The New York Mets are not even playing baseball at the moment with the sports world on pause, but they still have received some injury news. Starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard has torn his UCL and will require Tommy John Surgery putting him off a mound more quite some time. This news is a tough blow even with the 2020 season being on pause, the Mets rotation just suffered a big loss. Jeff Passan of ESPN tweeted out the news regarding Syndergaard’s injury.
New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery in the near future, sources tell ESPN. The procedure will keep him out until at earliest April 2021 and likely into the summer months.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 24, 2020
Syndergaard has been sort of living in the shadows behind Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, but he is still a phenomenal pitcher. In 2019, Syndergaard made thirty-two starts while posting a 10-8 record on the season. He would manage a 4.28 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, and strike out 202 hitters of 197.2 innings pitched on the year for the Mets.
The Mets did make a trade at the trade deadline last year to bring in starter Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays to help strengthen his rotation. Without Syndergaard, the Mets rotation shifts drastically and the entire National League East division will see as change.
It will be interesting to watch as the details of the 2020 season are announced, to see how the Mets deal with the loss of Syndergaard. They will be without his help in the rotation for the 2020 season and likely into the summer of 2021, with April 2021 being the earliest he will return to the rotation. In terms of how this affects his free agency, he will not be a free agent until after the 2021 season, still being in arbitration until then.
