MLB Player News

Kirby, who is working his way back from shoulder inflammation, faced some real adversity on Friday evening, surrendering a whopping 10 hits, including two homers, during his – rehab outing. The encouraging news for fantasy managers is that the velocity was there as he topped out at 97.5 mph on his four-seamer and he threw 48 of 64 pitches for strikes. His signature pinpoint control remains firmly intact as he’s yet to issue a walk to any of the 21 batters he’s faced on his rehab assignment. It seems likely he’ll require another tune-up outing to build up his pitch count into the 75-80 range, but there’s a strong possibility the Mariners decide to bring him back later next week for his season debut, especially given the state of their rotation, which took another hit this week with Bryce Miller landing on the shelf with elbow inflammation.

The Twins are throwing a right-handed pitcher, so Red Sox manager Alex Cora mentioned that this was a planned day off for Abreu. It just comes at a bad time with Willson Contreras (back) injured and both Caleb Durbin and Carlos Narvaez getting a day off. Roman Anthony will be in right field for this one with Masataka Yoshida at designated hitter and batting third.

Soto has been participating in baseball activities, including batting practice in an indoor cage, but he had not begun a running progression until Tuesday. Soto strained his calf on April 3rd and was expected to only be out for three weeks. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza hinted that the team would get “creative” with Soto’s rehab, which might mean that they simulate at-bats for him and don’t send him out on a rehab assignment. We’ll keep you posted, but Soto could return before the month is out.

We now have a large enough sample size of games with Royce Lewis on the injured list, so we can say with certainty that Kreidler is the regular third baseman against lefties and Tristan Gray will start against righties. Unfortunately, neither one of them will likely be fantasy relevant.

Marte was scratched from the lineup on Tuesday with lower back tightness, but he’s right back in there after one day. We’ll see if he can make it through this game without a flareup before considering him fully healthy, but this is obviously a great sign.

With Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound, all three left-handed hitters will take a seat. Blaze Alexander will stay in the lineup and play centerfield with Johnathan Rodriguez hitting cleanup and playing right field and Weston Wilson hitting fifth and playing left field.

McGonigle follows behind Konnor Griffin and Colt Emerson as high-end prospects who have inked long-term extensions before completing their first month in the big leagues. McGonigle’s deal is the biggest extension signed by a prospect ever, breaking Griffin’s record ($140 million) from last week. The 21-year-old is off to a great start to his MLB career, and will now be a fixture in the middle of the Tigers lineup for years to come.

With a right handed pitcher on the mound, Gorman will re-enter the starting lineup. However, he’s hitting just .204 with a 33 percent strikeout rate, so he’ll need to start producing to hold off Ramon Urias and Thomas Saggesse for playing time.

Contreras was removed from Tuesday’s game with lower back soreness, which will keep him out for at least one game. As of now, there is no indication that the injury will require a trip to the injured list, but we will have more information on that in a couple of days. Andruw Monasterio will play first base and bat sixth for a Red Sox lineup that is really struggling right now.

Pérez was designated for assignment by the Braves last week and passed through waivers unclaimed. He elected free agency but then resigned with Atlanta. While this may not seem like a big deal, it does mean that Pérez could be the starting pitcher called up when the Braves need a fifth starter again on April 21st. That would mean that Didier Fuentes and JR Ritchie could remain in the minors for longer than fantasy managers are hoping.

The Orioles needed a spot on the 40-man roster to call up Sam Huff, so Sandridge was let go. The 27-year-old had thrown 1 2/3 scoreless innings in Triple-A but had allowed two hits and walked three while striking out two.