MLB Player News

Ouch. That’s never the news that you want to hear to open spring training. The last update that we got from Braves’ president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos back in November was that Schwellenbach was pain-free. The Braves are hopeful that he’s just dealing with bone spurs, but it’s going to cost him the first two months of the season at a minimum. It’s a tough early break for the Braves and for fantasy managers who may have invested in Schwellenbach in early drafts.

This suggests the A’s aren’t expecting Nick Kurtz back in the near future. White, 23, was the Athletics’ second round pick in 2024. The corner infielder was hitting .303/.345/.489 in 55 games since moving up to Triple-A Las Vegas, but while that sounds pretty good, it’s just average considering the environment. For instance, Joey Meneses and Brian Serven, both of whom were sent down by the A’s today, had about 100 points of OPS on him. Henry Bolte’s OPS before his callup was 1.076. White will likely play mostly first for now. Once Kurtz is back, he could move to third, depending on how he’s performing. He’s probably not going to amass mixed-league value initially.

The Cardinals will have 48 hours to add Blewett to their 40-man or make him a free agent. Blewett showed off a nice little velocity boost this spring, but it wasn’t enough to win a bullpen job, and he has a 5.18 ERA for Triple-A Memphis in spite of a nice 63/19 K/BB in 48 2/3 innings.

Basso is back for a third stint in the pen after giving up six runs over 4 1/3 innings in the first two. He’s been throwing his Barry Zito-like curveball a less of late, instead focusing on his cutter to go along with his four-seamer. It doesn’t really seem to have paid off, as he was sporting a 5.11 ERA in Triple-A. He’ll need to take a step forward here in the second half if he wants to stick on the 40-man this winter.

Barnett had a couple of saves for the A’s last month, but he’d given up nine runs in six innings since July started, taking his ERA from 1.17 to 4.64. He was a starter in Triple-A before being called up, but given that we’re in the second half, it might make sense to keep him in the pen for now and see if he can resume being of use there later.

The A’s demoted Meneses and Brian Serven from the position player side. Donovan Walton, who was just claimed off waivers from the Angels, is taking one spot. The other spot has yet to be filled, but it’ll probably be a callup (Darrell Hernaiz?), since it doesn’t sound like any of the team’s injured position players are ready to be activated. Meneses is 3-for-20 with three walks in his nine games with the A’s this year.

Serven has served two brief stints with the A’s this month, going 1-for-4 in two appearances. He’ll head back to Triple-A and continue to serve as insurance in case Shea Langeliers or Jonah Heim gets hurt.

Tur, a 26-year-old signed out of Cuba in 2023, will be making his major league debut. He had a 4.41 ERA and a 64/26 K/BB over 51 innings in five starts and 22 relief appearances for Las Vegas. He’s been a one- and two-inning guy of late, so expect the A’s to use him in low-leverage relief for now.

The Athletics’ surprising $6 million investment in Civale over the winter worked out well initially — he started off 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA through nine starts — but it always figured to end badly. He loses his spot now after allowing 31 earned runs over 28 innings while going 0-6 in his last seven starts. He’ll become a free agent after clearing waivers and should quickly land a minor league deal, if he wants one. Jacob Lopez is probably the favorite to replace Civale in the rotation next week.

That’s just under the slot value of $6.1335 million for the 11th pick, freeing up a little additional money to get deals done with second-rounder Chase Brunson and third-rounder Luke Williams. Barring something unexpected, Hacopian, one of the draft’s most polished bats, should get a chance to begin his pro career this year,

Parker Messick will get some extra rest after throwing a scoreless second inning in the All-Star Game. He’ll presumably face the Twins or Monday or Tuesday, with Slade Cecconi starting the other game.