MLB Player News

The right-hander’s 2022 season was cut short when he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his pitching elbow in early August. He’s expected to be ready physically for the start of spring training -- though he no longer holds a spot on the club’s 40-man roster.

The 22-year-old rookie has put up video game numbers as a hitter this season, and the Cubs have decided that they can no longer keep slow-playing his development behind the plate. Ballesteros got his first start this season behind the plate in Monday night’s 9-7 loss to the Padres. According to Mooney, “Ballesteros has been engaged in the process, catching bullpen sessions, doing throwing drills, and participating in meetings,” so the Cubs will now try to get him more game reps. Cubs manager Craig Counsell would not commit to those reps being regular, so it remains unclear how soon Ballesteros will gain catcher eligibility in fantasy leagues where he doesn’t yet have it.

Ashcraft was placed on the bereavement list Saturday, and while the 26-year-old was originally scheduled to face St. Louis on Monday, the right-hander will instead get the ball for the middle game of the series a day later. He’ll look to repeat his previous effort where he worked seven innings of two-run baseball against the Rangers.

Gose, 35, will give the Royals some bullpen depth in the minors. The 35-year-old last pitched in the majors in 2024 when he made three appearances for the Guardians.

Cora is signed to a three-year, $21.75 million contract with the Red Sox that he will still collect even if he doesn’t manage another game. Taking another managerial position would mean that he has to rip up that contract, so he’s understandably in no rush. Cora will spend time with his family for now, but there’s obviously a chance that he could change his mind in the future. For now, Don Mattingly will manage the Phillies.

Stammen said that Machado didn’t look great coming out of the batter’s box on his last at-bat and also had a couple of slides at second base that “didn’t feel great on his lower half.” The Padres will talk to Machado on Tuesday and see how he’s feeling before deciding if he needs an off day or not, but Stammen said that Machado is “fine.”

Instead, the Yankees will call up starting pitching prospect Elmer Rodríguez to make his MLB debut on Wednesday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has confirmed that Warren is not dealing with any injury but that the team is just realigning its rotation. That realignment has not yet been announced, but the Yankees could just push Warren and Ryan Weathers back one day each, which would allow them to start against Baltimore along with Max Fried and Cam Schlittler.

The 21-year-old is off to a great start at Triple-A, posting a 1.27 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 21 1/3 innings. He has just 20 strikeouts over that stretch, so he has yet to show the swing-and-miss upside that he displayed at Double-A last year. It may eventually become a larger part of his game, but it’s fair to wonder how many bats he’s going to miss right away at the big league level. The Yankees also have Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole on their way back in a couple of weeks, so this will likely be a short audition for Rodríguez. That makes him hard to add in fantasy leagues outside of deeper leagues, where you’d be willing to stream him for this debut.

Schuemann will come up to take Giancarlo Stanton’s (calf) spot on the active roster. However, Schuemann is hitting .203/.362/.297 in 96 plate appearances at Triple-A this season, so it seems likely that he will just be sent down later this week when Anthony Volpe (shoulder) comes off the IL.

Don Mattingly, who joined the team as bench coach this offseason, will take over as interim manager. Thomson becomes the second manager fired this month after the Red Sox fired Alex Cora over the weekend. In fact, many reports suggest that Thomson’s firing could be directly tied to that, since Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations for the Phillies, has a close relationship with Cora from their time together in Boston. A potential manager swap was made easier with the Phillies’ getting out to a 9-19 start to the season, tied with the Mets for the worst record in baseball. Thomson ends his Phillies career with a record of 355-270 for a .568 winning percentage, which is second-best in franchise history. He took the Phillies to the World Series in 2022, but the team then lost in the NLCS in 2023, the Division Series in 2024, and the Division Series in 2025. Thomson will likely get another chance to manage if he wants one.

Congrats to Dylan and his growing family. He should be out for the opening series of the week and then return before the weekend.