Betting

It’s unclear when Palencia suffered the injury as he hadn’t pitched since last Sunday. In the topsy turvy world of the Cubs bullpen, which somehow carries five left-handed relievers at the moment, our best guess is that Ben Brown would be in line for saves if the Cubs choose to use a traditional closer going forward. It’s possible this becomes a full-blown committee in Palencia’s absence. It’s great news that it’s not an arm injury — at least for the long-term — but the 15-day placement tells us this is serious for Palencia and something that could stretch well into May.

Yesavage threw 71 pitches in his third rehab start. Blue Jays manager John Schneider said the outing “was everything the Jays expected from a workload and velocity perspective.” He’ll make one more rehab start and could join the Jays in Anaheim next week if the team decides he is ready to go.

Buried in that positive news is the somewhat-ominous “the Mets will want to do a supplemental MRI to ensure he’s OK before activating him.” Soto’s progression to return from his calf injury has appeared normal from the outside. Assuming things check out, he’ll be back at some point next week.

A cause wasn’t formally announced. Angels owner Arte Moreno issued a statement saying that the organization is “mourning the loss of one of our franchise’s most beloved icons.” The team plans to wear a jersey patch saying “GA, 1972-2026" for the rest of the season. Anderson got one Hall of Fame vote after finishing his 17-year career with 2,529 hits, 287 homers, and a .293/.324/.461 triple-slash line. He helped lead the Angels to a World Series in 2002, a year in which he finished fourth in MVP voting. and made three All-Star teams.

In other words, the next time we’ll see Horton on an MLB field is likely either at the end of the 2027 season or the start of 2028. It’s a devastating blow for the Cubs, who haven’t gotten much good out of replacements Colin Rea and Javier Assad so far. They may be a team watching the trade market as we get closer to the middle of the summer for rotation reinforcements.

Benge is still hitting just .151/.237/.226 on the season, but he has hit in five of his last six games, and with how the Mets are currently swinging the bats right now, that makes him a viable leadoff candidate. Francisco Lindor is batting third as the Mets try to shake out of a doldrum in which they’ve scored two runs or less in five of their last six games.

Berríos also struck out three and walked one on the day. He averaged 93.5 mph on his sinker, which is great for his first rehab start. He also threw 47 pitches, which means he could be up around 60 or above in his next outing. The results weren’t great, but the Blue Jays will care more about velocity and pitch count. Berríos could be back in the Blue Jays rotation by the start of May at this point.

Laureano has a .290/.355/.551 slash line and Stammen praised the quality of his at-bats regardless of his spot in the order. With Laureano now locked into a job hitting in front of guys like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, his fantasy value is clearly on the rise.

Matt Holliday mentioned that Jackson was compensating after his hamate bone surgery, which caused some soreness on the opposite side of his wrist. He rested and went back to Baltimore to meet with the medical team, where they confirmed there were no new issues. Jackson should begin a rehab assignment this weekend with Single-A Delmarva and then could go back to Triple-A Norfolk after the weekend. With Jeremiah Jackson thriving with the Orioles, Holliday could battle Coby Mayo for playing time when he eventually returns.

He allowed a leadoff walk to Taylor Ward to start the game and another to Leody Taveras to start the sixth inning but that was the only traffic on the bases against him until Taveras singled on the first pitch of the ninth inning to break up the no-hit bid. Blaze Alexander then followed with a single before Messick handed the ball over to Cade Smith — and both inherited runners ultimately scored. The 25-year-old rookie left-hander struck out nine batters on the night while issuing a pair of walks. He got 18 swings and misses on 112 pitches on the night — nine of those on his changeup — while posting a solid CSW of 30 percent. Now 3-0 on the season, he’ll carry a microscopic 1.05 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and a 25/7 K/BB ratio (25 2/3 innings) into Tuesday’s matchup against the Astros.