Quick Hits
This is something new that I am going to try to stimulate conversation, but that only takes me a few minutes. Subject: Noah Syndergaard Ever since Noah (THOR) burst on the scene, he was a manacing physical specimen. He threw 200 MPH and was built like the Hulk. After he blew out…
This is something new that I am going to try to stimulate conversation, but that only takes me a few minutes.
Subject: Noah Syndergaard
Ever since Noah (THOR) burst on the scene, he was a manacing physical specimen. He threw 200 MPH and was built like the Hulk. After he blew out his arm and need TJ, he can only throw about 93 MPH now. In his latest interview, which was very painful.. .he admitted that he is the weakest link on the team and that he sucks.
He says he is trying to get back his velocity… but we all know that will never happen. I don’t think he can wrap his head around anything except that he has to be a power pitcher. He signed with the Dodgers because he was desperate for a miracle. It ain’t happening…
What now?
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Discussion (111)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Thor is going through that time of his life that we all go through. He’s realized his mortality. I’m not old, but I also have realized that I’m not the athlete that I was even up until my late 40s, which wasn’t that long ago. I can’t run with the kids anymore. I can’t ride with the fast guys. It’s sobering. You realize the clock is ticking on your life. Noah has to face it just like everyone does. It’s a pity he couldn’t stretch that period of greatness out a little longer, and normally if you’re relatively young and come back from Tommy John, you’re as good or even better than you were before. It’s probably also frustrating to him that the doctors probably can’t give him a definitive answer as to why he hasn’t regained his previous velo. He just has to face his mortality with dignity, which is all any of us can do.
So I’m not going to dump on him and call him a bum and complain that the Dodgers are putting him out there. I think the Dodgers, as an organization, are pretty loyal to its players, and they will give him as long a runway as possible to turn things around, and if they don’t, they will release him. Besides, as depleted as the current rotation is, he has to stay for at least a while.
There’s going to be no one to trade for. I can’t remember a time were there such a seller’s market … if there are actually sellers. It seems like there’s only 3-4 genuinely out-of-it teams that would be sellers. With the expanded playoffs and the fact that nearly every team has either a winning record, a break even record, or are just a few games under .500, nearly everyone has a chance to sneak into the playoff bracket and has a chance. And the As are just so historically bad that there’s not a single player that anyone would want.
I also think the phantom injury makes sense. He is injured, in the head. His psyche is definitely bruised. He still has good stuff, but his location on his pitches is awful.
Noah needs to learn how to pitch. The velocity may come back over time but his situation reminds me a bit of Verlander a few years back. As in the case of most aging pitchers, including our own Clayton Kershaw, there is a time when you have to become deceptive to keep hitters off balance rather than just being a thrower.
I don’t see AF DFA’ing Thor but I do see a phantom injury or a DFA for Bickford and moving Syndergaard to the BP. Mop up relief or much like Bickford is used a long stint when the BP is taxed, but simply put Syndergaard cannot stay in the rotation and get a start every five days.