MLB Player News

It’s a massive deal for the Yankees, who have their co-ace to pair with Gerrit Cole for the foreseeable future. It’s the largest contract, which reportedly doesn’t include any deferred money and also contains a full no-trade clause, in baseball history for a left-handed pitcher as New York pivots after failing to retain generational superstar Juan Soto. The 30-year-old southpaw struck out 23 percent of the batters he faced last year with the Braves, finishing with a strong 3.25 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 166/57 K/BB ratio across 174 1/3 innings (29 starts). Simply put, he’s a ground-ball machine who excels at limiting hard contact. That formula works pretty much everywhere, which means that the move doesn’t change a ton for Fried from a fantasy perspective heading into next season as he remains a certifiable top 20-range option among starting pitchers.

It was Bautista’s first time facing hitters since last year’s surgery to repair a labrum tear in his shoulder. The hard-throwing 31-year-old stopper has a chance to make it back to Baltimore before the regular season concludes, but he’s going to need a couple weeks or minor league rehab outings before that happens.

Rutschman will undergo an evaluation with Boston’s medical staff before his next steps come into focus. The 28-year-old switch-hitting backstop, who is currently on the injured list with left wrist inflammation, came over to the Red Sox in a trade deadline blockbuster. There should be a definitive return timetable at some point later this week.

Technically, the Rangers haven’t announced their pitching plan, but Bradford seems likely to make his season debut after missing the first couple months working his way back from Tommy John surgery. He’s unlikely to offer significant fantasy appeal, but it’s a nice matchup right out of the gate.

Chicago manager Craig Counsell confirmed that Holmes will not require any additional minor league rehab starts. The tandem of trade deadline acquisitions will get the ball later this week when the Cubs head to Kansas City for a three-game series that gets underway on Friday.

Not great. Yesavage appeared to injure his left knee while landing on a warmup pitch prior to the third inning and made an immediate exit from the contest with a trainer. He departed after firing a pair of scoreless innings. The 23-year-old’s absence would be a crushing blow in the middle of an already dismal season for the Blue Jays. He’ll undergo further evaluation and imaging to determine the severity of the issue. It certainly seems like a potential injured list situation. There should be additional clarity on his status later this week.

Chisholm blistered a solo homer off Hunter Dobbins to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The 28-year-old has his first homer of the month of August after hitting four of them in July, and he’s now up to 17 on the campaign.

Lombard Jr. becomes the latest member of an exclusive club of players who have homered in their MLB debuts. He also drew a walk and helped turn a couple of double plays and cement a shutout victory. Lombard will likely have some ups and downs over these first two months of his career, but there’s never been a question of talent, and he’s absolutely worth a look for fantasy managers who need middle-infield help down the stretch.

Bednar came in to clean up a mess in the eighth, and while he did issue a walk to load the bases, he was able to escape. This makes back-to-back four-out saves for the right-hander, and he’s up to 25 saves on the campaign.

Dobbins allowed just four hits in the contest, and he struck out four against three walks. Unfortunately, two of those hits were solo homers — including the first MLB home run for George Lombard Jr. — and the Cardinals gave Dobbins a literal zero in run support. Dobbins has basically alternated quality outings with less-than-spectacular outings as of late, and he’ll try and break that trend — and get some help from his teammates — when he faces the Phillies next week.

This makes back-to-back starts where Weathers hasn’t allowed a run, and he’s given up just one over his last three over 18 2/3 innings. That’ll work. In this outing, Weathers struck out six while issuing just one walk, and he scattered four hits in a very impressive outing for the 26-year-old that lowers his ERA to 3.79. If there’s no change to the rotation order, Weathers will face Seattle in New York on Tuesday.