Padres have checked in on Noah Syndergaard

The San Diego Padres have reportedly checked in on the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard as part of a hunt to add top-flight pitching to their rotation, according to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin. This comes after already checking in on Rays starter Chris Archer, as reported by Ken Rosenthal.

After trading relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to the Indians for top catching prospect Fransisco Mejia, the Padres have added to a strong farm system that was highly ranked coming into the 2018 season. It would take that kind of prospect depth to pry Syndergaard away from the Mets, who have three more years of control left on the 25-year-old Syndergaard before he’s eligible to hit the open market.

While large deals like this aren’t unheard of at the deadline, between Syndergaard being on the DL with hand, foot, and mouth disease and the Padres sitting 16 games out of first in the National League West, it would be surprising to see this sort of deal happen before the trade deadline.

Over 74.2 innings so far this season, Syndergaard has a 2.89 ERA with 83 strikeouts and just 15 walks.