Pirates sign Corey Hart

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Pittsburgh has been searching for a right-handed hitter and it looks like they’ve settled on Corey Hart, signing him to a one-year contract worth $2.5 million guaranteed and $2.5 million in incentives.

Hart was one of the best right-handed power hitters in baseball for the Brewers from 2010-2012, batting .279 with an .857 OPS and 31, 26, and 30 homers. Then he missed all of 2013 with a knee injury and was a mess for the Mariners this past season, hitting .203 in 68 games.

As a cheap bounceback gamble not counted on for more than a part-time role–platoon with Pedro Alvarez at first base or with a lefty bat in the outfield–he makes sense and if healthy he should have plenty of upside at age 33.

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.”