Report: Rangers met recently with James Shields - MLB

Now that Jon Lester has settled on a team, inking a six-year, $155 million contract late Tuesday night with the Cubs, the focus of this wild starting pitching market turns to Max Scherzer and James Shields.

Scherzer is a client of super agent Scott Boras and there’s talk of him waiting until the tail end of the offseason to choose a destination, so it could be Shields who now takes center stage. Indeed, the righty has already begun meeting with teams …

According to sources close to the situation, the Rangers met with Shields and his representatives over the weekend and are expected to be serious contenders to sign the right-hander as they survey the starting pitching market. The team has also reportedly showed interest in free agent Justin Masterson as well as trade candidates Dillon Geeand Wade Miley, but may be looking to make a bigger splash with the signing of someone like Shields.

That comes from Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish. Shields registered a 3.18 ERA (128 ERA+) in his two seasons with Kansas City and has topped 215 innings every year since 2007. It figures that the 32-year-old’s asking price will start at well over $100 million. And then maybe it comes down slightly from there.

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UPDATE, 7:54 p.m. ET: Cotillo adds that the Red Sox and Giants have set up meetings with Shields.

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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.”