The Dodgers announced Thursday morning that struggling right-hander Noah Syndergaard has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a blister on his right index finger. Fellow righty Tayler Scott has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take Syndergaard’s spot on the roster.
The 2023 season has been an abject nightmare for Syndergaard. The former Mets powerhouse inked a one-year, $13MM contract with the Dodgers in hopes of rebounding from last year’s pedestrian showing between the Angels/Phillies and returning to the market in stronger standing. Instead, the 30-year-old righty has floundered through the worst season of his big league career. In 12 starts, Syndergaard has averaged just 4 2/3 innings per outing, sitting at a total of 55 1/3 frames on the year. In that span, he’s been rocked for a 7.18 ERA with a career-worst 15.4% strikeout rate.
Syndergaard averaged a career-low 94.5 mph on his heater in 2022, and though he voiced confidence in his ability to push that mark toward his pre-Tommy John Surgery levels of 97-99 mph upon signing with the Dodgers, his heater has continued to diminish. He’s sitting at an average of 92.8 mph in 2023 (93.3 mph over his three most recent starts). As that four-seamer has deteriorated, Syndergaard has added a new cutter and increasingly favored his sinker. Neither pitch has been effective, however. Opponents are hitting .366/.381/.537 against that freshly implemented cutter, while plate appearances ended with his sinker have produced a .309/.380/.529 slash. Per Statcast, the only of Syndergaard’s five pitches that has a better-than-average “expected” wOBA is his curveball — his least-used offering (12.2%).
Syndergaard’s walk rate remains elite, checking in at an outstanding 3.7% this season. That’s the fourth-best mark in MLB (min. 50 innings), trailing only George Kirby (2%), Zack Greinke (3.3%) and Zach Eflin (3.5%). However, Syndergaard’s 15.4% strikeout rate is tied for eighth-lowest in that same set of pitchers — a remarkable fall for a pitcher who fanned 26.5% of his hitters through his first five MLB seasons. Compounding the problem is that Syndergaard’s average of 1.95 homers allowed per nine innings pitched is the eighth-worst mark among the 98 pitchers with at least 50 innings in 2023.
Were the Dodgers healthier as a team, perhaps they might’ve already had their hand forced with regard to the struggling Syndergaard. They’ve been hit hard by injuries on the pitching side of the roster, however, with each of Julio Urias, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove requiring notable stints on the injured list. That’s perhaps bought Syndergaard some extra time, but Urias is expected to return this weekend. At that point, the Dodgers will have Clayton Kershaw, Urias and Gonsolin in their top three spots, with impressive rookie Bobby Miller tightening his hold on that fourth spot.
Syndergaard would join Grove and top prospect Gavin Stone as a candidate for that fifth spot, and at least for the time being, neither of those two younger options has seized the job. But with Pepiot and May expected back this summer and the trade deadline now about seven weeks away, there’s no certainty Syndergaard will have a long leash to prove himself as one of the team’s five best options.
And to think about all the Dodger fans that wanted to get rid of him? Smh
He strained his neck watching de la Cruz’ homer run. Whiplash sent him to the IL
The worst thing a person can do around here is be proven right.
That won’t affect you.
If you mean I don’t mind taking heat for being right, then I guess so.
“THAT BALL HAD A FAMILY”
heard that last night but what does it mean?
De La Cruz mashed a homer off Noah and the Reds announcer creamed his jeans on the call.
It was epic
Well it was in the last row of the upper deck and the friggin Ohio River was on the other side so there was that.
But Adam Dunn says he hit one in the dang river.
It’s going to be Grove. He has pitched well outside his flu start.
Watching him fall so far has been absolutely brutal. I hope the best for him and hopefully he finds a way to get guys out, just not as a dodger.
When the Dodgers can’t fix you, it’s time to update your resume, check the fine print in your lease and put that college degree(hopefully)to good use.
I figured that he signed with LA so he’d be near the movie studios when he tanked. But now with the writer’s strike, I guess no jobs there.
It’s hard imagining that Syndergaard could be this bad. It’s time to cut bait.
To the bullpen doing mop up.
How great thou Ark
Is being washed up an IL eligible reason?
Sprained confidence maybe.
Thor hasn’t been the same since he left Ragnarok
Statistically the worst Dodgers SP of the century. Scott Kazmir would be an upgrade over him
Scott Kazmir- Talk about Golden Oldie. Who next- Ray Burris? Sheri don’t like it. Rock the Kazmir, Rock the Kazmir.
Ray Burris wasn’t a Dodger. He was a Met though. As Kazmir almost was. They traded him to Tampa for Victor Zambrano. Another trade to remember.
Kazmir who started a playoff game in 2021. Pretty funny.
DFA him. He can go play in the independent leagues or something…
29 other teams would offer him a minor league contract. He’s pretty far from going to the indy league
Wouldn’t it be something if the Yankees signed Thor off the scrap heap and those magical pinstripes make him feel brand new while pitching the Yankees to a win in the World Series?
@ChuckyNJ – Sure would be something. They call that something a “miracle.”
No.
I think he might do better out of the bullpen. One time though the lineup. Perhaps he can get more velocity since he not throwing as many pitches.
LOL, I’m “injured.”
Apparently 7+ ERA is now an injury. Weird.
Because they don’t have a Sucks List.
I don’t think that a blister is the injury they would choose to fake
Teams have been diagnosing ‘phantom’ injuries, and subsequently sending players to the IL for decades. This is nothing new. Its like a one week paid vacation
Sending Syndergaard to the IL for decades might not be long enough.
Good for him getting well into 8 figure deals past 2 years b/c he hasn’t been all that great since ’18 amidst the injuries. Seems like early career bias for guys like Thor and Bryant in ’15 becoming stars for 10-12yrs in MLB results in someone continuing to overpay off name recognition.
