Nick Swisher not quite ready to return from strained hip flexor - MLB

Nick Swisher was originally considered day-to-day when he left last Friday’s game with a strained left hip flexor. However, he sat out rest of the weekend and this week’s three-game series against the Mariners. Now the Yankees have ruled him out for tomorrow’s series opener against the Red Sox.

The good news for the Bombers is that it doesn’t appear to be a DL-situation. According to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, Swisher took batting practice and ran the bases during a workout this afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman later said Swisher will “definitely” not be active for tomorrow’s game, but a return on Saturday is possible.

Swisher, 31, is hitting .258/.342/.470 with 14 home runs, 54 RBI and an .812 OPS in 85 games played this season. Ichiro Suzuki has been playing right field since coming over from the Mariners on Monday, but he’s expected to slide over to left field once Swisher is ready to return.

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.”