Astros owner Jim Crane bought iPads for all the players - MLB

When the Astros arrived at their lockers in Minute Maid Park they found new iPads waiting for them, courtesy of owner Jim Crane.

Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that Crane got the idea from general manager Jeff Luhnow, who wants the players to use the iPads to “look at of their at-bats and pitching so they can study the pitching for the next night.”

Or, you know, fun stuff. Of course, McTaggart also notes: “Most of the players already have iPads.”

Yes, I suppose a free thing worth $500 isn’t such a big deal for players even on a team where almost everyone is making the minimum salary when the minimum salary is $500,000. Still. On a related note, a few months ago NBC sent me a free Rotoworld hat and I’ve worn it approximately 100 times.

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.”