Less than a year ago, Noah Syndergaard rejected a qualifying offer from the New York Mets, today he’s back in the NL East as a member of a rival team. In one of the later deals of the MLB trade deadline, Syndergaard was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for outfielder Mickey Moniak and prospect Jadiel Sanchez.
Syndergaard immediately upgrades the Phillies pitching rotation which is headlined by Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola.
Though he is having somewhat of a down year (5-8 record, 3.83 ERA with 64 strikeouts and allowing 74 hits), he immediately adds to a core that needs some depth.
Wheeler and Nola have been solid this season with Wheeler boasting a career-best 2.77 ERA with a 9-5 record.
Nola is having a solid year as well, nothing 152 strikeouts with a 3.25 ERA. The trade gives the Phillies another arm at little cost as Syndergaard is set to become a free agent after his one-year, $21 million contract is up.
Syndergaard does have a major injury history, however, as he has missed two seasons due to Tommy John surgery and repeated setbacks.
For the Angels the acquisition of Moniak is a gamble.
A former No, 1 overall pick in 2016, he comes to the Angels with gobs of potential but has yet to realize it.
In his three big league seasons, Moniak has accumulated only 12 hits on 93 at-bats, with an atrocious .129 batting average.
As for Sanchez, he’s a standard outfielder that has yet to see big league or even High-A baseball.
It is clear that the Phillies won this trade, but they also have different aspirations at this point of the season.
They are in the this Thick of the NL Wild Card race with a 55-38 record.
The Angels on the other hand have continued to see their season collapse. They are near the bottom of the AL West with a 4459 record and continue to shell out players despite their fantastic start to the season.
