The first signing of the offseason for the Los Angeles Angels came in the form of the dominant Noah Syndergaard. The Angels signed the former New York Mets pitcher to a one-year, $21 million contract and had to give a second-round compensatory pick to the Mets in the process.
Many around baseball considered this an overpay for a player coming off of Tommy John surgery, but the Angels — and general manager Perry Minasian — firmly believe they have a plan in place to maximize his health and effectiveness.
Perhaps what sealed the deal for Syndergaard to leave the Mets after seven years with the organization was a dinner he had with Minasian in New York. There, Syndergaard was deeply impressed by the Angels GM’s knowledge of pitching, according to Taylor Blake Ward of Home Plate View:
Noah Syndergaard mentioned that during dinner with Perry Minasian in New York on Friday night, they spoke about pitching mechanics and Syndergaard couldn't believe a GM had that kind of pitching knowledge: "He was able to breakdown some of the flaws I had."
— Taylor Blake Ward (@TaylorBlakeWard) November 19, 2021
However, it wasn’t just Minasian’s recruitment effort that got Syndergaard on board. He also credited his workout partner and Angels reliever Steve Cishek for a glowing review of the organization, via Ward on Twitter:
Noah Syndergaard said he works out at the same gym as Steve Cishek who told him last year with the Angels was the most fun he's had playing baseball
— Taylor Blake Ward (@TaylorBlakeWard) November 19, 2021
The Angels are not done making moves this winter. However, it appears they landed the top player on their list, as Syndergaard was clearly priority number one throughout the organization.
Syndergaard also will have a chance to work with 2021 AL MVP winner Shohei Ohtani, who underwent Tommy John surgery and used the Angels six-man rotation to put together a productive 130.1 innings on the mound this season. If Syndergaard can reach around that number of innings, it would be a massive help to the Angels.
Minasian and Cishek can also gladly take the credit for putting in the work to land a pitcher who — at his best — is undoubtedly an ace and one of baseball’s best.
Minasian sees huge upside with Syndergaard
When Minasian spoke about the Syndergaard addition, he recognized that there is some risk involved with bringing on a player two years removed from Tommy John surgery. However, he also pointed to the massive upside of having a pitcher of this caliber on the Angels staff, even if he can’t pitch 200 innings in 2022.