker, so he’s a guy that was going to face this surgery and rehab the best you could face it. So he’s doing it as we expected.”
Regardless of his timeline, Syndergaard figures to be a significant part of the Mets’ 2021 plans. Jacob deGrom is locked in as the team’s ace, with Marcus Stroman behind him. The team is actively canvassing the free-agent and trade markets for additional starting pitching help; that could take the form of another frontline starter such as Trevor Bauer or any number of lesser arms. After Stroman, the Mets’ current top starting options include David Peterson, Steven Matz and Seth Lugo.
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On paper, Syndergaard offers a higher ceiling than any of them. The hardest-throwing starting pitcher in baseball since his rookie season in 2015, Syndergaard has averaged 98 mph with his four-seam fastball throughout his career. Overall, he is 47-30 with a 3.31 ERA over five seasons, striking out 9.7 batters per nine innings. But much of that success, including nearly half his career wins, came in his first two big league seasons. Syndergaard battled injuries in 2017 and ’18, then struggled to the tune of a 4.28 ERA the following season.
That Syndergaard agreed to the same salary in 2021 that he made in ’20 is a concession to the fact that he missed the entire year due to injury.
The right-hander was one of 14 arbitration-eligible players on the Mets this winter. In addition to Syndergaard, the team has already agreed to deals with Matz, reliever Jacob Barnes, and outfielder Guillermo Heredia. The Mets non-tendered another reliever, Chasen Shreve, and are set to negotiate deals with all the others.
The most intriguing of those is outfielder Michael Conforto, who is set to become a free agent after next season. Alderson has talked openly of his desire to discuss a long-term contract extension with Conforto, though agent Scott Boras indicated such talks aren’t likely to begin until later in the offseason.