CHICAGO — Well, after this display Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field (worst ballpark name ever), you know what the scouts on site will report back to their respective central commands:
Go get Noah Syndergaard.
Stay away from Edwin Diaz.
The Mets, naturally, should do the opposite with Wednesday’s trade deadline arriving. Now winners of five in a row after they overcame another Diaz blown save, with homers by Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto producing an 11-inning, 5-2 victory over the White Sox, the Mets are sort of in this playoff race, trailing the Cubs by five games in the pursuit of the National League’s second wild card. Because they already damaged their farm system further with the trade for the Blue Jays’ Marcus Stroman, it would be silly to jettison Syndergaard and his ace-like stuff, not to mention his larger-than-life persona.
Diaz, though? If they receive a fair offer for him, they should quit while they’re behind on Brodie Van Wagenen’s biggest and worst trade.
Syndergaard looked absolutely brilliant in going 7¹/₃ innings and allowing one unearned run on five hits and one walk while striking out 11. His fastball reached 100 miles per hour on the radar gun, and his slider, missing in action for much of this campaign, played an integral role in his dominance.
“I think tonight was probably the top it’s felt mechanically [this season],” said Syndergaard, who dropped his ERA from 4.33 to 4.10. “Felt really good out there.”
“Wow. He was electric,” Mickey Callaway said. “I thought he had all pitches working. To pitch that deep in the game, he did a tremendous job. That was probably the best I’ve seen him.”
In his postgame interview, Syndergaard acknowledged that he has been in touch with the team’s front office concerning his future and professed confidence that he would still be a Met come 4 p.m. (Eastern time) on Wednesday. He agreed with the premise that the Mets wouldn’t have let him pitch Tuesday if they were close to trading him away.
Diaz didn’t speak with the media, though what could he say at this point, anyway? His actions speak loudest, and they continue to disturb.
Handed a 2-1 lead for the ninth, after Seth Lugo escaped an eighth-inning jam by inducing the dangerous Jose Abreu to hit into a double play, Diaz put together an impressive display of inaccuracy: walk, strikeout, wild pitch, hit batter, wild pitch, sacrifice fly. Tie game, and not a hit to be found in the mix, and with his fifth blown save in 28 tries, Diaz exceeded last year’s total of four blown saves in 61 opportunities with the Mariners.
“His arm’s late,” Callaway said. “The [sliders] that are up, going up and into righties, his arm is just late. So I know [Diaz and pitching coach Phil Regan] are going to get together tomorrow and see if we can figure it out.”
Catcher Tomas Nido said Diaz could be “a little anxious, opening up [his front shoulder] a little quick.”
It’s fair to start wondering whether Diaz can tackle New York. If the Mets can unload him and replenish their farm system, you can envision Lugo closing, and maybe the Mets can find a walk-year veteran for sale to give them another body.
In any case, if these Mets are to make a miracle run to October, it’ll happen with Syndergaard serving as an enormous wingman to ace and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, then with Suffolk County boys Stroman and Steven Matz serving as a strong secondary one-two punch. If they’re going to choose a questionable path, though, the Mets might as well do so with flair. And no active player — where have you gone, Yoenis Cespedes? — does it with more flair than Syndergaard.
Diaz’s flair has gone with the wind. If he joins Zack Wheeler as departees by the deadline, it might just be for the best.