Nationals payroll “beyond topped out”

By Apr 4, 2014, 7:35 PM EDT
34 Comments

Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner says the team’s payroll is “beyond topped out”, per Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Lerner added, “Our payroll has skyrocketed to like $140 million. It’s in the papers. I don’t think we can go much further with the revenue streams that we have.”

Jayson Werth ($20.57 million), Ryan Zimmerman ($14 million), Rafael Soriano ($14 million), and Adam LaRoche ($12 million) account for a large portion of the current payroll, at 44 percent. Lerner says the team will be more cautious in spending based on the team’s revenue. Kilgore adds that their future spending could also be determined by the direction in which negotiations over TV rights goes with MASN.

The Nationals’ payroll has skyrocketed after their 2012 success, going from $92.5 million to $118 million, then up to $135 million for the 2014 season.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
0 Comments

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.”