MLB Player News

Phillips was non-tendered in November but returns at the precipice of Spring Training. He pitched in just seven games for the Dodgers last year, with a 0.00 ERA and six strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. The contract says Phillips should have a shot at a roster spot when healthy, but he’s recovering from Tommy John surgery and is expected to be out until July. The Dodgers now have Edwin Diaz on hand, so despite how well Phillips has pitched, he has no closer appeal without a Diaz injury even once healthy.

The encouraging update here is that Rasmussen and his family are healthy and doing well after his wife gave birth to their second child earlier this week. The 30-year-old righty had been scheduled to take the ball on Tuesday against the Cubs. It sounds like he’ll be ready for Friday’s showdown against the Yankees at Tropicana Field.

Valdez passed through waivers unclaimed and will remain with the Pirates as organizational depth. The 27-year-old infielder was removed from Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster to make room for top prospect Konnor Griffin last Friday. He’ll be featured in a trivia question someday if Griffin lives up to his astronomical potential.

Devers put his team on his back in this one. He broke up a 0-0 tie in the sixth inning with a towering three-run home run off Aaron Nola and helped tack on some insurance with a run-scoring single in the eighth. It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Devers – or most of the Giants’ other hitters – but there is a longstanding track record of production here and he should be fine.

This was an odd outing for Mahle where he didn’t allow a single hard-hit ball, but uncharacteristically walked four. Usually with excellent command, his fastball missed the zone a bit more than usual and the Phillies’ hitters did a good job at laying off those in the shadow of the zone. Because Mahle did stay in that shadow so often, they were never able to get a hold of one and take advantage of the free passes. His next start is scheduled to come against the Reds in Cincinnati.

This was a lackluster effort by the Phillies’ offense against Tyler Mahle and what’s been a poor Giants bullpen so far this season. They were shutout and couldn’t muster up a single extra-base hit. Schwarber was on base often as he has been early this season, he’s just not getting many actual hits. He’s now drawn 11 walks to go along with three home runs and two doubles, but just two singles.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a mistake by Nola during his third time through the order destroyed what was shaping up to be an excellent start. He hadn’t allowed a run through five and faced very little trouble in general. Then, Rafael Devers came to the plate with two out and two on in the sixth. Nola threw him a fastball right down the middle that was practically on a tee and Devers launched it 411 feet to straight away center field. Coming out of this one with a quality start is a fine consolation prize, but this is a tale as old as time with Nola. His next start is scheduled to come at home against the Cubs.

Ward had 36 homers and 31 doubles last year. Through 11 games this season, he has zero homers but an MLB-high nine doubles. A bit of a reversal was expected there with Ward trading Angel Stadium for Camden Yards, but it’s not a ballpark thing at all so far; none of Ward’s doubles would have been homers in any ballpark. In fact, his farthest pulled flyball to date this season was a 260-foot single. It’s probably all pretty meaningless at this point. Ward is hitting .383/.464/.574 and has eight RBI despite hitting only first and second.

Bradish pitched the same number of innings and allowed one more run than counterpart Sean Burke, but he gets the win here because the Orioles managed to score twice in the top of the sixth. Bradish’s unearned run was his own fault. After issuing his third walk of the inning in the fifth, he dropped the return toss from the catcher, causing Chase Meridoth to take off from home. Bradish got the ball and then botched the throw to home, which also allowed Colson Montgomery to take second. That made it a double error on the pitcher. Aside from that stretch, Bradish was fine. The three walks in the fifth were the only ones he issued in the game. He’s 1-2 with a 5.27 ERA, and he’s slated to face the Diamondbacks next.

After bouncing around and failing to establish himself in his twenties, Garcia has found some success in Baltimore, posting a 2.84 ERA in 20 appearances for the club last year and now opening this season with 5 2/3 scoreless innings. The save comes in his 65th big-league appearance since he debuted with the Rockies in 2019.