Ryan Vogelsong “really wasn’t comfortable with what was going on” with Astros before returning to Giants

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Ryan Vogelsong recently flirted with the Astros and even went to Houston for a physical on Monday before ultimately returning to the Giants on a one-year, $4 million contract. It sounds like something strange could have led to his last-minute change of heart.

According to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle, Vogelsong said the following about the Astros during a conference call yesterday:

“I made a visit to Houston and met with A.J. Hinch the manager and the staff, the training staff, and I took a physical — just as the process went along here, really wasn’t comfortable with what was going on. Ultimately, made a decision to come back with the Giants and I’m really just really happy to be back and glad things worked out the way they have.”

Vogelsong later was a guest on San Francisco radio station KNBR and again made a vague reference to how his free agency played out:

“I feel like I’ve been pushed back here by divine intervention or whatever you want to call it. But everything that’s happened to me this offseason — and one of these days I’ll tell you guys all about it, when we’re all sitting around having a couple beers 10 years from now when I’m done playing — and you’ll go, ‘There’s no way that happened,’ and I’ll say “Yup,” and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

So was this just a matter of awkward phrasing on the part of Vogelsong or did the Astros do something to turn him off? Well, Vogelsong’s agent, Dave Meier, has since clarified that his client meant to say that he was only “uncomfortable” because negotiations started breaking down, not because of something the Astros did. We might never know the whole story, but Vogelsong and the Giants are obviously happy with how things worked out.

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

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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.”