MLB Player News

Orze will bolster Tampa Bay’s organizational relief depth heading into next season after making a pair of relief appearances last year for the Mets. The 27-year-old righty feels like a classic Rays move as he’s compiled astronomical strikeout totals in the upper minors and appears ready to contribute right away in a middle relief role.

Ober has been battling through a hip impingement since April, and while his spin rates and velocity held close to normal, he was unable to recover well between outings. The Twins finally decided to put Ober on the IL, and he recently “received medicine to eliminate the hip inflammation and expects to be fine in a few days.” Once the inflammation subsides, the Twins hope that Ober can “begin to ramp up starting Tuesday or Wednesday.” If Ober is able to throw without pain and with his normal mechanics, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him put together a strong stretch to finish the season.

Bieber has been working his way back to live innings after suffering a setback in his return from Tommy John at the beginning of June. The next step in his progression would likely be restarting his rehab assignment, which would likely involve a few starts. An early August return would be the best-case scenario for Bieber.

The right-hander allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out eight. He pounded the strike zone with his entire arsenal and had 14 whiffs on the day. With Walker Buehler struggling, Dobbins could potentially push him for a spot in the rotation or be recalled as a long reliever. The Red Sox do have seven games this week, so perhaps Dobbins comes up for a spot start in one of those.

Ramussen has been electric for the Rays so far this season, with a 2.82 ERA in 89 1/3 innings. However, he is coming off his third elbow surgery, and the Rays want to keep him on a strict 150-innings limit. That means they will continue to have Rasmussen start games, but only throw two or three innings, with Joe Boyle following him as a piggyback option. For fantasy purposes, that makes Boyle the more attractive option by far. He was dominant on Sunday in five innings, and his role as a follower will give him a good chance at wins. You may want to hold Ramussen on your team for another start or two just to see if the Rays follow through with this plan, but if they do, it will take away essentially all of his fantasy value in 2025.

Myers has been in the minor leagues, cleaning up his mechanics and working on some tweaks to his pitch mix. However, what we saw on Friday was also a career-high fastball velocity. Myers sat at 94.1 mph, which is up from his 92.8 mph mark from last year, but he also hit 98 mph, which is the hardest fastball he’s thrown in professional baseball. In Friday’s game, he struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter while allowing just two hits. With both Myers and Nestor Cortes pushing for a return to the big league rotation, you have to wonder how much more time Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, or Jose Quintana have. This feels like a situation ripe for a trade.

Chandler celebrated the July 4th with a dominant performance on the mound, allowing just five hits and two walks in his six innings while striking out six. He threw 59 of his 91 pitches for strikes and even retired 12 batters in a row at one point. There’s simply nothing left for him to prove in Triple-A, and it’s long overdue for him to get a shot to face MLB hitters.

Adames got the Giants on the board in the opening inning as he worked a walk off of Jacob Lopez with the bases loaded. He then gave them the lead with a 432-foot (102.4 mph EV) majestic blast off of Lopez in the third. The 29-year-old shortstop then strolled to the dish once more with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and again picked up an RBI by drawing a walk. His bat has started to show signs of life in recent weeks and he’s now hitting .226/.313/.370 to go with 11 homers and 45 RBI.

Matos smacked a two-run ground rule double off of J.T. Ginn in the fifth inning that extended the Giants’ lead to 5-1. That would be his only hit in five at-bats on the night, but it played a key role in the victory. He has struggled mightily at the dish overall this season, slashing just .176/.222/.376 with four homers, nine RBI and a pair of stolen bases in his first 90 plate appearances with the Giants.

The 23-year-old right-hander scattered three hits on the evening, though he also issued five free passes. The lone tally against him came on a solo shot off the bat of Tyler Soderstrom in the fourth inning. The poor command led to an elevated pitch count of 90 (46 strikes) through five innings, which prohibited him from working deeper into the game. Birdsong got 10 whiffs on the evening while posting a solid CSW of 29 percent. He’ll see if he can build off of this strong start and further improve upon his 4.11 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 68/33 K/BB ratio (65 2/3 innings) when he takes on the Dodgers at home on Saturday.

Soderstrom got the A’s on the board in the fourth inning with a 432-foot (105.3 mph EV) solo shot off of Hayden Birdsong that pulled the A’s to within a run at 2-1. That would be as close as they would get. The 23-year-old slugger also doubled off of Camilo Doval in the ninth inning, finishing the night 2-for-4. On the season, he’s slashing a respectable .253/.334/.436 with 15 homers and 49 RBI in 370 plate appearances.