MLB Player News

There was some concern a couple months ago that Festa could be dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome, but it sounds like he’ll been cleared to resume throwing again and have a relatively normal offseason. The 25-year-old righty hit the injured list with shoulder inflammation in late July and never made it back to Minnesota before the year wrapped up. It’s an extremely encouraging update considering how murky his status was at the conclusion of the regular season.

Ernie Clement takes over at shortstop for the second consecutive contest. The encouraging news is that Giménez appears likely to avoid a trip to the injured list after being reevaluated prior to Saturday afternoon’s tilt in New York. It sounds like there’s a chance he’s ready to return in a couple days after suffering a right hamstring injury earlier this week.

Guerrero returns to Toronto’s lineup for Saturday’s early-afternoon matinee against the Yankees following a one-week absence due to a concussion. The positive news is that he cleared final concussion protocol after reaching base safely in all three plate appearances during a minor league rehab game for Low-A Dunedin earlier this week. He’s gone more than a calendar year without homering in the Rogers Centre and holds a calamitous .693 OPS with seven homers in 115 games heading into the final five weeks of the season.

Schneider’s latest stint with the Blue Jays lasted roughly 24 hours as it appears Andrés Giménez (hamstring) will avoid a trip to the injured list for now. His departure clears a spot on Toronto’s active roster for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to return from the injured list.

De Los Santos sipped a couple cups of coffee with Miami earlier this season, but hasn’t been able to carve out a permanent role at the highest level. The 23-year-old slugging prospect’s fantasy stock has tumbled since arriving in Miami as part of the A.J. Puk trade a couple years ago. He’s still capable of launching the occasional long ball and has showed more stolen base upside than previously expected with 18 homers and 17 steals in 95 games at the Triple-A level this season. He’s an interesting talent, but hardly worth rostering outside of extremely deep mixed leagues at the moment.

Miami’s strange four-catcher roster experiment lasted roughly 24 hours. Driscoll heads back to the minors with slugging prospect Deyvison De Los Santos getting another look.

Thomas isn’t the most exciting option from a pure fantasy perspective, but he makes the most sense as a short-term stopgap for the Dodgers with Andy Pages set to miss 4-5 weeks with a fractured hand. The 26-year-old defensive specialist is an excellent defender in center field and is already on the 40-man roster. He’ll split time with Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernández for the next couple weeks. There’s a chance that a top prospect like Josue De Paula, Mike Sirota or James Tibbs III get a look once rosters expand, but that seems unlikely at this juncture.

This qualifies as an all-time unexpected late-season development. Woodruff told reporters last month that he was undergoing season-ending capsule surgery on his right shoulder. That didn’t end up happening after followup imaging showed better than expected healing to the point that Dr. Keith Meister told him that surgery wasn’t required. He’ll begin a five-week throwing progression next week with the aim of being ready to pitch for Milwaukee in the postseason. Unreal. He won’t be ready in time to help fantasy managers down the home stretch, but his unexpected return would be a massive development for the Brewers heading into the playoffs.

Bellinger told reporters he’ll return later this weekend after playing six innings in left field during a minor league rehab game for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre on Friday. The 31-year-old will make it back to New York’s lineup after missing exactly one month with a left hamstring strain. His return should have a significant impact for the Yankees over the final five weeks of the season.

Stanton is in obvious jeopardy of missing the remaining five weeks of the season after straining a calf muscle for the third time since late April. It’s completely fair to question whether Stanton, heading into his age-37 campaign next year, will be able to stay healthy enough to have any sort of impact for New York. He still has one year and $25 million left, including a $25 million club option for 2028 that carries a $10 million buyout, on the mega-deal that he signed with the Marlins prior to the 2015 season.

Chisholm has been scuffling in recent weeks, hitting .188 (18-for-96) with four homers and seven steals in 28 games since last month’s All-Star break. He’s been ice-cold recently, batting only .148 (8-for-54) with two extra-base hits in 17 games since the beginning of August. He’ll continue to be penciled into the lower third of New York’s lineup card, especially with Cody Bellinger (hamstring) and Aaron Judge (rib) expected to return soon.