MLB Player News

Monasterios, 25, missed most of the season with an elbow injury and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in July. He will be sidelined until the middle of the 2012 season.

He’s playing right, as Lawrence Butler has this one off. Rooker ceased playing the outfield last year because of an elbow problem that required offseason surgery. Now that he’s recovered, it sounded like he’d be an option in a corner at least a couple of times per week this year. He did play left in three games this spring, but this is the first time he’s played the outfield during the regular season. This will, of course, lead to speculation about a Nick Kurtz callup, but the A’s are going to need Rooker to play the outfield to play pretty regularly for that to work out. It’s unclear right now if that’s a possibility.

Swanson has been on the IL since the end of the spring. He’ll need a rehab assignment, but he could return during the final week of April.

He’s batting ninth versus the Angels. With Jose Altuve playing second base, the Astros have Cam Smith and Dezenzo in the same lineup for the first time this season. Dezenzo’s only previous three starts were among the four games that Smith hasn’t started.

This doesn’t bode well. It’s the first time all year the Astros have faced a lefty, and it’s surprising not to see Rogers in there, given that he’s a lifetime .296/.357/.482 hitter against southpaws (.253/.300/.378 versus right-handers). That’s Coors-aided, of course, but if you’re going to start him nine times in 13 games against righties, it’d make particular sense to have him in there versus a lefty.

Anderson has been better than expected defensively, but there’s been little sign of an offensive renaissance here. The good news is that the Angels should have Zach Neto back in 7-10 days, and with Kyren Paris establishing himself at second, Anderson figures to become a true bench guy later this month. Nicky Lopez is probably going to find himself out of work at that time.

This puts him in line to return right around Apr. 25. Bello got up to 64 pitches while allowing three runs — two earned — in four innings for Triple-A Worcester on Friday. He struck out five and walked none.

It’s good that Marte is playing after spring his first three games on the bench. It seems odd to have Encarnacion-Strand on the bench against a lefty, but he actually has hit righties better to date in his major league career, even if it’s probably a fluke. Encarnacion-Strand is in a 4-for-41 slump after going 4-for-8 in his first two games of the season. Of course, the entire Reds team is hitting .203 right now. Their only healthy players with .700 OPSs this season are their two catchers: Jose Trevino (.773) and Austin Wynns (.879 in 12 PA).

It’s been interesting to see just how little faith the Royals have in Melendez early on this season. There were plenty of corner outfielders available over the winter, but the Royals decided to hold fast with Melendez and Hunter Renfroe, only bringing in Mark Canha at the very end of the spring. It certainly hasn’t paid off; Melendez has a .351 OPS, Renfroe is at .402 and Canha is on the injured list. At least it still figures to be a relatively easy place to upgrade through a trade.

Stroman’s stuff remains in decline, and it’s probably not due to the knee. He’ll get some time off and then the Yankees will figure out whether it’s worth trying to mix him back in or not. This means both Carlos Carrasco and Will Warren figure to remain in the rotation following Clarke Schmidt’s return next week.

Winans had pitched just once in Triple-A this season, so he’ll be able to provide innings today if needed. The 29-year-old has a 7.20 ERA in eight career major league starts, all coming with the Braves in 2023 and ’24. He’s never pitched in relief in the majors.