MLB Player News

Johnson sat out the entire 2018 season after posting a decent .301/.330/.506 batting line over 62 games with the Triple-A affiliate of the Orioles in 2017. He played in 839 major league games with five different clubs between 2009-2016. The 34-year-old was also exploring offers overseas earlier this winter and probably would have had a better shot at prominent playing time in Japan or South Korea. He’ll be a Triple-A player for Chicago.

Jordan Leasure will open, but LHP Anthony Kay will be the bulk for the White Sox. Aranda has slumped over his last five games, going just 2-for-18 with 4 RBI. He remains a solid 1B option in deeper leagues.

He’ll get a rare game off against LHP Patrick Corbin, with Greg Jones handling left field and batting seventh. Frelick is off to a .179/.303/.268 start, with just one stolen base and one homer so far. His performance probably has him as a fringe option in 12-team leagues at this point, but his .288 batting average and 19 stolen bases in 2025 are reasons to hold through the slow start.

He had missed the last five games with the injury. Brandon Valenzuela will take a seat on Thursday for some well-deserved rest after covering several games in a row. Heineman is only a fantasy factor in the deepest of leagues, but it’s good to see that he was apparently able to avoid the injured list.

While none of the injuries seem overly serious, Hinch did say, “We’re going to continue to get him looked at even further.” That could mean a short trip to the injured list is in McKinstry’s future.

Bailey is an elite defensive catcher, so the Giants are going to want to keep him on the field often, but this may be more of a 50/50 split going forward, with Vitello mentioning that the catchers may just alternate games. It’s a situation to monitor and likely makes neither player fantasy relevant.

It’s a reunion of sorts as the Mets claimed Lovelady off waivers from the Nationals last month. The left-hander has been unable to stick on anybody’s active roster and has allowed five runs in 7 1/3 innings so far this year.

Hinch said, “I don’t think [Verlander’s] taking a step forward, and he hasn’t taken a step back.” That’s not really confidence-inducing. Verlander is 43 years old, so it makes sense that he might not bounce back as quickly as he did 20 years ago. Given that his performance on the field has also been inconsistent, this seems like a situation the Tigers won’t rush, and fantasy managers should avoid.

Sosa went 1-for-3 on Wednesday in his first start with the Blue Jays and will be right back out there again. Eloy Jimenez will remain on the bench with Kazuma Okamoto at first base and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at DH. It seems that the Blue Jays are going to give Sosa a chance to start against right-handed pitchers and use the DH spot as a rotational lineup spot while potentially saving Jimenez for left-handed pitchers.

According to Tomczyk, pitchers generally have between three and six simulated games or live batting practices before rehab assignments begin. If we assume that Jones will try to get two simulated appearances per week, there’s a chance that he is beginning a rehab assignment by early May, which would put him in line to be activated off the IL soon after he first becomes eligible on May 25th.

Even with left-hander Sam Aldegheri on the mound, the Yankees will let Rice play first base over Paul Goldschmidt. This might be because Aaron Boone doesn’t expect Aldegheri, who’s pitched just 13 innings in three minor league starts, to pitch deep into this game. However, we know that Rice has hit lefties well of late, so this could be a good indication that the Yankees are open to getting Rice into the lineup when they have to face many lefties in a short period of time. Amed Rosario will get into the starting lineup at third base today with Ryan McMahon sitting, even though McMahon started against the last lefty they faced.