NY Mets Qualifying Offer Battle: Michael Conforto vs. Noah Syndergaard

Mets qualifying offer candidate: Noah Syndergaard

Will we actually see Noah Syndergaard pitch a game for the Mets this year? Time will tell. Setbacks on and off the field have delayed his return to MLB action. Can you believe he hasn’t pitched a big league game for almost two years now?

The Mets have a massive Syndergaard decision to make this offseason. It all starts with whether or not they think he’s worth a qualifying offer. We can view this as a game of chess. By not extending him the offer, they risk Thor leaving and signing elsewhere. Does he get a better deal from another team? Worse yet, does he feel slighted and sign with another club out of spite?

Giving a guy coming off such a major injury any sort of commitment is a huge risk for the Mets. Syndergaard has cashed in for two straight years while rehabbing. We can’t put him at fault for this. That’s just the way contracts are structured. Injured players have bills, too.

Syndergaard hitting the open market should intrigue a lot of teams. For years, we’ve waited for him to put together some kind of Cy Young-worthy season. Yet to accomplish this, he is still highly-regarded and someone I believe could get a fat contract on the open market. A team with money and patience could even add an incentive for a second season.

The Mets should be big players in free agency and the trade market this offseason. Before they start adding, they’ll need to make an educated guess on Syndergaard’s health and future. It’s a scary thought because there hasn’t been much at all to go on for a long time.