MLB Player News

Plouffe was designated for assignment by the Athletics on Thursday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports.

No surprise here, as the Athletics opted to cast the struggling veteran off the 40-man roster in order to bring top prospect Matt Chapman up to the big leagues. Plouffe only batted .214 this season, although he's not too far removed from some quality big-league innings, so it wouldn't be too surprising to see him land another MLB job relatively soon.

Chapman was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports.

As anticipated, the Athletics will call up one of their top prospects to provide a jolt to their offense. Chapman has a .333 ISO with the Sounds this season, although he also struck out 31 percent of the time. With Trevor Plouffe being designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for him, it seems like Chapman will get a full audition to be Oakland's primary third baseman.

Plouffe is expected to be designated for assignment Thursday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.

The Athletics need a 40-man roster spot cleared to allow Matt Chapman to head to the big leagues, and given Plouffe's disappointing .214/.276/.357 slash line on the season, he is a pretty clear candidate to get the boot. He's unlikely to accept a minor-league assignment given his relatively recent success in the big leagues, so he very well could find a new home fairly soon once he's officially exposed to waivers.

Segura (ankle) probably will play at least one rehab game at Triple-A Tacoma over the upcoming weekend, Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune reports. This probably puts him on track to return on the Mariners' next homestand against the Tigers, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

It's good news for the speedy infielder, and fantasy players in weekly lineups could slide Segura back in with confidence for their next deadline lock as long as he makes it through the weekend OK.

Segura (ankle) performed running and agility work Wednesday but doesn't look likely to return before early next week, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Manager Scott Servais had originally expressed hope that his newly-minted shortstop would be ready to play in at least one game during the coming weekend series versus the Rangers, yet he now concedes he might not meet that goal. Segura also took full batting practice Wednesday and reported feeling fine after his agility drills, but it appears increasingly likely the Mariners will err on the side of caution with respect to his return.

Chapman is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Nashville ahead of Thursday's game against the Yankees, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Chapman is set to join the Athletics now that he can no longer gain super-two arbitration status. The 24-year-old is slashing .259/.350/.592 with 16 homers and 30 RBI through 48 games (203 plate appearances) for Nashville this season. With Trevor Plouffe struggling at the dish (.215), Chapman could be in line for playing time at the hot corner when Ryon Healy serves as the designated hitter.

Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers.

At the time, his ninth homer of the year tied the game at 2-2 in the seventh inning, but the Indians' bullpen promptly imploded in the eighth. With this effort, Ramirez emphatically put an end to a three-game skid in which he'd gone 0-for-11. His inability to match up to last season's batting average and base stealing has put a bit of a damper on his fantasy value, but Ramirez has seen an uptick in power, as he's already just two short of last year's career-high 11 homers.

Moustakas went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, a walk and two RBI in Wednesday's win over the Giants.

Moustakas hammered a 3-2 offering from Johnny Cueto 406 feet to right field in the second inning to put the Royals on the board. With 18 long balls on the year, only Aaron Judge has more in the American League. Moustakas' BB/K is at a career-low level, but he is poised to set career highs in home runs and RBI. His .565 slugging percentage ranks him second among third baseman in the AL.

Segura (ankle) is scheduled to take batting practice Wednesday, Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN Seattle reports.

Segura was able to test his ankle running Tuesday, and apparently everything went well as he's now set to take batting practice for the first time since suffering the high ankle sprain. If all goes well, the Mariners are hoping Segura will be able to return sometime next week, which would be ahead of scheduled.

Bregman is out of the lineup Wednesday against the Rangers, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports.

With 12 home runs and a .401 on-base percentage on the season, Marwin Gonzalez is making it increasingly difficult for manager A.J. Hinch to justify keeping him out of the lineup, especially while Bregman (.171 average in June) continues to languish. Gonzalez's ability to play all over the diamond and in the outfield means that he won't steal at-bats exclusively from Bregman, but the young third baseman's ongoing struggles make him one of the more vulnerable players.