MLB Player News

Waddell provides New York’s overworked bullpen with some additional long relief depth heading into Sunday’s matchup against the Marlins. The well-traveled 31-year-old southpaw holds a serviceable 4.00 ERA across 27 innings (10 appearances, one start) this season in his first big-league action since the 2021 season.

Misiorowski had his final start before the All-Star break skipped due to fatigue, and then was not in the rotation announced this weekend. The Brewers have said they will get creative with Misiorowski’s usage down the stretch because he is already at 111 innings this season. He did throw 129 innings between the Majors and minors last year, so we’d expect the Brewers to be comfortable with him getting to at least 140 during the regular season, if not more, so that’s plenty of time for him to positively impact fantasy teams. He may just have a start pushed back here and there to make sure he’s fresh for the postseason.

There was some concern that Caminero might need to take a couple of games off after getting hit in the left hand by a pitch during the All-Star Game on Tuesday. However, the 23-year-old had his X-rays come back clean, and he’s right back in the lineup with the second half underway.

This will be the fifth and final game that Willson Contreras is suspended for. When Contreras returns, Gonzalez will likely play more DH at second base, but he should remain in the lineup. He’s hitting .231/.302/.385 in 11 games since returning from offseason shoulder surgery.

Englert is being called up as the 27th man on Friday. He could be used in a bulk role, but Englert threw 5 2/3 innings in his last outing so he will be used for length, regardless of whether or not he makes a traditional start.

Crochet has been sidelined since late April with a shoulder injury and then a subsequent lat strain. He admitted that he needed to dial down what he was doing while recovering and stopped doing plyometric work in recent weeks. Since then, he feels “like [he’s] seen drastic gains.” The Red Sox are now firmly in the playoff race and would love to have their ace back, but until he is cleared to pick up a baseball, it’s hard to know when that will happen, even if he feels he’s moving in the right direction.

Fried has been sidelined with a bone bruise on the back of his elbow since the middle of May. We know he threw 35 pitches in his last bullpen session, so he may be on a pitch count of around 40-50 pitches in this first outing. There’s a chance that he may only need two or three starts before returning to the Yankees, which means he could be back in New York before the end of July.

Díaz made two rehab appearances in the Arizona Complex League during the All-Star break. He will now begin pitching at the affiliates. We would expect him to need a couple of appearances next week as well, and the Dodgers may want to see him pitch on back-to-back nights before activating him. He’s getting close, but we may still be a week or two away from Díaz being back in the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said that Lawlar is “in a good spot,” but there is no timeline for his return as of yet. He will get more imaging done over the weekend to verify the progress of his healing and determine the next steps.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said, “Martinez is just about to step onto a mound in lives. I don’t know the exact day when he’s going to face his lives, but he’s very close, very close.” Martinez had Tommy John surgery last June and had been targeting an August return. As of now, he seems on track to return at some point in August but might need time to work back into leverage innings.

Burnes was shut down from throwing in early June after suffering a teres major strain. He had a follow-up MRI over the All-Star break, which showed positive healing, and he has begun his throwing program again. Until he progresses enough to begin throwing full bullpens, it’s hard to predict any kind of timeline for his return. At this point, it would be unlikely he makes more than one or two appearances for the Diamondbacks this season.