By Jordan Long
The Cleveland Guardians stand at 62-69, 6 games behind the Minnesota Twins for 1st place in the American League Central Division. They are also 11.5 games behind the Houston Astros for the 3rd and final Wild Card spot. With them not going anywhere, Cleveland decided to cut pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
Syndergaard began the season with the L.A. Dodgers. He started 12 games for the Dodgers with a disappointing 1-4 record and an ERA of 7.16. The Dodgers traded Syndergaard to Cleveland on July 26th. This gave Syndergaard a second chance to stay on an MLB roster this season.
It didn’t last. Syndergaard appeared in 33.1 innings for Cleveland with a record of 1-2 and an ERA of 5.40. His last straw for the franchise came this past weekend. Syndergaard pitched against Toronto yesterday. He lasted 6 innings, giving up 4 hits and 5 runs. All of his runs were earned. Toronto smacked 3 home runs. Cleveland won that game 10-7 in 11 innings.
According to fox8.com, Manager Terry Francona said, “He just had trouble keeping it in the ballpark. Only a couple of hits for a while. But then the home runs, they kind of get in the way a little bit, and I know it frustrated him.”
Cleveland knew it was time to let him go. They designated him for assignment, cutting him from the roster. It just showed he couldn’t pitch for Cleveland and Syndergaard needed a change of scenery.
With Cleveland letting him go, Syndergaard can sign with any MLB club. Teams might take a chance on Syndergaard because of his MLB postseason experience. In his career, Syndergaard pitched in 9 postseason games for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. His record is 2-2 with an ERA of 2.62. That may help a team even if they choose to use him as a late rotation pitcher or place him in the bullpen. It may take a while but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Syndergaard helping a team for the postseason run in September.
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