MLB Player News

We haven’t heard a whole lot yet about how new skipper Craig Counsell is going to construct his staff with the Cubs, but it sounds like there’s going to be a couple of strong holdovers in place to assist in the transition. The Cubs did lose a pair of coaches on Saturday, as bench coach Andy Green joined the Mets and assistant hitting coach Johnny Washington became the hitting coach for the Angels.

Alvarez is absent for a second straight game today after hurting his right ankle Thursday. The Astros have Yainer Diaz serving as a DH against the Rays.

Lindor’s eighth career slam put the Mets on top 11-2 in the eighth. Long before that, he led off the top of the first with a homer off Gerrit Cole. The two homers upped his season total to 20, a mark he’s now reached nine times. He’s one homer away from 300 for his career.

It’s mid-September, but Thornton showed his best velocity of the season today, averaging 93.6 mph with his fastball. That’s 1.5 mph better than usual. The win makes him 4-5 with a 3.44 ERA through 13 starts. He’s due to pitch at home against the Phillies next week.

Last Sunday against the Padres, it was pretty much just the four homers that did Cole in, and he was quite good after giving up three in a row to start the game. Today, though, he was just crushed throughout. 14 of the 18 balls in play he allowed were hard hit, and he generated only three whiffs on 40 swings. The Yankees have to be fairly concerned at this point. He’s given up 20 homers in 115 1/3 innings on the season. In his last full year in 2023, he allowed 20 homers in 209 innings while taking home AL Cy Young honors. Cole will next face the Diamondbacks in Arizona on Friday.

Young has been a steady bat for the Mets, but the homers have been few and far between of late. Today’s off Bradley Hanner was his first since Aug. 14 and second since July 21 and third since June 25. Still, he’s hit a fine .272/.333/.439 in 324 plate appearances.

Bellinger has three homers in four games. He’s batting .381/.372/.667 with 10 RBI in 10 games this month.

Lee played a critical role in Detroit’s seven-run outburst as they erased a three-run deficit in the eighth inning. The 23-year-old infielder gave the Tigers a commanding four-run advantage by capping the offensive explosion with a two-run triple off the right-field wall. He also notched an RBI double earlier in the contest as part of a three-hit performance. He’s split time between several infield spots, but has really emerged as a key everyday contributor for the Tigers over the last few months.

Goodman connected on a full-count fastball from Tigers rookie starter Andrew Sears, lifting a no-doubter to left field to provide Colorado with an early advantage in the third inning. He’s gone deep twice in his last four games and is within six big flies of Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for the major-league lead. He’s on pace for his first-ever 40-homer campaign and will finish alongside Ben Rice, who won’t retain catcher-eligibility next season, as the most valuable backstop in the entire fantasy landscape.

McGonigle put Detroit on the scoreboard with an impressive 389-foot blast into the right-field seats off Rockies starter Tanner Gordon in the third inning. It was his third round-tripper in his last five games and his 17th big fly of the year. The 22-year-old hitting machine is the clear favorite to take home the American League Rookie of the Year Award and he’s making some real noise down the home stretch to bolster his candidacy. He’s on pace to finish as a top-five fantasy contributor at both third base and shortstop and will be an early-round selection in drafts next spring.

Sears drew the starting assignment in place of Keider Montero, who was away from the club back in Venezuela on paternity leave, and managed to dodge some early traffic before Rockies middle-of-the-order force Hunter Goodman tagged him for a three-run shot in the third inning. He piled up five strikeouts and only issued one walk. The 24-year-old rookie is likely to operate in long relief if he sticks around with Detroit beyond this outing.