Link-O-Rama: Pedro loses to Mother Nature - MLB

* Pedro Martinez’s first minor-league rehab start was cut short because of rain
yesterday at Single-A, so he ended up throwing only 24 pitches before
heading to the bullpen for another 60 throws. Zach Schonbrun of MLB.com
reports that Martinez “will likely throw two more starts in the minor
leagues before being ready to join” the Phillies.

* Junichi Tazawa, the 23-year-old right-hander who skipped the
professional ranks in Japan to sign with the Red Sox this offseason,
has been promoted to Triple-A after going 9-5 with a 2.57 ERA and 88/26 K/BB ratio in 98 innings at Double-A.

* Andrew Miller’s demotion to the minors got off to a rough start over the weekend, as he walked nine batters while failing to make it out of the fifth inning in his first outing at Triple-A.

* There was speculation that a trade could be brewing when Reid Brignac
was pulled from a Triple-A game over the weekend, but the Rays announced that he merely “tweaked his leg a bit.”

* Thomas Harding of MLB.com shares the story of Jhoulys Chacin learning that he was headed to the big leagues.

* Cross the Giants off the list of teams in the mix for Roy Halladay.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”