Tag Archives: Thor

Should The Red Sox Go After Noah Syndergaard?

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The Baseball Hot Stove is beginning. It’s winter, so warm up.  There are reports out there that the New York Mets are open to trading Noah Syndergaard.  Could Thor be in the Red Sox future?  Cue the Led Zeppelin and put on your mittens while we take a look.

Syndergaard’s Injuries

Noah Syndergaard has had a number of injuries, but his ‘injury prone‘ label is unwarranted.  In May of 2018, he had a strained ligament in his right index finger.  It’s unknown how he did it, perhaps playing Fortnite or Red Dead Redemption 2 a little too vigorously, but it held him out six weeks.  Then in late July, he suffered from the plague that hit New York pitchers hard: Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  The scourge of toddlers may be embarrassing, but it’s hardly a long-term problem.

The major injury for Thor was a strained right lat muscle in May of 2017.  I’m not a doctor, so the details are a bit beyond me, but the bottom line is he did not need surgery.  Furthermore, this was not a rotator cuff or elbow injury.  Yes, it wiped out most of his 2017, but there has been no recurrence of the injury.

Contract Status

Because he missed the bulk of 2017, Noah Syndergaard has an incredibly affordable contract for someone of his stature.  He still has three years of arbitration ahead of him, and he’s starting 2019 from the low rung of $2.975 Million.

That means that even if he performs like a Cy Young candidate in 2019 and 2020 he still won’t be breaking the bank.  In short, this man is probably the best bargain in baseball as long as he’s healthy.  And it appears that he is.

End Of 2018 Performance

Syndergaard had a rough August as his body recovered from sickness, but he poured it on in September.  He went 4-1 with two complete games, including a shutout to end the season.  His Statcast average pitch speed was over 97 MPH on his fastball, so he’s still throwing much harder than the average incredible baseball player who is on any Major League roster.

On September 14th, Noah Syndergaard came to Fenway Park and pitched a beauty against arguably the greatest Red Sox team of all time.  7 innings, 3 hits, 6 strikeouts.  After the performance he tweeted out this nugget of a tantalizing possibility:

I’m sorry, but in light of the rumors of his availability, can I freak out now?

How He Fits On The Red Sox

It’s no secret that the Red Sox have a rather large bill coming due at the end of 2019.  Chris Sale’s contract is up.  Xander Bogaerts is hitting free agency.  JD Martinez has an opt-out in his contract.  Mookie Betts even now is looking to break records in arbitration.

As stated above, Syndergaard is cost controlled.  So while he is at that $2.975 Million number and coming off a season where he missed some time and made only 25 starts, Mookie is at $10.5 Million and coming off an MVP season.  The lower you start from in arbitration, the lower you end up the next year, and vice versa.

For a Red Sox team that is paying David Price over $30 Million, with at least that much needing to go to Chris Sale if they want to keep him, Syndergaard is a dream contract.  Furthermore, there is no starting pitcher depth in the Red Sox minor league system.  Low-cost young stars are the lifeblood of successful major league teams.  Noah Syndergaard is the very essence of the solution to these problems.

For these reasons, he won’t come cheap.

What A Trade Would Look Like

Alarmingly, the Red Sox main competition in the American League are pegged as landing spots for Syndergaard.  But the possible assets from the Yankees and Astros can’t measure up to the firepower the Red Sox can offer.

I was willing to trade Rafael Devers for very few players.  Kris Bryant was one of those players.  That is because Bryant is young and an MVP winner and perennial MVP candidate.  But Bryant would cost a lot soon.  Syndergaard is almost the equivalent as a pitcher that Bryant is as a batter and third baseman, and he’s cheap.

I’m also an advocate for taking advantage of Christian Vazquez’s value at this moment in time.

The Mets are working on getting 3B David Wright’s contract off their books.  They also have a hole at catcher.

I think the framework is there for a Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez for Noah Syndergaard swap.  I do know that this is a trade that meets what the Mets may be looking for.

This would be a major shake-up of the future of the Red Sox.  Most likely this would mean the Sox would not be in on Nathan Eovaldi, the Sox number one target of this offseason, but maybe not.  It would definitely mean letting go of all the potential and promise of Rafael Devers.  Perhaps there’s a certain swiss army knife, who’s won a recent World Series with Alex Cora, the Sox could sign to play third?

The Mets GM, Brodie Van Wagenen, is an unknown entity at the moment.  There’s no telling what he may do, but he is contacting a lot of starting pitchers’ agents.  It certainly appears he’s readying to trade Thor.

