No one wants to trade for Jonathan Papelbon - MLB

Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon, though expensive, has been one of the best in the business since signing a four-year, $50 million contract with the Phillies after the 2011 season. In the three seasons since, he has saved 106 games with a 2.45 ERA and a 212/44 K/BB ratio in 198 innings. Only a handful of closers have been better: Craig Kimbrel, Greg Holland, Huston Street, Aroldis Chapman, Fernando Rodney, and Kenley Jansen are the only other ones to have saved at least 95 games with a lower ERA than Papelbon since the start of the 2012 season.

And yet, no one wants to trade for Papelbon, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports. He writes that the Blue Jays and Astros are two teams with an obvious need at the back of the bullpen but neither is interested in paying the price. Recent reports have indicated that Phillies GM Ruben Amaro has a high price tag on his tradeable assets.

Papelbon, 34, will make $13 million in 2015 and, as long as he stays healthy and finishes 48 games in the upcoming season, will likely have his 2016 option for $13 million vest as well. In any trade, the Phillies would likely have to cover most or all of his remaining salary to get anything of value in return.

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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.”