Noah Syndergaard signed a one-year, $21 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels this week, departing the New York Mets, the team with which he made his big-league debut in 2015.
The starting pitcher accepted the Angels’ offer over the one-year, $18.4 million contract that the Mets had extended to him via a qualifying offer at the end of the season.
Syndergaard only pitched two innings at the end of the 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2020, but the 29-year-old has a 3.32 ERA in 718 career innings and was considered one of the top starters available this winter.
Syndergaard said leaving the Mets was the “hardest decision of my life.”
Longtime New York sports talk radio host Mike Francesa took to Twitter to weigh in on the pitcher’s departure, stating that “the Mets are better off without Syndergaard” and that the team has “been without him for years.”
Syndergaard responded to Francesa: “Damn, didn’t know you were still alive. Congrats”
WARNING: NSFW language
Damn, didn’t know you were still alive. Congrats.
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) November 19, 2021
Francesa tweeted again on Saturday morning, saying that the pitcher “whined and ran away” from New York. That earned another response from Syndergaard:
Only thing you’ve ever won is being a gas-bag Mets hating opportunist. All you’ve done is talk shit and spread toxic crap for a career. Congrats again sweetie, you’re doing great.
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) November 20, 2021
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Noah Syndergaard, Mike Francesa are beefing on Twitter: ‘Gas-bag’