MLB Player News

Per a new roster exemption this year, a player can be temporarily added to a team’s 40-man roster to replace a player going on the COVID-19 injured list and then later removed without going through the waiver process. Strop will help out a bullpen that’s without three members.

Painter didn’t allow a run on just two hits through his first two innings while striking out four. He then retired the first two batters of the third inning before allowing a single, a home run, and a double, and being pulled from the game. Painter registered a 33 percent whiff rate and 27 percent CSW on the day, with his slider and changeup being particularly effective. However, he also had a 63 percent strike rate and just a 38 percent first pitch strike rate, so command remains an issue that the 22-year-old will need to iron out if he’s going to be effective this season.

Rasmussen also walked two but struck out four on the day. The 30-year-old threw plenty of strikes and got ahead in the count regularly, but he had just a 15 percent whiff rate and struggled to miss bats with any pitch other than this cutter. Still, Ramussen worked his way out of trouble regularly and has pitched well all spring. He could easily reach 170 or more innings this season and is still going far too late in fantasy drafts.

Oviedo struck out five and posted a 23 percent whiff rate and 30 percent CSW; however, he also walked three and threw just 57 percent of his pitches for strikes. The upside is that Oviedo had a 67 percent first pitch strike rate with his four-seam fastball, so he didn’t really struggle to get ahead of hitters; he just couldn’t execute with his breaking stuff as often as he would have liked after he did. Overall, it wasn’t a terrible start for Oviedo, and he remains the favorite to open the season as Boston’s fifth starter.

Henderson has been shut down due to elbow soreness, which is a concern since elbow inflammation ended his season last year. As of now, it appears Henderson is feeling good and could even pitch in a Cactus League game this weekend. It remains to be seen if that will be enough time for him to be considered for the fifth spot in the Brewers’ rotation.

Misner was traded to the Royals in November, and Hoskins has now been announced as the “player to be named later.” The 22-year-old reliever was a 12th-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Georgia. His fastball is in the 96-98 mph range, but he pitched only about 50 innings in college after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The Blue Jays have been cautious with his workload this spring after a deep playoff run last year. Yesavage threw 35 pitches in his last outing, so the Blue Jays will want him to bump up from that so that he could potentially be up to 60 pitches by the end of spring training. He still has not appeared in an MLB spring training game, so it remains to be seen what the Blue Jays’ plan for him is at the start of the season, especially now with José Berrios potentially beginning the season on the IL.

There was some hope that Díaz could pitch his way into the Rangers’ bullpen plans this season, but he has allowed eight runs on three hits while walking four and striking out one in just 1 2/3 innings this spring. His numbers, both in the majors and Triple-A last season, were also bad, and he has never quite been able to recapture that 2022 season magic. He’s only 29 years old, so some team will undoubtedly give him another chance, but we wouldn’t bank on him being a fantasy-relevant closer any time soon.

For now, Bieber will “will stay on his regular throwing schedule for the next few days,” and then, a week from now, the team will access how he feels. The veteran has been battling forearm tightness since the end of last season. It’s a little concerning that the issue didn’t seem to get fixed over the off-season, which makes Bieber a real risk in fantasy drafts this year given his extensive injury history.

That’s not typically a good sign. The Blue Jays had previously said they were not concerned about a major injury for Berrios, but it’s hard to be as confident in that now. He likely wasn’t on fantasy radars anyway so this shouldn’t change that, but it may change value in the rest of the Blue Jays rotation. The team had wanted to be cautious with Trey Yesavage’s innings, but they may not have that luxury anymore. Of course, they could just move Eric Lauer into the rotation or piggyback Lauer and Yesavage. This also means Cody Ponce’s spot in this rotation is very secure, and he should be going higher in drafts.

None of them is older than 23 years old or has played any minor league ball above Double-A, so they were highly unlikely to force their way onto the 40-man roster. Campbell is the team’s 19th-ranked prospect, according to FanGraph’s rankings, while Rincon ranks 28th, and Escobar ranks 4th. Escobar is just 21 years old and should begin this season in Double-A.