MLB Player News

Ryu told reporters at the conclusion of last year that he would like to pitch in the majors again this upcoming season, but the soon-to-be 37-year-old southpaw remains unsigned at the outset of spring training. He made a successful return last year from Tommy John surgery, posting a serviceable 3.46 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 38/14 K/BB ratio across 52 innings (11 starts) for the Blue Jays. However, it seems far more likely that he’ll return to Korea, where he spent the first seven years of his professional career, for the remainder of his baseball life.

The Diamondbacks remain hopeful that their star second baseman will be able to return at some point during the team’s upcoming road trip. What’s unclear, is whether or not he’ll require a brief minor league rehab assignment before joining up with the D’Backs.

The 30-year-old backstop sat out Wednesday’s game with left wrist soreness, but it appears as though he’s doing significantly better after a couple of days off. He’ll do the catching and bat sixth against Pirates’ ace Paul Skenes on Friday night.

The 33-year-old outfielder had been with the White Sox on a minor league pact, but with all of the injuries that the Rays have dealt with in their outfield they felt adding another depth option was a good idea. It’ll be interesting to see if they plan on keeping him at Triple-A Durham or if he’ll join the big league club in short order.

The left-hander will continue to undergo treatment and will be watched over the next few days, but it sounds like he’s going to be able to avoid a trip to the injured list. The question now, is whether or not he’ll be ready in time to take the ball as scheduled on Tuesday against the Rays.

As long as he rebounds well from that outing, he’ll be cleared to face live hitters his next time out. Kirby is still going to require a long buildup before he’s ready to join the Mariners’ rotation, but the 27-year-old right-hander is definitely making strides in the right direction.

The 27-year-old outfielder had additional imaging done and it’s healing as the team had hoped it would, so for now he won’t require any surgical procedure. If all continues to go according to plan, he could be ready to return to action at some point around the All-Star break.

The knee issue is something that the Mariners have been managing for a while and the 25-year-old hurler made the decision to have the procedure done. No word on how long he’ll be shelved for afterwards. He has posted a brutal 5.14 ERA, 2.29 WHIP and a 0/8 K/BB ratio in seven innings with the Mariners this season.

The 37-year-old outfielder didn’t take kindly to something that the Angels’ fans were chirping him about and he responded by giving them a lewd hand gesture. Pham has elected to appeal the suspension. Regardless, with the way that Pham is playing, he shouldn’t be anywhere near fantasy lineups.

It’s unclear if the hot-hitting Smith is going to sit against all left-handers, but him getting a breather with Sale on the mound makes complete sense. Randal Grichuk will function as the team’s designated hitter on Friday night and will bat third for the D’Backs.

Once again it’s Andujar taking a seat to accommodate Nick Kurtz in the A’s lineup. Unless he can find his way into some action at third base to displace Gio Urshela, it looks like he’ll be relegated to a short-side platoon role with his only starts coming against left-handed pitching. That will sap the 30-year-old of any lingering fantasy value that he had in deeper formats.