The Los Angeles Dodgers finalized the signing of Noah Syndergaard to a one-year, $13 million contract, bringing their 40-man roster full and seemingly rounding out the starting rotation.
Among starting pitchers, thus far in free agency the Dodgers re-signed Clayton Kershaw and added Syndergaard, while losing Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney.
Syndergaard’s persona and ‘Thor’ nickname make him a fit for Los Angeles, and so too does his sense of humor and presence on social media. After reports of the 30-year-old agreeing to a contract surfaced, Syndergaard tweeted a popular GIF of Jeff Bridges’ character “The Dude” from “The Big Lebowski,” with a Dodgers cap superimposed on it.
Syndergaard followed that up with another GIF once the signing was made official, of the 2016 incident when he was a member of the New York Mets and threw behind Chase Utley.
That seemingly was in response to Utley’s hard slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg in Game 2 of the 2015 National League Division Series. Utley was suspended for two games, but appealed and remained eligible to play in the NLDS.
However, he didn’t play in Games 3 and 4 at Citi Field, and only appeared as a pinch-hitter in Game 5.
That made the May 2016 series at Citi Field the first true opportunity the Mets could get any sort of retribution over the slide. Syndergaard uncorked a 99-mph fastball that sailed behind Utley’s back, and he was immediately ejected. So too was then-Mets manager Terry Collins after an argument with home plate umpire Adam Hamari.
Following the game, Syndergaard denied purposely throwing at Utley and said the pitch merely got away.
Utley, who long had drawn the ire of Mets fans during his time playing with the Philadelphia Phillies, got the last laugh that evening as his solo home run in the sixth inning broke a scoreless tie, and he put the game away with a grand slam in the seventh that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 6-0.
Dodgers rotation with Noah Syndergaard
As present time, the Dodgers’ Opening Day rotation figures to be Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Syndergaard.
Depth behind them consists of Andre Jackson, Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove, with the likes of Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone candidates to make their respective MLB debuts later in the year.
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