Cubs activate Clay Holmes to face Royals

This is apparently a planned day off for Marte, who was just activated from the injured list on Monday with a knee injury. Marte had been the DH for the first two games of the series, so Gabriel Moreno will take that spot today with James McCann catching.

Clarke has now been off the injured list for two games and has started in center field for both of them. We should note that both of them have been against left-handed pitchers, which means Carlos Cortes was always going to be on the bench for both of these games. It remains to be seen what the Athletics do against a righty, but Zack Gelof has been playing left field, and Henry Bolte has been at designated hitter, which likely means Bolte and Cortes are battling for at-bats against right-handed pitchers.

Suarez was just activated off the injured list on August 28th, but he allowed six runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings since returning, so the Athletics are moving on. He could return on a minor league deal or find another minor league opportunity elsewhere.

Hartlieb has struggled with a 6.08 ERA in 13 1/3 innings for the Athletics this season. The 32-year-old has a 7.69 ERA in 96 career MLB innings.

Since coming to the Nationals from the Yankees at the trade deadline, Grable has allowed one run on eight hits in 10 1/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A. That has come with a 16/7 K/BB ratio. You have to wonder if the Nationals will give him a chance at some MLB innings this month.

Ohtani was set to make a one-inning start on Sunday against the Tigers, but he didn’t feel 100 percent after a bullpen session, so that plan was scrapped. Roberts said that the plan for now is that Ohtani won’t throw for at least a week and the team will determine next steps from there. That timeline obviously means that Ohtani’s chance of getting built up to make normal-length starts in the playoffs is highly unlikely. The Dodgers now have to have a discussion about whether or not him pitching at all is worth any injury risk to his knee or biceps. As Roberts said, “His value offensively is hugely important, so if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze.”

Arnold is the Athletics’ fourth-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and is in his first professional season after being drafted 11th overall last year out of Florida State. The left-hander has a 3.42 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, and 130/51 K/BB ratio across 118 1/3 innings at Double-A this season. Taylor was the 48th overall pick of the 2025 MLB Draft. He hit .323/.409/.534 in 68 games at Double-A with 14 home runs and six steals before his promotion. In 125 games split between Double-A and Single-A, he had 20 home runs, 97 RBI, and 13 steals, while posting a 15.4 percent walk rate. The Athletics have tons of young options in the outfield and will need to make some tough calls over the next season or two.

It was a rough first MLB start for Paez on Tuesday, allowing eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners. He did throw 63 percent of his pitches for strikes, including 86 percent on his curve, and his changeup posted a 17 percent swinging strike rate against lefties, but his fastball locations were not good, and he simply doesn’t throw hard enough to get by without solid location. There’s a chance he gets another spot start this season to keep Boston’s regular starters fresh for the playoffs.

Drake Baldwin will slide to designated hitter. Murphy has gone 13-for-58 in his 17 games this season with two home runs, four RBI, and a 22/3 K/BB ratio.

The Nationals needed a roster spot for Riley Cornelio, so they decided to let Cosgrove go. The 30-year-old has a 7.71 ERA in 16 1/3 innings for the Nationals this season. He could return on a minor league deal.