MLB Player News

We know that Fairbanks battled Reynaud’s syndrome, which is a problem that causes decreased blood flow to the fingers and obviously impacts gripping a baseball. This may be what’s caused his early-season struggles as well. We have no indication of how long he’ll be on the IL, but the Rays will undoubtedly go to a committee in his absence that features Jason Adam, Garrett Cleavinger, and Colin Poche. All of them can be added in leagues if you need saves since they should also provide solid ratios even if they don’t get a bulk of the save opportunities. Kevin Kelly was called up in a corresponding move.

It sounds like Westburg could potentially return on Friday for this weekend’s series against the Athletics or on Tuesday against the Tigers. Regardless, his return seems imminent and he will likely take over the starting third base job from Ramon Urias. However, the Orioles could always decide to mess with Coby Mayo‘s playing time again and put Westburg at DH and Urias at third, so this will be a situation to monitor.

McAdam also makes it clear that the Red Sox are not shopping Duran around and are “not eager” to deal their former All-Star. However, multiple teams have reached out, and Boston is open to seeing if there’s a fit. Duran is 28 years old and under team control through the 2028 season, but he is highly unlikely to receive a contract extension from the Red Sox given his age and the young talent behind him. The Red Sox may feel the future construction of their team doesn’t include Duran and so moving him for an impact starting pitcher, first baseman, or MLB-ready prospects could make some sense.

Bregman still didn’t give a timeline for his return, but he said the process has been “10 times better” than he hoped. The only timeline anybody has had for Bregman’s return has been using his recovery from a similar injury in 2021, so there’s really no good sense of just how long he might be sidelined. The injury itself didn’t look significant on the field, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora called it a significant strain in the days afterwards. Hopefully another few days will give us a better sense of when Bregman will be back but the Red Sox and fantasy managers need him, so it’s nice to hear his recovery is going well.

It sounds like Kirby, who had a noticeable bruise on the right side of his upper lip while speaking to reporters, managed to avoid serious injury when he was struck by a 102.7-mph line drive during the fifth inning of Tuesday’s outing. He added that the ball deflected off his right hand before hitting him in the face, managing to avoid any major damage. The 27-year-old righty appears on track to make his next start on Sunday against the Angels.

It sounds like a virtual lock that López will require a trip to the injured list after suffering a potential lat strain while warming up for the sixth inning of Tuesday’s outing in Sacramento. The 29-year-old righty will undergo further testing and imaging on Wednesday to determine the severity of the strain and how much time he’s going to miss. Fantasy managers should prepare for a multi-week absence, even if it’s on the milder end of the spectrum. There should be an update on his status at some point this week. David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson are the most likely candidates to fill his rotation spot.

Muncy has been on a tear at the plate as his home run barrage continued Tuesday. He took Tylor Megill deep for a two-run blast in the first inning, then later tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth for his second round-tripper of the evening. The 34-year-old slugger is up to nine homers, five in his last seven games, while hitting .230/.350/.432 across 223 plate appearances.

Freeman put the Dodgers on the board with a double in the first inning to bring home a run before scoring on a groundout. His next hit came in the bottom of the tenth. With two runners on and one out, he doubled off the left field wall to drive in the game-winning run. The 35-year-old first baseman is hitting an incredible .369/.435/.626 with nine homers, 34 runs scored, and 40 RBI across 214 plate appearances.

Soto took Clayton Kershaw deep for his only hit of the game, sending a two-run blast to right center field. It was Soto’s third home run in four games and his 11th on the season as he’s hitting .233/.361/.438 with 39 runs scored, 30 RBI, and seven steals across 269 plate appearances.

With Edwin Díaz getting a breather after pitching in three of the last four games, Brazobán was summoned to close things out with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. He surrendered a game-tying solo homer to Max Muncy before ultimately striking out the side.

Kershaw allowed a run in the first inning on a two base hits and a wild pitch. Juan Soto later took him deep for a two-run shot in the third. The Mets then brought two more unearned runs in on a walk, error, and two hits in the fifth before Kershaw’s day was done with two outs in the frame. He struck out two. The 37-year-old veteran left-hander will carry a 5.17 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, and an 8/9 K/BB ratio across 15 2/3 innings into a start against the Padres in San Diego on Monday.