Davey Lopes leaves Phillies after failed contract negotiations - MLB

First base coach Davey Lopes has been widely credited with much of the Phillies’ exceptional success stealing bases in recent years, but the 65-year-old told Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com that he will not be back with the team next season after the two sides couldn’t agree on a new contract:

We just had a difference of opinion on what I felt my worth was. That’s all. It was a really tough decision because I loved my time in Philadelphia, I loved working for Charlie Manuel, and I have the utmost respect for everyone in that organization. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed my time in Philadelphia. I am really going to miss the atmosphere and the passion.

Believe me, I wasn’t looking to break the bank. I just think sometimes you get pigeonholed as a first-base coach, and I think I had a lot more responsibility than that. I guess you could say it’s a principle type thing. But I move on without hard feelings. I mean that. My time in Philadelphia was great.

Lopez was a four-time All-Star second baseman in the 1970s and 1980s, and ranks as one of the most efficient base-stealers in baseball history with 557 career steals at an 83 percent clip. He joined the Phillies’ coaching staff in 2006 and the team has led all of baseball in stolen base percentage in each of the past four seasons, including a record-setting 87.9 percent mark in 2007.

In light of those numbers and the dozens of articles praising him over the past 3-4 years it definitely seems odd that the Phillies would let him walk over a difference in money that presumably amounts to a fraction of the MLB minimum for players.

Salisbury notes that Lopes lives in San Diego and would like to join a West Coast team while listing Mariano Duncan, John Russell, and Juan Samuel as possible first base coach replacements in Philadelphia.

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.”