Los Angeles has invested heavily in offense over recent years, with huge commitments to Trout and third baseman Anthony Rendon, but the team’s pitching has been patchwork at best. Ohtani, who went 9-2 with a 3.18 E.R.A. (in addition to hitting 46 home runs), was the team’s most effective starter and the only pitcher on the roster to surpass 100 innings in 2021.
At his best, Syndergaard could be the ace the team has lacked. He has a 3.32 E.R.A. over six seasons and has averaged 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings. As a rookie in 2015, he was pitching in the World Series. In 2016, he was an All-Star. But things have been far rockier since.
Having bulked up considerably after the 2016 season, he made only seven starts in 2017 because of a torn right latissimus muscle. And after uneven efforts in 2018 and 2019, he missed all of 2020 because of Tommy John surgery and made only two token appearances in the final week of the 2021 season because of inflammation in his pitching elbow.
While the Mets showed faith in Syndergaard by extending the qualifying offer, they did not appear to want to add further risk in terms of salary or years, allowing the pitcher they acquired from Toronto in 2012 as part of the R.A. Dickey trade to leave in return for only a draft pick, which will be around 70th overall.