Justin Morneau vows to be ready for spring training - MLB

Justin Morneau was cleared to resume workouts earlier this week, but the encouraging news doesn’t end there.

At the team’s winter coat drive at Target Field earlier today, Morneau told Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he expects to be ready for spring training.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind. I’ll be ready for spring.”

Morneau suffered a concussion on July 7 after taking a knee to the head on a slide into second base and missed the final three months of the regular season and the playoffs as a result. He was batting .345/.437/.618 with 18 homers, 56 RBI and a 1.055 OPS at the time of the injury.

It’s easy to wonder what could have been, but the team’s offense was still pretty darn good without him during the second half of the season. They were second in the American League in runs, hits, doubles, batting average and on-base percentage, third in OPS and fourth in slugging percentage. Still, getting Morneau back at (hopefully) full strength is akin to a big money free agent signing.

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.”