Think of top of this rotation on opening day: Chris Sale, Noah Syndergaard, David Price.  Kind of makes the drool flow freely from your gaping mouth right?

Support Rob Manfred: Contact The MLBPA About Pace Of Play

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Rob Manfred has gotten a contract extension to remain The Commissioner of Major League Baseball for another 5 years.  That is outstanding news for all baseball fans because Mr. Manfred is a man on a mission to save our beautiful game.

Declining Ratings

And why does our game need saving?  Because ratings and attendance are down, more every year.  How is it that the World Series between Boston and LA, two historical franchises, had reduced ratings of 20% over the prior year?  Because people hate the Red Sox.  Oh, and it takes too long.  The game simply takes too long.

Rob Manfred, a hero of busy people with only so much time, has taken on Titans and Legends alike in his time as Commissioner, all in the name of reducing Pace of Play.  Let’s take a brief walk down his warpath.

Rob Manfred Pace Of Play Initiatives

In 2015, Big Time Rob got the MLB Players Union to agree to several Pace of Play initiatives:

  • Managers have to stay in the dugout during replay challenges.  I have to admit, I kind of miss Lou Piniella.  But it saves time!
  • Hitter have to keep one foot in the batter’s box at all times.  No more afternoon strolls or other shenanigans.
  • The game must start promptly after commercial breaks.
  • Relievers have 2 minutes 30 seconds to come in from the bullpen and warm up.

It’s debatable how often Thor, I mean Rob Manfred, threw the hammer and fined players for their violations.  But clearly, the battle lines were drawn.

The Owners Pony Up

In 2018 Jon Snow, I mean Ron Manfred, pulled out his long sword and did the unthinkable: He got the MLB owners to agree to reduce commercial time.  This is money directly out of their pockets.  20 seconds less per break during the regular season. That’s almost a 10% reduction on 2:25 of ad time.

That hurts.  It’s estimated that on national MLB games in 2017 the total cost of advertising was $313 million.  That was just network games like Fox and TBS.  Imagine all the team networks out there, charging for ads in all the MLB games every day.

Now imagine bigger.  In 2017, the Phillies signed a deal with Comcast for $5 Billion over 25 years to televise the games.

The Players Need To Get Behind This

It’s high time the Major League Players Association started getting truly serious about reducing the time it takes to watch the games.  I won’t say this is a crisis, but I don’t think I have to go chapter and verse of why a faster game would benefit all.

In 2018, when Jesse Owens, I mean Rob Manfred, negotiated the reduction in ad time, as well as limiting mound visits, he wanted to introduce the play clock.  But he could not come to an agreement with the Players Association.

I’m no expert, but Paul Bunyan, I mean Rob Manfred, and his team are experts.  And they say increasing the pace of play is vital for the game.  The Commish could implement things like the pitch clock and between-batter timer unilaterally if he wanted to.  But he has been exercising caution in the name of labor peace and cooperation thus far.

A Travesty In The World Series

I mean honestly, they were playing ads between pitches during the World Series.  Between pitches in the ninth inning of a close game in the World Series.  I watched this happen and was enraged.

The history and honor and glory of our great game is made and lost in the 9th inning of World Series games.  How is it possible ads are playing between pitches?

Because too much time is taken between each and every pitch!  It’s on the teams, the players, the managers, and the league, to make it inconceivable a real ad could be placed between pitches in the 9th inning of a World Series Game.

A Call To Action

I propose a grassroots campaign to flood the Major League Players association with calls and emails and letters urging them to agree with Commissioner Manfred to do anything possible to speed up the game.  Here is the MLBPA contact information:

  • Website: www.mlbplayers.org
  • Phone number: (212) 826 – 0808
  • Email address: feedback@mlbpa.org
  • Address: 12 East 49th St, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10017

The owners have given up millions of dollars.  They, in turn, have endorsed General George S. Patton, I mean Commissioner Manfred, to go on a long campaign of reducing the pace of play.

This is the players’ game.  They need to get behind these efforts instead of fighting them.  We cheer them, boo them, love them, hate them, and ultimately support all of them by attending and watching.

Now let them hear your voices like never before.  Tell them to get behind the efforts, like the pitch clock, to speed up the game and not make it a point of contention or call for labor strife within the Players Union.  Make it part of our great game going forward instead of a stagnant game going backward.

For the love of the game.