The Nats are being aggressive in the early trading season - MLB

No deals of note have happened yet, but Andy Martino of the Daily News reports that one team has been blowin’ up other teams’ cell phones:

One rival executive said that while trade talk around the league remains mostly quiet and preliminary, as is typical with more than a month to go before the deadline, Washington has emerged as the most aggressive team. “They’re calling everybody, trying to do something,” the exec said. “They’re looking for pitching, and they’re being really aggressive.”

Martino notes that Ricky Nolasco is being made available by the Marlins. While inter-divisional trades are rare, one gets the sense that Miami doesn’t really care about such things if it means moving veterans.

Martino has some other notes about teams who may be competing with the Nats for pitching depth. Check it out.

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.”