MLB Player News

Sears was awful in his first spring start — not that it counts/matters — but it was still nice to see a bounceback. The one blemish was a homer from Luke Raley. Sears is trying to earn one of the final rotation spots in the San Diego rotation, and outings like this won’t hurt a bit.

Falvey was previously the Twins’ president of baseball operations, and the Twins reached the postseason four times under his leadership, earning a wild-card spot in 2017 and winning the division in 2019, 2020 and 2023. He will work closely with David Stearns, who he previously worked with in Cleveland in 2011-12. Additionally, Kris Gross, who was in charge of the Mets’ last three drafts (selecting Nolan McLean, Carson Benge, etc.), has been promoted to assistant general manager of scouting.

Interestingly, Langford has been a reverse-splits player this year, hitting just .220/.316/.371 in 152 plate appearances against lefties with a nearly 26 percent strikeout rate. In his career, he is slashing .238/.356/.440 against lefties and .247/.327/.419 against righties. Justin Foscue will lead off and play second on Thursday.

Sisk was sent down to Triple-A at the beginning of the month, but it seems like he’ll finish the season with the big league club. The left-hander has a 3.16 ERA in 42 2/3 innings for the Pirates so far this season.

Curtis threw 3 2/3 innings of relief on Wednesday and was unlikely to be available for any more games this season. With the Triple-A season over, Curtis is simply being demoted to the Florida Complex League as a procedural move. The 24-year-old could compete for a rotation spot in 2027.

This strategy worked well in Cantillo’s last outing, where he recorded five strikeouts over six scoreless innings against the Athletics on Friday. With Boston’s offense in a bit of a slide right now, Cantillo could be a solid option in fantasy leagues on Thursday.

Both players have been battling injuries over the last few weeks, so it makes sense for the Royals to give them a rest with a day game after a night game and the team eliminated from playoff contention. Nick Loftin will start at third base and hit sixth while John Rave will be in right field and bat seventh.

This is the first time this season that Reynolds is not in the starting lineup. Instead, Jake Mangum will start in left field, and Ronny Simon will stay in the lineup and play right field. It’s been a solid bounce-back season for Reynolds, but he’s hitting just .228 with three home runs in 61 games since the All-Star break, so he was probably overdue for a day off.

Bivens will be up with the team over the next few days with Steven Cruz going on the Paternity List. Bivens was claimed off waivers from the Giants early in September. He has yet to pitch in a game for the Royals.

Congrats to Steven and his growing family. He could return for the final game of the season. If he doesn’t pitch again this year, he would end with a 4.30 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, eight saves, and a 65/20 K/BB ratio in 58 2/3 innings.

In a must-win game for the Mariners, Naylor put them over the top with a 10th-inning single as Josh Hader imploded. It was a nice moment, but it doesn’t change how incredibly disappointing Naylor has been in his first full season with Seattle. He hadn’t had a hit since last Friday, that RBI was just his 55th overall, and he only has two home runs in the last three months.