The Cleveland Guardians approached the 2023 MLB trade deadline like sellers despite being in a playoff chase. One trade that signaled this was the deal they made with the Los Angeles Dodgers, swapping shortstop Amed Rosario for starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
The Guardians adding Syndergaard seemed to be a move that gave them a replacement for Aaron Civale, who was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in the midst of a great season, and opened up playing time at shortstop for youngsters José Tena and Brayan Rocchio. Syndergaard seemed to be a placeholder on a Guardians team just looking to tread water. It was as if they would have been happy to repeat as AL Central champions but were fine to miss out on the title, too.
However, the Guardians' starting pitching has been amazing since the All-Star break and Syndergaard has been contributing to it. His 3.71 ERA with Cleveland has contributed to a 2.63 ERA among all the team's starters since the break. Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen have done a lot of the grunt work (plus some great starts from Civale before being traded) but Syndergaard has done his part with an above-average ERA.
The Guardians' starters have been red hot since the All-Star break 🔥#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/sFUa5lPGes
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) August 16, 2023
Syndergaard looked like a lost cause at the start of the season. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have found great success with veterans and free-agency additions alike, Thor posted a 7.16 ERA across 55.1 innings. Even after being placed right on the IL after being acquired by the Guardians, he has done a perfectly fine job with this new team, allowing just seven earned runs in 17 innings across his first three starts.
Sometimes, though, ERA doesn’t tell the full story. While Syndergaard has been able to prevent runs, his pitching with the Guardians so far has been suspect when it comes to behind-the-scenes stats. His FIP — which measures how well pitchers do by observing only the three true outcomes of a plate appearance — with LA was 5.53. That mark is bad but suggests he got unlucky to some degree. But with Cleveland, his FIP is 6.62 despite the massively lower ERA.
The main reason for Syndergaard's ERA improving with the Guardians seems to be the batting average on balls that batters put in play against him, which can be subject to both good and bad luck at times. His BABIP allowed with the Dodgers was .326 and with Cleveland so far, it has been just .245. Whether Thor is summoning some help from Odin, he's figuring something out and bringing the thunder for the Guardians.
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