The Braves and A.J. Pierzynski reach a one-year deal; first reported in a ham store - MLB

The Braves have reached a one year agreement with catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who will likely serve as their backup catcher in 2015.

That’s not terribly surprising — Pierzynski has been a rumored Braves target for some time — but the manner in which the news broke today is all kinds of fun.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com was the first to confirm it. But he heard about it the same way I did. He heard it from Aaron Lunsford. Aaron is not a reporter. But his dad got the scoop:

@craigcalcaterra braves signed pierzynski today. No joke. Dad just talked to fredi Gonzalez in honey baked ham.

— Aaron Lunsford (@darrenstains) December 24, 2014

In addition to me, Aaron also tweeted it at Bowman, David O’Brien and a bunch of other scoopsters. While I decided the best use of my time was to make jokes about ham rumors on Twitter, Bowman checked it out. In other news, I can confirm that the Gonzalez family will be eating ham on Christmas.

Pierzynski hit .251/.288/.337 in 102 games in Boston and St. Louis. He still has at least some cartilage left in his knees and owns a catcher’s mitt, however, which means that he is still employable as a backup catcher.

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.”