Nationals sign reliever Oliver Perez to two-year contract - MLB

Left-hander Oliver Perez has signed a two-year, $7 million deal to join the Nationals’ bullpen, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.

Perez washed out as a starter because of his extreme control problems and came dangerously close to being totally out of the majors for good by age 30, but resurrected his career as a reliever and put together a strong run from 2012-2015.

During that four-season span he logged 182 innings with a 3.31 ERA, striking out 11.1 batters per nine innings and holding opponents to a .239 batting average.

Perez is 34 years old and still struggles to consistently throw strikes, but $3.5 million per season for a veteran setup man is an inexpensive price tag and he’s capable of handling right-handed hitters well enough to be more than a situational southpaw for manager Dusty Baker. At the very least he’s death to lefty bats.

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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.”