MLB Player News

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that he’ll get $750,000 if he’s in the majors. Plouffe spent a bit of time at the major league level with Philadelphia in 2018 before getting designated for assignment and finishing the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The former Twins third baseman holds a weak .200/.271/.325 batting line over his last 325 plate appearances in the bigs. He turns 33 years old this June.

Diaz will get a night off; one of several regulars who are not in the lineup. Victor Caratini will be the catcher for Spencer Arrighetti while Diaz rests. Brendan Rodgers, Cam Smith and Jake Myers also will get a rest and will be replaced in the lineup by Chas McCormick, Mauricio Dubon and Zach Dezenzo.

Goldschmidt didn’t waste any time in his first career appearance out of the leadoff spot, attacking the first pitch he saw from Brewers southpaw Nestor Cortes, sending it 413 feet to left-center field. He also walked, doubled, and was hit by a pitch, reaching base safely in four of his five plate appearances. That’ll work. The 37-year-old veteran will continue to get opportunities to lead off against left-handed pitching, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone has also hinted that Anthony Volpe, who also homered on Saturday afternoon. will get looks as well.

Fried was unable to complete five frames to collect a win in his Yankees debut despite receiving two touchdowns worth of run support from New York’s offense in the opening four innings. His defense certainly didn’t do him any favors as five Yankees errors drove up his pitch count considerably and led to his early exit with two outs in the fifth. He finished with four strikeouts, issued two walks and hit one batter. He’s in line to face the Diamondbacks at home on Thursday in his next outing.

Yikes. Cortes didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome in his return to Yankee Stadium as he coughed up back-to-back-to-back home runs to Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge, respectively, on three consecutive pitches to open the contest. He also served up an additional first-inning solo shot to Austin Wells, just for good measure. Things snowballed even further out of control, somehow, when Anthony Volpe pulled a three-run homer into the left-field seats with two outs in the ensuing frame. He finished with two strikeouts and also handed out five free passes. It’s difficult to imagine a worse start to his Brewers debut. Cortes will attempt to turn things around on Thursday in a home matchup against the Reds.

Taylor will get a break after starting the first two games. Jose Siri is getting the start against Spencer Arrighetti and the Houston bullpen.

Scherzer was pulled after just 45 pitches over three frames. He was charged with two runs on three hits, including a pair of solo homers. He finished with one strikeout and didn’t hand out a free pass. The 40-year-old veteran dealt with a sore thumb in the late stages of spring training and it’s possible his early exit winds up being injury-related since he was expected to throw roughly 80 pitches in his season debut. There should be an update on his status shortly.

Rafaela will take a break after going hitless in the first two games. The 24-year-old will be replaced by David Hamilton, with Hamilton playing second base and Kristian Campbell in left field.

Astros manager Joe Espada is taking the opportunity to get his bench into action, which is a common strategy most managers employ in the early stages of the regular season. It’ll be Zach Dezenzo in right field with Smith taking a seat after going 1-for-5 with a pair of walks through two games.

Adell suffered an apparent left leg injury while beating out an infield single during the fifth inning of Saturday’s showdown and was immediately lifted from the contest. The 25-year-old outfielder will presumably undergo further evaluation and imaging to determine the severity of the issue. It’s possible he’ll require a trip to the injured list. There should be some clarity on his status at some point later this weekend.

Villar went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week and will remain with San Francisco as extra organizational depth. The 28-year-old infielder has gotten into 109 games at the big-league level over the last four years.