MLB Player News

Senga threw 25 pitches in the bullpen session, according to manager Carlos Mendoza. The 31-year-old was left off the Wild Card roster, but Mendoza did say that he was a possibility for the NLDS should the Mets advance. Assuming good health, Senga should pitch near the top of the rotation for New York in 2025 regardless if he returns for the playoffs or not.

Williams had allowed one home run in 22 appearances this year, but after Francisco Lindor walked and Brandon Nimmo singled in the ninth inning, he gave up a big three-run blast to Pete Alonso. The Brewers couldn’t have drawn up Game 3 of the Wild Card series much better than having Williams on the mound in the ninth inning with a two-run lead, but he didn’t get the job done. He’s still a top five fantasy closer heading into the offseason.

Myers allowed two hits, walked none and struck out five. He was somewhat curiously removed from the game after only 66 pitches. Nonetheless, the 26-year-old rookie was just as impressive during the regular season as he was in his brief playoff start. Myers heads into the offseason on a personal high note.

Quintana allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five. He gave the Mets exactly what they needed in an elimination game. Quintana is sure to get at least another start in the NLDS against the Phillies.

A Game 3 starter still hasn’t been revealed yet. The reasoning for the Dodgers going with Flaherty in Game 2 now is that he would be more accustomed to pitching with regular rest in a Game 5 if necessary.

Alvarez was designated for assignment earlier this week and cleared waivers. The Mets acquired the utility man from the Red Sox in September, which was only allowed because Alvarez was on a minor league deal at the time. He has the option to refuse the outright assignment and become a free agent, which he’ll almost certainly do.

Contreras has a slight knee issue and was out running on the field before the game. He’ll be the DH with Gary Sanchez behind the dish for Milwaukee on Thursday.

There’s no question that the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff disappointed in 2024, finishing with a team ERA of 4.63 which was 27th in all of baseball. However, how much of that is on the coaches, and how much of it is that the front office used a lot of resources to bring in underwhelming free agents Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery? Strom was the Astros’ pitching coach from 2014-21 and Houston never finished worse than 11th in the league in ERA. He has struggled to duplicate that in Arizona with the team finishing 22nd in ERA in 2022 and 20th in ERA in 2023, so the team will hope another coach can get more out of their pitching staff.

After taking a seat on Wednesday with J.D. Martinez starting at DH, it will be Winker back in the lineup and hitting sixth on Thursday against Tobias Myers and the Brewers. The rest of the lineup remains the same but Jose Iglesias will move to fifth in the order with Mark Vientos hitting second and Brandon Nimmo hitting third.

With Anthony Rizzo sidelined with two fractured fingers, the Yankees are looking for other options at first base. It seems likely that the left-handed hitting Ben Rice would start against right-handed pitchers and the switch-hitting Oswaldo Cabrera could start against lefties. Rice got off to a hot start when he got his first shot to take Rizzo’s playing time, but he faded down the stretch, finishing the year hitting .171/.264/.349 with seven home runs in 50 games. Having either Rice or Cabrera in the lineup just furthers the concerns about the bottom of the Yankees lineup.

Rizzo fractured two fingers while being hit by a pitch during a game against the Pirates last Saturday. Cashman mentioned that, up until this point, Rizzo has yet to attempt any baseball activities as he looks to make his way back onto the field. The veteran has been spending time on the field with his teammates and “is presenting well without doing any activity,” but until he starts doing baseball activities, it’s hard to see how he can get back on the field. As the Yankees prepare to play without Rizzo, the team has had Ben Rice, Oswaldo Cabrera, Trent Grisham, and Jon Berti take grounders at first base to try to give themselves as many options as possible.