MLB Player News

The 25-year-old outfielder aggravated his jammed left thumb when he slid (unsuccessfully) into home plate during the 10th inning of Thursday’s loss to the Tigers. He’s considered day-to-day.

Wheeler underwent surgery in late September to address venous thoracic outlet syndrome following an operation in mid-August to remove a blood clot near his right shoulder. The 35-year-old fantasy ace is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day based on the club’s initial recovery timeline of 6-8 months. There should be a clearer estimate for his season debut once he ramps up his throwing program in spring training.

It doesn’t sound like a serious concern with roughly two-plus months left until the outset of spring training. The 25-year-old third baseman finished as a top-10 fantasy contributor at the hot corner this past season when he batted .286/.351/.449 with 81 runs scored, 16 homers, 74 RBI and 23 steals in 666 plate appearances over 160 games. There should be an official update on his status from the Royals at some point in the near future.

Everything went really, really well in terms of recovery,” added Breslow. “He’s doing really well, stronger, he’s put on some weight. He looks more physical.” The 22-year-old former top prospect, who underwent wrist surgery back in August, is the odds-on favorite to open next season as Boston’s starting third baseman assuming they’re unable to re-sign veteran Alex Bregman. He batted just .228/.272/.402 with four homers in 136 plate appearances over 44 games, but it’s simply too small of a sample to draw any firm conclusions, especially given his prospect pedigree. He’ll enter spring training at just 23 years old and represents an interesting buy-low candidate for fantasy managers in dynasty formats.

Rome and Rosenthal add that a potential deal is not believed to be close with some league sources characterizing Baz as unlikely to be traded but other sources indicated that the two sides discussed the framework of a potential deal. The 26-year-old former top prospect finished last season with a lackluster 4.87 ERA (4.37 FIP) but did post an encouraging 24.8 percent strikeout rate over 166 1/3 innings across a career-high 31 starts.

Suarez has been linked to the Dodgers and Mets in recent weeks based on reporting from The Athletic’s network of beat reporters. The Blue Jays have an established closer in Jeff Hoffman, but they’re clearly still looking to upgrade the back-end of their bullpen in an effort to make it back to the Fall Classic after coming up just short. The 34-year-old former Padres stopper has been one of the better closers in the fantasy landscape over the past few seasons and will likely remain an elite option regardless of where he ends up.

Scott’s path to a rotation spot with the Mets got a lot more complicated with the meteoric rises of top pitching prospects Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The 26-year-old figures to open the season back at Triple-A Syracuse given his extended layoff but could factor into New York’s pitching plans at some point next season when injuries take their inevitable toll.

Minter is officially questionable to be ready for Opening Day, but is not expected to miss too much additional time. The 32-year-old southpaw underwent surgery to repair a torn left lat muscle back in May. He figures to pitch in high-leverage spots helping bridge the gap to newly-added stopper Devin Williams in the event that the Mets are unable to re-sign Edwin Díaz.

Jobe entered last spring as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball before struggling to a lackluster 4.22 ERA and 39/27 K/BB ratio across 49 innings over 10 starts before hitting the injured list with a flexor strain in late May and ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery a few weeks later. The hard-throwing 23-year-old won’t be an option for Detroit until at least 2027 given his recovery timetable, which limits his fantasy appeal to dynasty formats where he’s a borderline top-200 overall range stash candidate.

Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said during an interview with MLB Network shortly afterwards that Roki Sasaki will return to the rotation mix once spring training rolls around after an impressive closer cameo during the postseason. Roberts hinted the Dodgers will get “creative” early in the season with their pitching staff — code for something that looks and behaves like a six-man rotation without actually calling it one — as they look to preserve Ohtani, Yamamoto, Snell and Glasnow for the long haul. Nearly every contender has adopted some version of this strategy by now, and it’s the logical path for Los Angeles. We expect Emmet Sheehan to grab a spot with Sasaki also factoring into the mix during the early portion of the year.

Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz and manager Albert Pujols confirmed that both infielders will be part of the club’s roster for the impending international showcase. Caminero clobbered 45 round-trippers in his full-season debut last year while Perdomo blossomed into one of the most impactful all-around shortstops in baseball, delivering a sublime 7.0-WAR age-25 campaign.