Brandon Webb scratched from rehab start due to shoulder discomfort - MLB

And now for the least surprising news you’ll hear all day.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that Brandon Webb was scratched from his scheduled minor league rehab start this evening due to shoulder discomfort.

Webb, who hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since Opening Day of the 2009 season, was scheduled to make his first start with Triple-A Round Rock. He was being moved up for Friday’s outing, despite posting an ugly 9.75 ERA and 8/6 K/BB ratio over four starts with Double-A Frisco. He allowed four runs over five innings in his last start last Friday.

The Rangers signed Webb to a one-year contract with $3 million in guaranteed salary, but it’s increasingly likely that he won’t throw a pitch for the big-league club.

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.”