Blue Jays Trade Review: Noah Syndergaard

Back in 2012 the Toronto Blue Jays, led by Alex Anthopoulos, won the offseason by making some huge blockbuster trades for some big names. The biggest regret for most Jays fans would be trading Noah Syndergaard for R.A. Dickey.

In December of 2012, the Blue Jays got R.A. Dickey and Toronto fans were pretty well rejoicing at the fact that we finally had an ace to call our own. We did pay a hefty price for the knuckleballer in the form of Noah Syndergaard. So let’s go back and review the trade in its entirety.

Who went where:

Blue Jays got: R.A. Dickey, Josh Thole

Mets got: Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud, Wuilmer Becerra, John Buck

Who won?

I wonder…

Of course, it was the New York Mets. They ended up getting a young, top-tier pitcher that Syndergaard ended up becoming. It is a tough pill to swallow for the Blue Jays but you win some and you lose some.

It made sense:

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R.A. Dickey just came off a Cy-Young season and all we traded away was a few prospects. Prospects are always a gamble never really knowing if they will work out in The Show or not. Syndergaard just happened to work out.

Dickey was seen as the answers to our rotation problems and in a way he was. He was consistent and he pitched as well as a knuckleballer could in Toronto, which is an extremely hitter-friendly park.

His combined ERA over his four seasons with the team was 4.01 and he accumulated 49 wins during those years. Not too bad.

Dickey transitioned into the American League East where he performed pretty good and when he came over, Toronto’s front office had to know they were taking a gamble. He does only pitch a knuckleball, which a lot of the time, even the pitchers can’t control.

Syndergaard wasn’t the top trade chip for the Jays:

When the trade happened, Toronto gave up some prospects, Syndergaard worked out really well. He wasn’t even what the Mets wanted most. Toronto’s top prospect at the time was Travis d’Arnaud. He was ranked as the number 11 prospect in baseball back in 2012 and was Toronto’s best prospect.

Syndergaard was just an addition. He wasn’t even considered their top pitching prospect either. That would go to Daniel Norris. According to Baseball America, in 2012, Syndergaard ranked as the number 7 prospect in the Blue Jays top ten. Behind 3 other pitchers in their system.

Believe it or not, Syndergaard was just an add-on and the Mets got lucky.

The trade makes sense any way you put it and if we entered a similar situation fans would still be on board.

Next: Blue Jays Opposing Pitcher Report: Noah Syndergaard

No one can see the future. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, we just have to move on because it made sense then, and it still makes sense.