Degrom and Thor go down the same week. Amazin Mets for sure.
In his prime, he was fun to watch.
“Our ass is in the jackpot now” was peak Thor, and that is a great vid to watch. This Thor is like the Fat Thor… still comical to watch but far from his best effectiveness.
Dodgers fans:
Could the Dodgers get below the luxury tax limit by trading Thor and say David Peralta while taking on the contracts of Jack Flaherty and Paul DeJong? Obviously the Cardinals would be looking for another piece coming back. What kind of prospect would the Dodgers be willing to part with in order to get under the tax threshold? Does this seem like a workable trade model?
I don’t think the Dodgers care a lot about the luxury tax, but yeah. The Dodgers are projected at $15.3MM in the hole with Syndergaard and Peralta being at $20.5MM combined.
I also don’t think the Cardinals are willing to push their payroll to $180MM+ this year for prospects.
The Cardinals front office is experiencing a PR nightmare. One can never say what they might or might not do, but they NEED to do something. They said before the season that there was money available to increase payroll. This wouldn’t be the ideal way to spend it, but the commitments are short and the Dodgers have what we need.
An interesting concept, but I don’t see what use the Dodgers would have for DeJong, and they’d have to give up at least one top prospect to get the Cardinals to eat Syndergaard’s dead contract. Even assuming the Dodgers kicked in about half of it, which would defeat the purpose.
I thought Rojas was hurt. We have plenty of other available players if their is someone else who would fill a need.
Only way they’re able to trade Thor is to pony up prospects or get another bad contract in return. You probably need a bad multi-year contract in return given how bad Thor has been.
That’s why I thought maybe the Angels could trade Tyler Anderson since he has two more years in contract after this season versus Thor done after this season. Anderson’s been a dud so far for the Angels but extremely effective with the Dodgers. Not sure if there is an interest on either side. Angels are still in pseudo contention and probably too early to sell low. But maybe in a month or so? I don’t know how the Dodgers feel on getting back end of first year on a 3 yr/$39mm deal. Maybe Angels put up some money on top of Thor.
A most convenient “injury.”
If you would have told me in 2015 that Zack Wheeler would be the only healthy pitcher in 2023 out of deGrom , Syndergaard, Matz and Harvey I genuinely would not have believed you. Just goes to show how trajectories change with injury and the ability to stay healthy. All these years later and it’s Wheeler with the longevity of that once so promising rotation. Shame isn’t it?
The Mets had some crystal ball
“Syndergaard’s walk rate remains elite…”
Well, when he makes every hitter look like Aaron Judge when they step to the plate against him . . . why exactly would anyone be looking to take pitches?!?!
Worst pitcher to don Dodger Blue since . . . forever.
Dump him Friedman. Dump him now.
Hanser Alberto was better
Sixty-three million dollars.
So what the Dodgers are saying is a $13,000,000 arm and a $0.10 head
When you don’t want to admit you made the wrong decision signing him… and place him on the injured list instead of releasing his a*s*s. I’m the one with the middle finger injury from flicking him every time he pitches.
They trot him out there every five days because they haven’t really got a choice. The Dodgers FO made a decision back in Dec-Jan that Syndergaard was a legitimate bounce-back candidate and the rookies were all the depth they needed. None of this has worked out, and they’ve got no Plan B except to wait on Urias, May and Pepiot to come back. So that means a very, very rough ride to the All Star break for the rotation, and probably beyond. And that’s before we even talk about what needs to be done to fix the bullpen.
Any prospect can do better than Stinkergaard. But the Dodgers, whether it’s the front office or Roberts, tend to stick with bad players. Remember what we went through with Bellinger until they finally decided to move on.
Stone hasn’t been any better so far, and neither has Grove. Miller has shown well but I wonder how many innings they’ll let him pitch even if he continues to look ready. The other aren’t, and that’s my point. They were rushed into promotions prematurely, and that happened because the decision was made not to sign another quality veteran starter. These roster decisions are made by the FO, not by Roberts. He can only play who he’s given, and according to the FO game plan. And really, how smart does it look now to have moved on from Bellinger?
The Dodgers have 6 starters on the IL currently – not including Walker Buehler. Saying they have no Plan B except waiting is a bit ridiculous considering they’ve blown past Plan B already. They’re on C and D at this point. Most teams would be done at this point.
Fun fact – despite how “poor” the rotation has been amid all these injuries, the Dodgers starters still have a better ERA than Arizona’s.
The bullpen is a mess, though.
All of that and the Dodgers could still be in a good spot.
They have extra prospect pieces that they can ship out to patch the holes. The only thing that would be an issue is if they aren’t willing to add salary at the deadline.
They should have went with strained neck as the cause for the IL stint. That Elly homer was a doozy.
damn you Pepiot…this was your chance and you’re ruining it. get healthy man!
If he wasn’t such a tool I’d feel a little sorry for him. But it’s probably still a tough fall from grace for somebody who was so impressed with themselves.
Guess Thor had Gad that blister since opening day
If you look at his location and numbers he’s actually thrown strikes and a lot of the pitches that have been pounded the location is not bad or actually very good. Tells you his stuff has really fallen off. More than just the fastball losing velocity. That is troublesome.
With young guys with good stuff and less command, you know when they straighten out the command it all comes together. With Thor you’re thinking even when he locates well he gets hit. Margin for error is so small. Can’t live that way.
Easy to have a low walk rate when you’re throwing BP…
Syndergarbage has thrown his last pitch in Dodger Blue, the DL stint is just a landing spot until they’re ready to DFA him!