Max Scherzer is looking for a contract worth more than $200 million

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The Tigers apparently aren’t going to bite, but free agent right-hander Max Scherzer (and his agent Scott Boras) are aiming high in free agency. Like, really high.

Scherzer turned down a $144 million extension from the Tigers this past March. It proved to be a fine gamble, as the 30-year-old turned in another excellent season, with a 3.15 ERA and 252/63 K/BB ratio over 220 1/3 innings. He finished fifth in the balloting for the AL Cy Young Award.

The market for Scherzer has been pretty quiet at this week’s Winter Meetings so far, but things will likely heat up once Jon Lester is off the board.

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

dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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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.”