Syndergaard Divulges Why He Bolted the Mets for LA

At his introductory virtual news conference with Los Angeles Angels media on Friday afternoon, pitcher Noah Syndergaard revealed why he made the tough decision to leave the New York Mets after seven years in Queens.

He admitted that a lack of communication from the Mets, and the overall uncertainty in the organization, gave him reason to question whether he'd be better off moving on.

"I didn't want to kind of gamble with the kind of uncertainty that has been going on with them," said Syndergaard. "This is a really important year for me. This is kind of a make-or-break time for me."

The Mets were still engaged in their search for a general manager during Syndergaard's decision-making process (they've since hired former Angels GM Billy Eppler), and they're still searching for a new field manager.

The 29-year-old did call it "the hardest decision of my life," and acknowledged an understanding of what the Mets were going through, but at the same was thoroughly impressed with the pitch by Angels GM Perry Minasian.

"I just knew that they (Mets) had a lot on their plate, and a lot going on with them, in search of finding the GM, but I just really appreciated the way that Perry came with a game plan that was extremely thorough and with all the resources and I felt really confident in that."

Syndergaard has missed the previous two seasons, recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2020. He decided to forego the Mets' qualifying offer ($18.4M) in favor of the Angels' one-year, $21M offer.

And while he doesn't appear to have any true bad feelings towards the Mets, he does leave New York with a hilarious parting shot for one of the city's famed (infamous?) radio personalities.