Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — The glorious Noah Syndergaard era in Los Angeles has come to an end. The struggling righthander has been traded to the Cleveland Guardians for shortstop Amed Rosario in the Dodgers’ second deal in as many days.
The right-handed hitter posted average offensive numbers in each of his first two seasons with the Guardians. He smacked 11 home runs in both years while hitting around .280, though paltry walk numbers kept his on-base percentage right around league average. Over the two-year stretch, he combined for a .282/.316/.406 line in over 1200 trips to the plate.
Rosario’s third season with the Guardians hasn’t been as productive. In 94 games, he’s hitting .265/.306/.369. That’s largely attributable to a frigid start, as he put up a .233/.280/.327 slash through the end of May. Since the calendar flipped to June, he owns a much more impressive .301/.335/.415 line.
However, the Dodgers probably don’t see Rosario as an everyday player. Instead, he’ll probably be inserted in the lineup primarily against lefthanded starters and in a pinch hitting role against the same. His numbers against lefties are much more impressive: he has an excellent .304/.346/.475 slash in 463 plate appearances against left-handed pitching dating back to the start of 2021.
Let’s be honest. Neither the move for Hernandez nor this one for Rosario would have been necessary if the Dodgers had gotten better production at the plate out of either Miguel Vargas or Miguel Rojas, each of whom have had disappointing 2023 seasons to say the least.
However, Rosario is a defensive liability; by some metrics he rates out at the worst in MLB at shortstop. So, one could foresee games in which he’ll start at short for his bat, and then be replaced by the slick fielding Rojas in the later innings.
As for Syndergaard, his few months with the Dodgers were the worst of his career. The right-hander just hasn’t found his All-Star form since undergoing Tommy John surgery in advance of the 2020 season. He missed almost all of 2020-21, then returned with a fine but unexceptional 3.94 ERA in 25 appearances between the Angels and Phillies last year.
Los Angeles took a flyer on Thor in free agency. The Dodgers inked Syndergaard to a one-year, $13MM guarantee and installed him into the season-opening rotation. The move, to put it mildly, was a trainwreck. In a rough 12-start stint in Dodger blue. he posted a 7.16 ERA. A blister on his right index finger sent him to the injured list on June 8 and marked the end of his L.A. tenure.
The last couple of weeks, Syndergaard has been on a rehab assignment at Oklahoma City. He made a couple of appearances for the OKC Dodgers, allowing six runs on 10 hits over his two starts. With the emergence of rookies like Bobby Miller and Michael Grove, Syndergaard’s return to the rotation was an open question, even given the Dodgers’ starting pitching trouble this year.
While the add of Rosario is nice, it doesn’t address the most pressing need for Friedman et al to address at the deadline: starting pitching. And with the removal of Shohei Ohtani from the market and the Angels’ trading for local product Lucas Giolito on Wednesday evening, the Dodgers’ path to a big impact trade deadline just got narrower.
Stay tuned, Dodger fans.
