As the Aug. 2 trade deadline approaches, the Los Angeles Angels are in a position where they likely will not be adding players to their roster.
The team currently sits in fourth place in the American League West with a 42-56 record and has less than a 1% chance of making the postseason, according to various projection models.
That leaves the Angels with limited options, including trading away players on expiring deals. Noah Syndergaard comes to mind as he signed a one-year, $21 million contract this past offseason, with the hope that he would anchor L.A.’s rotation alongside Shohei Ohtani.
Syndergaard has put up respectable numbers for the Angels this season but he is not the same dominant pitcher he once was for the New York Mets.
The right-hander’s diminishing stuff has concerned to teams to the point where the Angels may ultimately hold onto him past the trade deadline, via ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
The most interesting option on the rental market: Angels right-hander Noah Syndergaard, whose fluctuating stuff has left front offices wary and whose contract is onerous enough that Los Angeles might simply choose to hold on to him.
…with more than $7 million remaining on his $21 million deal, contending teams are asking themselves: Just how worth our while is it to take him on, especially with the added cost of a prospect, even a lesser one?
Once a strikeout pitcher with the Mets, Syndergaard has become a relatively strong pitch-to-contact player. In 15 starts this year, he has posted a 5-8 record with a 3.83 ERA, 3.96 FIP and 1.21 WHIP across 80 innings pitched.
Syndergaard held the Kansas City Royals to just one run and six hits over 5.2 innings in his last start on July 25.
Syndergaard avoiding speculation on potential trade
Syndergaard has thought about what a potential trade might look like but reiterated that he hopes to remain with the Angels for the rest of the season.
