Angels shopping starting pitcher C.J. Wilson - MLB

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman is hearing from rival MLB general managers that the Angels are making left-handed starter C.J. Wilson available for a trade ahead of this week’s Winter Meetings in San Diego.

The feeling is that the Halos are setting themselves up for a run at a top free agent pitcher like Max Scherzer or James Shields, and moving Wilson would free up both a rotation spot and some payroll space.

Anaheim are probably going to have to eat some cash to find a taker for the 34-year-old southpaw, who posted a rough 4.51 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in 175 2/3 innings this past season for the AL West champions and then got shelled in his one postseason start. Wilson is owed $18 million in 2015 and a whopping $20 million in 2016.

He carries a no-trade clause that allows him to veto moves to eight (unidentified) teams.

Follow @drewsilv

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.”