MLB Player News

No real surprises here. Sandlin was a stone-cold lock to be added to Boston’s 40-man roster to shield him from next month’s Rule 5 Draft after recording a 4.50 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 107/40 K/BB ratio across 106 innings over 32 appearances (14 starts) between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester this past season. The 24-year-old righty will undoubtedly have a role in Boston at some point soon. Drohan is also one of the better pitching prospects in the organization but has been limited to just 27 appearances over the past two seasons due to injuries. Uberstine compiled a 3.58 ERA and 137/41 K/BB ratio across 120 2/3 innings over 25 appearances (21 starts) in the upper minors last season.

Dobnak pitched two scoreless frames to start Friday’s game, but allowed a two-run homer to Brandon Lowe in the third inning to give the Pirates their first runs of the night while cutting the Royals’ lead to 4-2. Dobnak would retire the next three batters he faced to escape the inning but was pulled with two outs in the fourth inning after allowing two more runs to come across to score. Things could have been much worse for Dobnak, who allowed 10 total baserunners on the night but benefited from some timely ground balls. Dobnak has had a rough September. He’s allowed 14 earned runs over 21 1/3 innings (5.91 ERA) while also giving up four homers. His final start of the season is set for Thursday at home against the White Sox.

Swanson delivered a 92-mph single off Cincinnati reliever Tejay Antone in the eighth inning. He also drew a walk, reaching base safely in two of his four plate appearances in his return following a one-month absence with a left oblique strain. The 32-year-old shortstop is going to finish as a top-12 range option at the position on the strength of 18 homers and 17 steals in 462 plate appearances.

Pagán was summoned to protect a two-run lead in the final frame and managed to work around a one-out walk to Michael Busch to preserve the win. The 35-year-old veteran stopper has converted all 17 of his save opportunities since the All-Star break.

Burns didn’t stick around long enough to factor into the decision as the Reds continue to carefully manage his workload down the home stretch. The hard-throwing phenom was permitted to throw 67 pitches over three frames in his penultimate outing. He struck out four and also issued a pair of walks. He allowed four hits, including a solo homer to veteran outfielder Ian Happ. He’ll wrap up the season with a road tilt against Atlanta on Thursday. Burns offers enough strikeout upside to be worth starting in deeper mixed leagues, but the workload limitations cap his realistic upside and make it difficult to justify rolling with him in shallow fantasy leagues.

Holmes dealt with plenty of traffic on the basepaths, handing out five walks while only notching four strikeouts. It was his second meltdown in his last three starts after giving up a season-high eight runs to the Marlins back on September 6. It’s extremely challenging for fantasy managers to trust Holmes when he wraps up the regular season with a home matchup against those same Marlins on Thursday.

The 31-year-old right-hander was designated for assignment earlier in the week and passed through waivers unclaimed. He’ll now have the option to accept the outright assignment or hit the open market.

Bericoto had been shelved since late August due to a bone bruise in his right knee that he suffered after running into the outfield wall in Boston. He’ll replace the injured Nate Furman (oblique) on the Giants’ bench.

The Giants had been hopeful that Furman would be able to play through the issue, but after a couple of days it made more sense to sit him down and let the injury heal properly. Victor Bericoto was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move on Friday night.

Davitt will get his first opportunity to show the Giants what he can do after he was plucked off of waivers from the Braves earlier in the month. the 26-year-old hurler holds a 4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and a 1/1 K/BB ratio over two innings in two appearances at the MLB level this season.

That will unfortunately end the 29-year-old right-hander’s season prematurely. Webb finishes the 2026 campaign with a 4.31 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and a 134/41 K/BB ratio over 160 2/3 innings in his 27 starts. He obviously has plenty of time to overcome the blister issue before the start of the 2027 season.