MLB Player News

That’s five straight starts for Suwinski, and it feels clear that he is a regular starter, with Andrew McCutchen filling more of a part-time role against right-handed pitching. However, this could also be the Pirates just giving Suwinski an early opportunity to prove he belongs on the MLB roster. After a strong spring training, Suwinski has gone 2-for-15 with six strikeouts and two walks in his first four games.

New York will need to get creative with veteran Giancarlo Stanton on the precipice of returning to the DH role in the near future if they’re going to keep Rice’s bat in the lineup. There aren’t a ton of avenues to consistent playing time, but the occasional start behind the dish is one of them. It’s also a fascinating wrinkle for fantasy purposes since he would pick up catcher-eligibility in some formats. The 26-year-old slugger hasn’t started a game behind the dish this season and Austin Wells remains firmly entrenched as the club’s starting backstop.

Duran passed through waivers unclaimed after being jettisoned from the Athletics’ 40-man roster over the weekend. The hard-throwing 23-year-old righty made just one relief appearance earlier this season in the big leagues. He’ll remain stashed in the minors as organizational relief depth.

Donovan told reporters that he’s not concerned about the possibility of an injured list stint at this point. It seems likely he’ll get a few games off over the remainder of the week to prevent the issue from becoming a greater concern, but it doesn’t appear that he’s facing an extended absence. The versatile 28-year-old has been outstanding this season, hitting .310/.379/.440 with four homers, 26 RBI and three steals through 64 games.

In honor of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Toronto is using hockey terminology to classify Clement’s ailment following an early exit from Wednesday’s game against the Cardinals. It doesn’t sound like a serious concern, but fantasy managers should keep an eye on his status heading into Friday’s series opener against the Phillies.

Not good. Cash added that McClanahan is “kind of in a shut down mode” at the moment as he visits a specialist to determine the next steps in his recovery process from a triceps issue that put him on the shelf just prior to Opening Day. It certainly qualifies as a setback since the 28-year-old lefty was throwing bullpen sessions as recently as last weekend and was aiming to return at some point in late July or early August. It’s becoming a realistic possibility that McClanahan doesn’t make it back to Tampa Bay this season.

That’s a three-game sweep for the Jays in St. Louis. After getting a rare day off Tuesday, Guerrero responded with four hard-hit balls today. The best of those was a 111-mph liner to center, but that was hit right at Victor Scott Jr., forcing Guerrero to settle for two hits.

The Jays didn’t trust Lauer to finish the fifth with a 5-2 lead. In posting a 2.37 ERA in nine appearances for the Jays, he’s pitched at least three innings seven times, but he’s never completed five innings, which means he really needs to work behind an opener to have much chance of getting a win. The victory today wound up going to Spencer Turnbull, who threw scoreless sixth and seventh innings. The Jays have off days tomorrow and Monday, so Lauer probably won’t be needed again for a while.

Rodríguez got a pop fly, a groundout and a strikeout to end it and lowered his ERA to 2.97 in the process. Hoffman, who had pitched four of the previous five days, will be ready to go Friday after the Jays’ off day Thursday.

The good news is that Liberatore’s fastball was all of the way back today after he left his previous start with “fatigue” amid a velocity drop. Still, it was another mediocre outing for the left-hander, who was stuck facing nothing except for righties and switch-hitters today, He’s given up 14 earned runs over 14 innings in his last three starts, taking his ERA from 2.73 to 3.93. He gets the White Sox next, so that should help.

There’s a good chance it’s his last time hitting leadoff for a bit. Nootbaar is 0-for-14 with nine strikeouts in his last three games, and he’s batting .167 with 29 strikeouts in his last 18 games. He’ll pull out of it, but he should probably bat lower until it happens. We’d recommend sticking with him in mixed leagues.