It wasn't just about the money.That's right, dollar figures certainly do a lot of the talking in this industry, but Noah Syndergaard's decision to leave the Mets was much deeper than that.In fact, Syndergaard made it clear in late-September that he did not want to leave the Mets and It'd be a "tough pill to swallow" if this were to occur, indicating where his heart truly was at the time.He even went as far as to say he was "fairly confident" that the two sides would be able to reach an agreement and acknowledged how grateful he'd be if the Mets extended him the one-year, $18.4 million qualifying offer after pitching a total of just two innings in the last two seasons coming off Tommy John surgery in 2020.So, what changed?Well, according to , Syndergaard was wooed by Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian, who flew acro s the country to take the free agent out to dinner on Friday night.What went down at this meeting/meal was an aggre sive presentation from Minasian on how his team planned to use Syndergaard, keep him healthy and improve his overall performance next season.He also explained to the righty how the club would have Khris Middleton Jersey him pitch to specific players on each team in the AL West, and cited the benefits of pitching in a six-man rotation, which helped superstar Shohei Ohtani endure a healthy Thon Maker Jersey campaign of hitting and pitching last season.Minasian not only sold the idea of a six-man rotation to Syndergaard, but he provided details on how it would give him additional time to recover between starts and lower his innings total next year. He even brought some data along with him to show what the Angels preferred about his arm delivery and pitch mix, while elaborating on how to evolve them into being more effective.This of course, led to an agreement with the Angels who signed the right-hander to a one-year, $21 million deal, as a on Tuesday First reported by ESPN According to this , the deal does not include any vesting options, which means Syndergaard accepted a one-year prove it contract for an extra $2.6 million to bolt from New York.Shockingly, Syndergaard's camp did not even go back to the Mets and billionaire owner Steve Cohen to try to see if they would match the Angels' offer, which signaled that the 29-year-old was ready for a change of scenery in Los Angeles. The Mets did not know Syndergaard was signing elsewhere until he was already on a plane to L.A. on Tuesday morning.Per Sherman, the Mets went radio silent on Syndergaard after extending him the QO, which they were hesitant to give him in the first place. And although the Yankees were reported to have interest in him, Syndergaard instead opted to distance himself from po sible distractions of staying so close to the Jason Terry Jersey Mets and chose to leave New York altogether.Not to mention, the Yankees' negotiations were expected to go beyond the qualifying offer deadline on Nov. 17. Syndergaard and his camp also wanted to complete his physical to make his contract official before it was too late to fall back on the Mets' initial offer.In addition to the Yankees, Sherman reported that the Blue Jays, Braves and Red Sox all showed interest in Syndergaard as well.However, Minasian was apart of the group that drafted Syndergaard in Toronto back in 2010. The current Angels' GM has always valued the hard-throwing righty and made the most serious play to land him in free agency.Scroll to ContinueThat is why he chose to bet on Syndergaard's upside, as the starter looks to rebuild his value next season before re-entering the open market in a year from now at age-30.In the end, Syndergaard didn't exactly feel wanted by the Mets, and showed concerns over their product since they hadn't hired Minasian's predece sor in Los Angeles, GM Billy Eppler until Monday night. They are also still in need of a manager as well.Other than Cohen's intention to win-now, the Mets couldn't nece sarily sell the bigger picture to Syndergaard, who drifted away from New York in the past week or so and decided it was time for a fresh start.But to expand on this further, while Syndergaard may not have felt the Matthew Dellavedova Jersey love from the Mets from a communication standpoint, they still offered him $18.4 million to rebuild his value despite only pitching a total of two innings in the last two years. This figure was initially deemed as a high-price tag for someone who hasn't pitched acro s a full season since 2019.In the meantime, Syndergaard's camp was waiting out the starting pitching market to see if they could get him a higher offer than the QO and it worked.Once Syndergaard became a free agent, he discovered what else was out there and realized there were better opportunities for him outside of the Mets and New York.And toDuring Syndergaard's first three seasons in the big-leagues, his manager was Terry Collins, who led the Mets to the 2015 World Series and a Wild Card berth in 2016.And on Tuesday night, Collins joined the majority of the crowd that was surprised by Syndergaard's departure."I was very surprised. I know Noah's love for New York, I know the response he got from the fans," said . "One of the things that New York holds over everybody else is the doctors that have worked on him, all the trainers, all the people that have been with him for his health in the last few years are here."Now, he has to go to a fresh start," he said. "I just feel bad for the fans of New York because I thought Noah was going to be here a long time."Under Collins, Syndergaard endured the best succe s of his career, finishing eighth in the NL Cy Young race in 2016. Unfortunately Jabari Parker Jersey , the right-hander has dealt with a number of injuries ever since that season.On Wednesday, Syndergaard posted a heartfelt thank you me sage to the Mets organization and fans on his Twitter page."Dear Mets fans, this is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," he wrote. "I'll always be pulling for the Mets, until I'm playing against you.I was both flattered by all the outside interest, yet couldnt proce s what it would mean or how hard it would be to leave New York City."It is indeed the end of an era: After spending nine-years in the Mets organization, Syndergaard will be pitching in a different uniform in 2022.