MLB Player News

Palacios was jettisoned from Chicago’s 40-man roster back in mid-June after batting .203 (26-for-128) with three homers and nine RBI across 51 games this season in his White Sox debut. He’s appeared in 207 games in the big leagues dating back to 2021 and should be able to find a new opportunity as organizational outfield depth.

Freeland is working his way back from shoulder inflammation that put him on the shelf back on April 15. The 32-year-old southpaw might be able to jump back into Colorado’s rotation without needing a rehab assignment, but that remains up in the air.

The positive news here is that X-rays came back negative after Jiménez was removed from Wednesday afternoon’s contest against the Cardinals. It sounds like he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list.

He also walked one and struck out six while posting a 16 percent whiff rate and 36 percent CSW. Martinez threw 75 percent of his pitches for strikes and showed off his six-pitch mix, even though he relied mainly on his sinker and changeup. This just seemed like a game where Martinez was getting ahead early with the sinker and just kept going to it, mixing in the changeup and cutter to try and get some whiffs. The 35-year-old has been solid for Tampa Bay this season, but he provides a low fantasy ceiling because of his lack of strikeouts. He makes for a fine deeper league streaming against the Guardians next week.

It’s notable that Ohtani is back to his usual two-way self after being limited to pitching exclusively for the first time since 2021 his last time out on the mound against the Mets last week due to concerns about a shoulder issue. The 31-year-old generational talent holds a microscopic 0.50 ERA across 18 innings on the mound this season while also riding a surreal 53-game on-base streak. In case you were wondering, the all-time on-base record is 84 consecutive games, set by Ted Williams in 1949.

Chourio progressed to on-field batting practice Wednesday for the first time since hitting the shelf with a fractured hand on Opening Day last month. The 22-year-old franchise cornerstone figures to be ready to get into minor league action early next week and should be ready for his season debut at some point in late April or early May.

Schanuel, who is getting over an ankle problem that was bothering him earlier this month, is hitting a middling .239/.308/.380, but he’s up to 18 RBI in 23 games on the season. He’s already one-third of the way to his totals of 54 RBI in 147 games in 2024 and 53 in 132 games last year. There should be some mixed-league value here now that he’s back playing every day.

Soriano exited with a 3-0 lead after 84 pitches, but it disappeared in the top of the seventh before the Angels came right back with four in the bottom of the inning. So, no win for Soriano. He did bring his ERA down from 0.28 to 0.24. He settled for four strikeouts, but he generated 16 whiffs. He walked none and gave up just four hard-hit balls. He’ll face the White Sox next week.

Romano gave up two well-struck singles, but he also struck out two before getting Ernie Clement to ground out to end the game. Romano hasn’t had a save chance since blowing two games against the Yankees last week, but he has bounced back with two scoreless innings, striking out five of the eight batters he’s faced.

Lauer, apparently being held together by some blue tape on the back of his neck, had very little on his fastball at the beginning of today’s outing, averaging just 88 mph in his first two innings. He did get back up close to 90 mph afterwards, though he also gave up all three runs during his final three innings of work. The last was on a homer to Mike Trout, who he probably shouldn’t have been allowed to face a third time. With Trey Yesavage on the way back, Lauer, who has a 6.75 ERA in 22 2/3 innings, could head to the pen next week.

Trout is 4-for-4 stealing bases this year. That’s more steals than he had in five of the last six seasons. He went 6-for-7 in just 29 games in ill-fated 2024 campaign.