The Indians designate Mark Grudzielanek for assignment - MLB

Mark Grudzielanek headshot.jpg Tough week for aging infielders, no? First Adam ~~Kennedy~~ Everett was DFA’d by the Tigers and now Mark Grudzielanek* gets the same treatment.

Grudzielanek was batting .273/.328/.273 with 11 RBI in 110 at-bats with the Indians this season. He hurt his hammy on Sunday, however, and since the Indians were given special permission by the league office to treat ballplayers like horses, Grudzielanek had no choice but to be put out of his (roster) misery.

Filling Grudzielanek’s spot will be Anderson Hernandez, who has been playing all over the infield in Columbus. He’s the guy that my fellow Columbusites tend to miss at Huntington Park because we use his at bats for beer runs. Can’t miss Carlos Santana, after all, can we?

*Pfun Pfact: no one has actually typed Mark Grudzielanek’s name in over eight years. It’s just been repeatedly copied and pasted from previous articles!

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.”