I think Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera are going to kiss - MLB

Love at first sight, courtesy of Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press:

Maybe it was the way Prince Fielder showed up four days early for spring training. Or maybe it was the massive home run he hit during batting practice … Or maybe it was the way Fielder hung out in the clubhouse Monday morning and looked so comfortable and relaxed … Or maybe it was the way Fielder and Cabrera seemed to build an instant connection. They were inseparable on their first day together. They played catch together and batted together and stretched together and did sprints together and at one point, after most of the clubhouse had cleared out, they stood arm in arm and took several pictures of each other with their cell phones.

Spring training, people. It’s where the magic happens. And it’s where stories like these get written because, really, there’s not much going on yet. Remember those “A-Rod and Jeter are best friends” stories? Yeah.

Someone just be sure to bookmark it for when the Tigers are struggling at some point in the offseason and either Cabrera or Fielder gets an unwelcome day off in the middle of a slump. We’ll see if they remember what their love was like back when it was special, fresh and new.

(hat tip to @norunsupport, who happens to be my girlfriend, so I sorta have no room to talk here)

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.”