New York Mets ace Noah Syndergaard is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but it sounds like there's a real chance his tenure with the team could be over before next season.
Here's the latest on Syndergaard's future, per Fancred's Jon Heyman:
The free-agent market for pitchers isn't outstanding. Patrick Corbin of the Arizona Diamondbacks likely will be the best starter available, and even though he's very good, he's not at Syndergaard's level. This means the Mets could be in a good position to start a bidding war between teams in need of pitching upgrades, especially among the clubs that strike out in free agency.
Syndergaard went 13-4 with a 3.03 ERA, 155 strikeouts and 39 walks over 154 1/3 innings in 2018. Injuries are a concern with Syndergaard because they've forced him to miss several games over his three big league seasons, but he's still only 26 and was mostly healthy this past season.
The New York Yankees traded for Seattle Mariners starter James Paxton earlier this week, but they still need more pitching and appear to be serious on bolstering their roster after watching the rival Boston Red Sox win the World Series in October. Speaking of the Red Sox, we know president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is not afraid to make bold trades, like the deals that acquired ace Chris Sale and closer Craig Kimbrel, but Boston's farm system is not elite and that could hurt any potential trade talks.
The Mets, if they do trade Syndergaard, need to hit a home run with it because their roster has a ton of holes to fill and he's their best trade chip.
Boston Red Sox
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