The Guardians have released right-hander Noah Syndergaard following his recent DFA, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. If he signs with a new team by 11:59pm ET tonight, he’ll be eligible for that club’s postseason roster.
Cleveland acquired the former All-Star in a swap of underwater contracts at the deadline, sending infielder Amed Rosario to the Dodgers in hopes that a change of scenery could help get Syndergaard back to form. Syndergaard, who’d pitched to a 7.16 ERA in 55 1/3 innings with Los Angeles, signed a one-year, $13MM deal with the Dodgers over the winter. Rosario, an impending free agent who’d been the Guardians’ primary shortstop since 2021, was hitting just .265/.306/.369 at the time of the swap. Neither player has gotten his performance back up to previous levels since the exchange, however.
The Guards might’ve at least hoped that Syndergaard could stabilize an injury-plagued rotation down the stretch, taking some of the innings that were lost when Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie or Cal Quantrill went down with long-term injuries. That hasn’t happened. Syndergaard made six starts with Cleveland, pitching to a 5.40 ERA with a 12.4% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 33 1/3 innings. That 12.4% strikeout rate is the lowest of any pitcher since the time of the trade (min. 30 innings).
Now 31 years old, Syndergaard was one of the most promising power pitchers in the sport early in his career, breaking out as a legitimate Cy Young contender early on. Through his first 518 1/3 big league innings, the 6’6″ righty notched a 2.93 ERA, fanning 27.1% of his opponents and averaging 98.2 mph on his heater along the way. Unlike so many flamethrowers, Syndergaard possessed pristine command, too; his 5.5% walk rate in that stretch was outstanding. His ERA spiked to 4.28 in 2019, but Syndergaard retained premium velocity, strikeout and walk rates while logging a career-high 197 2/3 innings.
Unfortunately, the present-day version of Syndergaard doesn’t look much like that peak version. Tommy John surgery wiped out the 2020 and 2021 seasons for Syndergaard, who serves as something of a cautionary tale and reminder that for as common as the procedure has become, a return to form following such a major surgery is by no means a foregone conclusion. He still boasts outstanding command — he’s walked just 4.9% of his opponents this year — but Syndergaard’s fastball averaged 92.8 mph in Los Angeles and was down to just 91.9 mph during his brief stint with Cleveland. The once-wicked slider that averaged a ridiculous 93.1 mph is down to 85 mph in each of the past two seasons, and his peak 14.2% swinging-strike rate has plummeted to a well below-average 8.2%.
Syndergaard will now hit the market as a depth option for postseason hopefuls. He’ll cost a new club only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. With active rosters set to expand from 26 to 28 players tomorrow, he’ll have a clearer path back to a big league roster, although a team in the midst of a tight postseason race would likely be wary of plugging him right into the rotation. Many have wondered what Syndergaard might look like coming out of the bullpen — he’s only made two relief appearances in his career — and that could be another avenue for him to join a contender’s staff.
Sad.
Orioles could sign him to a minor league deal, I would be down with that
I can’t believe CLE released him. They have burned completely to the bottom of their depth chart, and we still don’t know to what extent Gavin Williams is injured. If they think they can find someone better than Syndergaard at this point, good luck.
Have you looked at his numbers? The difficult part would be to find someone worse.
Luis Severino is still taking the ball every 5th day for the Yankees.
Severino has looked very good in his last two starts.
It’s the first time in his career he had 2 consecutive games of 6 IP and 5 hits or less. That’s not great from a 6 year vet
Time to move into a reliever role? Might be able to get some of the life back on his pitches in shorter stints. Possibly stay healthy too
Yea I wonder if he goes to a baseball academy like line drive and retools his mechanics. Hes only 31, but it feels like hes been around forever.
What makes fans think being a RP is easier to stay healthier than pitching every 5th day? John Smoltz said SP was way easier on his arm than being a RP.
My logic is fewer innings = less pitches = less chance of injury. Probably the same logic used by the Braves when Smoltz was used as a reliever
My logic is if the player says something was harder it’s harder
Guardians will reap on a minor league deal and work with him.
The end of the Syndergaardian era
Don’t be so sure! Keep hope alive! Baseball history, even fairly recently, has a good number of pitcher “second-phase” career tracks.
Bad deal for the Guards. LA got the better of this deal as Rosario is, at least, a veteran on a playoff team. Re. Who they can get now, Giolito us available and CLE appears to have the worst record of any playoff contender so there is that.
The problem is, Rosario simply isn’t good
He’s much better than a washed Syndergaard
@enjoylindor If Rosario wasn’t any good, I don’t think a WS contending team would’ve traded for him. He mashes against LHP, has good baserunning speed, and plays solid defense. All those attributes count in postseason baseball.
Negative 14 DRS this season is “solid defense”? His speed can’t make up for his poor defense and 88 wRC+. The Dodgers also traded for Kike Hernandez
What does Kike have to do with anything? I know the Dodgers traded for him. The conversation was about Rosario and your comment about him not being any good. The poor defense you’re talking about was during his time in Cleveland. Here in L.A hes been solid.
My point was that the Dodgers, who are indeed World Series contenders, acquired not one but two poverty middle infielders at the deadline. By the way, his “solid” defense with the Dodgers raised his season DRS from -15 to -14
I’d take a chance on him if he would try coming out of the pen.
Tigers going to make the push for the playoffs…
LOL
Thor is a perfect candidate for Chris Fetter’s restoration program, for sure. Michael Lorenzen is certainly a believer…
Wouldn’t that be a hoot if he signed with the Dodgers? Guardians basically gave the Dodgers Rosario and then paid Thor.
Guards are tanking now that Minnesota has pulled so far ahead.
Not true
I will guess that no one wastes a 40 man spot on him.
Not a chance!
Noah to the Padres makes sense!
What a terrible call I made on this guy, thinking he could come back. I should also be DFA’d and released from MLBTR.
@Old York,
Don’t be so hard on yourself. There’s plenty of posters here that’ll gladly do that for you.
@Bart Harley Jarvis
I appreciate the support to DFA me and release me from MLBTR.
Might have been a terrible call, but your comment gave me a good chuckle. So you have more redeeming qualities than NS old York.
I’d pick you up and plug you in a platoon role in RF. I could use your high contact abilities, strong defense and speed.
Not only loss of velocity, his fastball has no movement.
dodgers fleeced the indians lmao