MLB Player News

This seemed like a done deal weeks ago, but now it’s finally crossing the finish line. Willard spent the last year working as Boston’s director of pitching after previously being employed by the Twins. He’ll be replacing Jeremy Hefner in New York.

There had been some reports that the Rays would use an opener, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Scholtens threw five shutout innings in his last appearance, which was a bulk relief role. He could make a decent streamer in deeper formats.

With Mick Abel (elbow) landing on the injured list, Woods Richardson will have his start bumped up a day. As of now, the Twins have no starting pitcher listed for Wednesday, but one of Kendrys Rojas or Connor Prielipp, the Twins’ 2025 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, could be an option.

The Rangers are reportedly “optimistic” that the imaging won’t show “any significant structural damage” and the current plan is to give Garcia an anti-inflammatory injection. In the best-case scenario, he would then be able to return by the weekend. However, if they go ahead and place him on the injured list now, Garcia couldn’t return until May, so the team is going to roll the dice and hope they can avoid that.

That’s a huge bummer. Abel had thrown 13 shutout innings over his last two starts and seemed to be emerging as a key cog in the Twins’ rotation. There’s no word yet on how long he will be out, but this now makes the news of Kendry Rojas coming up a bit more understandable. It seems like the left-hander may get the chance to pitch bulk innings on Tuesday, which would have been Abel’s spot in the rotation. However, Connor Prielipp could also be given a chance to fill in for Abel since he’s in New York on the taxi squad. Prielipp is a bit more exciting from a fantasy standpoint, so if he is given the start on Tuesday, he could be worth a waiver add, even if you just stash him on your bench for the first start.

Sonny Gray labored a bit through the third inning, and then, after walking Gleyber Torres with two outs, Gray seemed to try to stretch out his hamstring. He threw one pitch with the trainers watching, yelled in anger, and then begrudingly gave the ball to manager Alex Cora. There is no word yet on the severity of the injury, but the Red Sox are calling it hamstring tightness. That would likely mean that Gray would be placed on the injured list, even if it’s just for a minimum stay. Payton Tolle is on the same pitching schedule as Gray, so he would be the obvious replacement if Gray had to miss any time and should be added in all league types now just in case.

Miranda is on the Padres now after spending the beginning of his career with the Twins. The 27-year-old is hitting .280/.308/.480 with two home runs and 14 RBI in 52 plate appearances this season. He’s obviously blocked at first base in San Diego, so he won’t be an option unless there are some injuries.

Both of the outs he recorded came on strikeouts, so we guess that’s something. Kittredge could still return to the Orioles in the next week or so, but there is no fantasy value to be had here. He doesn’t need to be rostered in any formats, even as an IL stash.

Since being sent back to Triple-A on April 13th, Povich has allowed two runs on eight hits in 11 2/3 innings while striking out 15 and walking two. Baltimore’s starting pitchers rank 22nd in baseball in ERA and 21st in strikeout rate, so they may opt to make a change if this continues into May.

Crews is now riding a five-game hitting streak with hits in six of his last seven games, which has seen him go 9-for-28 (.321) with one home run, one double, two RBI, seven runs scored, and one steal. This year, Crews is slashing .284/.388/.418 with two home runs, 14 runs scored, and four steals in 80 plate appearances.

Bleday also struck out three times, so it was a mixed bag, but he now has five home runs and 18 RBI in 88 plate appearances with a .338/.443/.635 slash line. With Rece Hinds going 2-for-17 with seven strikeouts in his first five MLB games since being promoted, the Reds could make a change soon.