Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Latest Comments Could Be Bad News for Struggling Noah Syndergaard
The Noah Syndergaard experiment may be coming to an end soon. The Dodgers right-hander, who raised his ERA to 6.54 after another bad outing on Wednesday, is hanging on to his spot in the rotation by a thread.
Syndergaard came to Los Angeles to revitalize his career, trying to get back to the pre-Tommy John version of himself. Unfortunately, though, he's a far cry from the triple-digit-throwing flamethrower, now limited to throwing 93 mph meatballs that find themselves in the outfield seats way too often.
After Wednesday's loss that moved the Dodgers to 4-7 in Syndergaard's 11 starts this year, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was unsure about his immediate future with the team (per Juan Toribio of MLB.com).
"As an organization, we’ve got to continue to figure out which guys give us the best chance to win on a particular day as far as starters," Roberts said. "I don’t know right now the plan as far as Noah, when he’s going to start next."
Just a week ago, Roberts was saying the team would just keep running him out there and hoping for better results. But clearly, they're getting tired of the poor performances.
So what comes next?
The Dodgers have off days on Thursday and Monday, so they could just skip his start in the rotation this week. Next week, though, they'd have to make a decision about his start.
Julio Urias could be back by then, which would create a competition between Syndergaard, Michael Grove and Bobby Miller for the final spot in the rotation. But would the Dodgers really consider dumping Syndergaard and his $13 million contract just two months into the season?
"I hate the idea of beginning June as a tryout camp," Roberts said. "But we’ve got to figure out some stability and dependability as far as what we’re going to get."
Syndergaard is likely to get at least one more opportunity as a starter, but it may not be until the next turn in the rotation if they choose to skip his start this week.
Then, if that one goes poorly, the Syndergaard experiment could be on its last legs.
