Charley Smith has declared his intention to leave the New York Mets because of…
If handled properly, a player can depart from their team with dignity. The custom is to put up an advertising somewhere to express gratitude. a message on Twitter. a picture on Instagram. Several players from the New York Mets have left the franchise with no issues.
It isn’t always true. These three recent instances demonstrate that not even the most significant players will receive standing ovations when their memorial video is shown at Citi Field. They each left with a damaged relationship with the fans for various reasons.
First, Noah Syndergaard
One of the biggest characters to travel through the Mets locker room in recent years is Noah Syndergaard, who was liked from the beginning. When they were vying for a championship in 2015 and 2016, he was the kind of man they needed. His toughness matched his talent. Regretfully, after the first 1.5 years, he became less of a star player and more of a whispered franchise legend due to injuries and a few less successful seasons.
Many remained devoted to him as fans. Among the first MLB players to post anything truly entertaining on social media was him. Without a question, Syndergaard is humorous. There was a time, towards the end of his Mets career, when his popularity on Twitter seemed to matter more than his performance on the field.
The major setback occurred in 2020 when Syndergaard needed Tommy John surgery, effectively ending his Mets career. It wasn’t required. All indications pointed to Syndergaard’s desire to remain with the Mets post-2021, even as the decision to accept a qualifying offer from the team weighed on him. That is, until the Los Angeles Angels made a higher salary offer to him.
It seemed as though Syndergaard used the Mets as leverage to acquire the $21 million he was due from the Angels. It wasn’t much more than the $18.4 million he would have gotten from the Mets had he accepted the qualifying offer, but the fact that he allegedly didn’t allow his now-former organization an opportunity to match the offer infuriated others.
In the years since, Syndergaard hasn’t been even close to the pitcher he once was. When you include in his mocking of the Mets’ 2022 no-hitter, a once-favorite fan became an enemy.
