Phillies Acquire RHP Noah Syndergaard from the Angels

[Squire]

...for Mickey Moniak and a second prospect per Jayson Stark

https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/1554585539042578432

Second Prospect is Jadiel Sanchez, OF at Clearwater

[VoteForKalas]

I like this trade better than the other two

[julio]

This seems like a reasonable price. Moniak might find himself in LA, and Sanchez, while interesting, is a long way away.

[allentown]

I'll take this one. It's a lot better than the other two. I'm guessing we are indeed paying a big chunk of future salary.

[andyb]

Sanchez is decent. Mini breakout masked around injuries. Actually hope we are getting cash here.

[arpax]

Ok I’m fine with this move. Moniak needs a change of scenery- I wish him well. We need a starter badly

[Austinfan]

Jadiel Sanchez

Good trade. Moniak has no future here with Marsh on board, Sanchez is part of a group of young OFs in A ball who are 3 years away if ever - he has upside but he's still a long shot.

I think Syndergard is a candidate for an extension if he shows enough, FB up to 94 (down from 97) but first season after TJ surgery. His biggest fall-off has been his changeup, which he throws too hard given the decline in FB velocity - that's something a good pitching coach can work on, doesn't require a major adjustment.

He's only 30, even if he never gets above 95 again, he has 5 pitches and is a candidate to improve as he learns to pitch with less velo, and would be a good bet for a back of the rotation starter on say a 3 year deal.

This takes the pressure off Falter and Sanchez to fill the #5 hole, they'll still get some spot starts to rest the top guys, but I think Falter is maybe a year away from pushing for a rotation slot, he's upped his velo a little, but needs to bring it more consistently.

[andyb]

I think Syndergard is a candidate for an extension if he shows enough,

That has no value though. Any extension will not be for a discount. He has a pretty long history in contract negotiations and has always been more expensive than his performance.

[Austinfan]

It's not a matter of a discount, it's a matter of better information, you know more about a guy you work with for two months than a free agent for whom you only have second hand information.

Nor do I think he'll have a lot of leverage unless he finishes very strong, in which case, it's a good trade even if they don't resign him.

[flyers19rw]

I’m going to go with the idea that Cotham and he hit it off. Thor might like it here and want to stick around for a fair price. He’s been through a lot over the last few seasons.
He might appreciate good support from the club more than anything. Cotham has brought around a few pitchers this season. That gets out to others and makes the Phillies an attractive landing spot.

[bkeich]

Simple addition by subtraction. They were going to keep recalling Moniak and trying to recoup the lost premium draft pick, but he has shown absolutely nothing at the ML level to justify another plate appearance. If Thor does nothing we won this trade.

[Austinfan]

I had hope for Moniak until it was obvious he simply couldn't recognize a breaking ball - how did the scouts miss that?
You can make it if you can't hit breaking balls, as long as you pick up the spin and spit on them and force pitchers to throw them for strikes and hope they hang one.
But if you're consistently flailing at breaking stuff out of the zone you're hapless.

[Florida_Sunshine]

I feel like we are better positioned for the WC this year but more importantly, better positioned for next year.

[Dirk41]

Moniak driving his Maserati around Reading and Allentown is a summary of his entire professional career.

[EDmuch]

One other unique thing we have this year is 2 coaches, Chatham & Long who are actually helpful to the players and mage suggestions which lead to improved performance

[zambonir]

So as I asked in the other thread - if it had been Moniak for Marsh and O'Hoppe/Sanches for Thor would we like it better?

The picture for next year does have to be considered, including the 40. Moniak was probably gone anyway, even if they might have wanted to give him once last chance. And losing O'Hoppe means they can probably keep both Marchan and Sands if they want.

[Austinfan]

Sand has been ripping in in AAA, some is BABIP, but his BB rate is way up, though his power is down.
Last three seasons:
AA wRC+ 109
AAA wRC+ 116
AAA wRC+ 136

Fangraphs pre-season:

A high schooler drafted in 2015, Sands spent the last few years (very) slowly traversing the Yankees system and hadn’t yet escaped A-ball due in part to a logjam of catching ahead of and around him. All the while, he slowly improved his feel for airborne contact, which helped him have a career season in 2021 split between Double- and Triple-A. Sands came into the year with eight career homers, but hit 10 of them in his first 50 games with Double-A Somerset, then hit eight more at Triple-A Scranton. When he was drafted, he was viewed as being at risk of a 3B/1B move, but he’s actually become a good receiver and pitch framer, especially at the bottom of the strike zone. He catches on one knee and his glove works from the ground back up into the zone on low pitches, which Sands tends to present in a convincing fashion. His arm is less consistent, popping in the 1.95-2.03 range right on the bag, though Sands is a little slower out of his crouch than average and his accuracy is mixed. Philly acquired him and Nick Nelson in November of 2021 in exchange for T.J. Rumfield and Joel Valdez. Sands is in the backup catching mix for 2022 and fits in that sort of role long-term, as a bat-first archetype.

[schillingfan]

I don’t even know who Rumfield and Valdez were in our system. Seems like a good DD trade that brought us Nelson, too. As to this trade, I am thrilled. We seem to have acted like a big market team in taking on salary as Marsh definitely made Moniak expendable. At least It would be nice for once not to give up better prospects in order to get money. Do we know if he came with money?

[andyb]

I am assuming a little money came over in the deal. It is to the Phillies' credit if they took on the payroll though.

Very few people probably realize that Sanchez was the more valuable prospect in the trade. Moniak's star has just dimmed a lot. Sanchez has much more risk but a higher upside. Guessing that the addition of Crawford and Boyd made us more comfortable trading an OF from the low minors.

[zambonir]

Yeah I did not see him as the key piece in the deal but the fact that we did get something of value for Moniak should be appreciated!

How's McKinley Moore doing, incidentally?