The knives are out for Bob Geren

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I don’t think anyone disagrees that Brian Fuentes was wrong to spout off about Bob Geren to the media the other night. Even Fuentes agrees, saying in his apology yesterday that he still believed everything he said about Geren’s lack of communication skills, but that he merely shouldn’t have shared it publicly like he did.

Sharing his distaste for Geren publicly today is former A’s pitcher Huston Street, who had many of the same complaints that Fuentes had. Only he, in a text sent to Chronicle reporter Susan Slusser, was a lot more expansive when it came to his feelings about his former manager:

“Bob was never good at communication, and I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but it was a sentiment reflected in many conversations during the two years I spent in Oakland, and even recently when talking to guys after I left. For me personally, he was my least favorite person I have ever encountered in sports from age 6 to 27. I am very thankful to be in a place where I can trust my manager.”

The Chronicle’s John Shea goes on to remind us of a blowup Street had with Geren on a road trip in 2008 and how, on that same trip, Mike Sweeney went after Geren too due to what he felt was, again, a lack of communication and ultimately poor treatment. This being the same Mike Sweeney whose primary mode of expressing himself is via hugs.

There are a couple of players quoted who, while not giving Geren a ringing endorsement, don’t slam him either. But yeah, it does seem like one of those situations that is gonna snowball. There aren’t many “the manager is losing his team” stories that end well for that manager. And that’s true whether the manager is best buddies with the GM or not.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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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.”