MLB Player News

Iglesias was surprisingly not available to close Saturday’s game, and the Braves said he slept on his arm wrong and would be fine. The veteran then returned to notch a save on Sunday night, but he walked one and gave up a hit, and didn’t look sharp. Two days later, he’s landed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. The expectation is that this won’t be a long stint on the IL, but Michael King also “slept on his arm wrong” last year and wound up missing almost three months with a nerve issue. While Iglesias is out, Robert Suarez becomes a top-five closer option in fantasy baseball and needs to be added everywhere. Hopefully the Iglesias manager already scooped him up last week when the injury first popped up.

Valdez needed to have a spot on the team’s 40-man roster to join the Diamondbacks as the 27th man for Sunday’s doubleheader against the Rockies. He’ll add infield depth for the twin bill with Geraldo Perdomo (ankle) shelved.

The Cubs made a couple of bullpen moves on Sunday afternoon, leading to speculation that Maton would be activated, but he’ll have to wait at least another day. With Daniel Palencia and Caleb Thielbar both shelved, the door is open for Maton to assume high-leverage work as long as he pitches well for the Cubs. He’s worth a look in deeper leagues for those speculating on saves.

Velasquez pitched well in his lone appearance with the Cubs, firing 2 1/3 innings of shutout baseball while allowing just one hit and striking out one. It may have been enough to pique another team’s interest on waivers. Phil Maton was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move on Sunday.

Fermin will add a fresh arm to an Angels’ bullpen that has been knocked around lately. The 24-year-old hurler did a decent job in his first nine appearances at the Triple-A level this season, compiling a 3.27 ERA, 1.73 WHIP and a 16/9 K/BB ratio across 11 innings. He’ll function in middle relief for the Angels.

Anderson, 31, struggled in his nine appearances out of the Angels’ bullpen, posting a 5.94 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and a 12/8 K/BB ratio across 16 2/3 innings. There’s a chance that he could slip through waivers unclaimed and continue to function as extra pitching depth for the Halos at Triple-A Salt Lake.

With Logan O’Hoppe heading to the injured list with a fractured left wrist, Rivero will get an opportunity to share the catching duties with Travis d’Arnaud. The 27-year-old backstop was off to a slow start offensively at the Triple-A level, slashing just .239/.275/.283 with no homers, six RBI and a 6/3 K/BB ratio in 51 plate appearances. He can be ignored for fantasy purposes.

Oof. O’Hoppe was pulled from Saturday’s game after he was hit by a foul tip and imaging confirmed the unfortunate diagnosis. No word yet on how long the Angels expect him to be sidelined for, but it’s going to be a significant amount of time. Travis d’Arnaud will share the load behind the plate with Sebastian Rivero while O’Hoppe is out.

Lucchesi was re-signed to a minor league contract a couple of weeks ago after he had been released and tested the open market. He’ll add another option to the middle of an Angels’ bullpen that’s desperate for anyone that can consistently get quality outs.

Ouch. Romano had been functioning as the Angels’ closer this season, though he gave up four runs in the eighth inning in mop up duty on Saturday night and that appears to have been the final nail in his coffin. Rather than simply pulling him from the closer’s role, they booted him from the roster entirely. That leaves the ninth inning wide open now with Sam Bachman perhaps the favorite for save chances in the interim until Kirby Yates or Ben Joyce return from the injured list.

The 32-year-old hurler was pulled during the second inning during Tuesday’s loss to the Nationals and clearly isn’t right at the moment. The Braves could opt to keep rookie JR Ritchie in their rotation while allowing López to work through his issues in the bullpen. If fantasy managers were planning on starting him or streaming him for his two starts next week, it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be making them.