[quote="fuchsia" post=358707]If Thor goes are there top of the line starters in the farm system? We need a bullpen, perhaps a downgrade in catcher offense for an upgrade in catcher defense, maybe one right handed high average line drive hitter defensive outfielder in place of Nimmo or Dom Smith.
Cano, Cespedes, Diaz, Familia may all be low return on investment with little hope for a turnaround.[/quote]
We only had one type of the line starter in the majors this year and it wasn’t Syndegaard. Funny, deGrom had no issue throwing to Ramos or Nido or Rivera; that’s because he is the goods. I harken back to the great Bob Gibson, who when Tim McCarver came out to offer “advice”, sent him back behind the plate after telling him “the only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it.” The pitcher decides what to throw, when to throw it, and then throws it. To blame pitching poorly on the catcher is a crock. Is good chemistry between the two a plus? Yes, certainly. But IMO, Syndegaard would have been much better off looking in the mirror rather than throwing Ramos under the bus while the Mets were in the middle of trying to climb into the wild card race. Apparently, the personal “chemistry” mattered to him, the team chemistry not so much. I have no idea if Syndegaard’s actions had an affect on team chemistry but it couldn’t have helped and it certainly didn’t help his pitching down the stretch, even with the change in catchers.
