MLB Player News

After dealing away left-hander Matt Strahm on Friday morning, the Phillies moved quickly to add another left-handed reliever to their bullpen mix. Backhus, 27, registered a 4.62 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and a 22/8 K/BB ratio over 25 1/3 innings across 32 appearances with the Diamondbacks in 2025, his first taste of big league action. He’ll add bullpen depth from the left side for the Phillies.

Lee returns to Detroit’s bench mix after hitting .205 (17-for-83) with two homers and nine RBI in 32 games for Detroit during his first stint in the majors earlier this season.

Flaherty has been diagnosed with a strain involving the tendons on the outside of the left lower leg and ankle. It’s unclear how much time he’s going to miss given the nature of the injury. The 30-year-old made an early exit from Friday’s start against the Guardians. No word yet regarding how the Tigers will fill his rotation spot, but it figures to involve Justin Verlander’s return from the injured list.

It’s become routine for clubs to hold a player out following their return from a lengthy stint on the injured list, which applies to Lawlar in this case. The 23-year-old former top prospect made an immediate impact in his return to Arizona’s lineup, collecting a pair of hits and two RBI during Friday’s win over Cincinnati. The on-field results haven’t been there for fantasy managers to completely trust Lawlar yet, but he’s certainly talented enough to make a significant impact, if everything comes together for him. He was off to a strong start before suffering a fractured wrist back in early April.

Alvarez takes a seat for the second straight game with Luis Torrens handling the catching duties. The 24-year-old backstop is presumably being closely monitored from a workload standpoint after making it back to New York is roughly one month after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Ewing is hitting .278 (10-for-36) with zero homers and three steals in 10 games since the start of June. The 21-year-old top prospect never projected as much of a power threat and he’s gone deep just once through 29 games. He does have seven steals during that span. It’ll be fellow rookie Carson Benge moving over to cover center field with MJ Melendez getting into the lineup to face Atlanta lefty Martín Pérez.

He’s back. Ohtani returns to the lineup at DH and will hit leadoff after sitting out Friday’s series opener to rest his ailing left knee. The encouraging news is that a precautionary MRI revealed no structural damage. The 31-year-old two-way superstar is expected to be given the green light to take the mound on Wednesday against the Rays in his next start.

Arozarena expressed optimism that he’ll avoid his first-ever trip to the injured list following an early exit from Friday’s contest at hot and humid Nationals Park in Washington D.C. The 31-year-old power/speed combo threat figures to receive extra time off to rest and recover this weekend, including Monday’s scheduled off day, before the Mariners return to Seattle to start a series against the Orioles on Tuesday. It’ll be Luke Raley taking over in right field on Saturday afternoon.

Ross joins the Rangers’ bullpen mix ahead of Saturday’s game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park just over three weeks after signing a minor league contract with the club. The well-traveled 33-year-old is merely a long relief option at this stage of his career, but he’s an experienced one, having made 163 appearances in the big leagues since 2015. He was hit extremely hard in three appearances for the Diamondbacks earlier this year.

Curvelo heads back to the minors after compiling a lackluster 7.56 ERA, 1.92 WHIP and 4/3 K/BB ratio across 8 1/3 innings for the Rangers this season. His latest stint with Texas wound up lasting roughly 48 hours.

Otañez winds up losing his spot on Texas’ 40-man roster to make room for veteran reliever Joe Ross. He didn’t end up making an appearance for the Rangers after being claimed off waivers from the division-rival Athletics last November.