MLB Player News

Garver (head) is not in the lineup against the Royals on Thursday, LaVelle E. Neal of the Star Tribune reports.

Garver will receive a day off after leaving Wednesday's game following a shot to his catching mask in the second inning. Though he appears to have sidestepped any sort of concussion-related symptoms, manager Paul Molitor will refrain from thrusting him back into the lineup Thursday night. In his absence, Chris Gimenez will handle the catching duties and bat ninth.

Jansen is not in the lineup Thursday against the Red Sox.

Jansen will find a seat on the bench following a pair of consecutive starts in which he went 1-for-5 with a walk. Reese McGuire will start behind the dish and hit ninth in his place.

Leon is not in the lineup Thursday against the Blue Jays, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reports.

Leon will take a seat after starting three consecutive games behind the dish, going hitless across eight at-bats during those appearances. Christian Vazquez will start at catcher in his place Thursday.

Perez (hamstring) is making deliberate progress from his injury and manager Kevin Cash concedes he may not return before the end of the regular season, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The rookie backstop hit the disabled list Aug. 31, and there was relative certainty as recently as last weekend about a return before the end of the season. The latest news implies differently, although Perez still has over two weeks to regain full health. Jesus Sucre, Nick Ciuffo and Adam Moore are all candidates to handle catching duties while Perez remains sidelined.

McCann went 1-for-4 with a solo homer in Wednesday's loss to the Astros.

McCann took Gerrit Cole deep in the fourth inning to put the Tigers up 2-1, though the Astros would respond with four runs of their own in the next inning en route to the win. The backstop has taken a bit of a step back in his fourth full season, slashing just .221/.268/.321 with eight homers through 107 games after slashing .253/.318/.415 with 13 homers across 106 games in 2017.

Garver (head) was removed from Wednesday's game against the Yankees for precautionary reasons, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.

Garver exited the game after two innings after taking a foul ball off his mask. Initial tests determined the backstop didn't suffer a concussion, though the team may want to play it safe and send him for additional tests before clearing him to return. Willians Astudillo replaced him behind the dish.

Vazquez is out of the lineup for the third straight game Wednesday against the Blue Jays, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.

Sandy Leon will make his third consecutive start behind the plate and seems to be the starter at the moment. It's hard to call either backstop a fantasy asset, as Leon has hit .186/.244/.293 while Vazquez has posted a .212/.255/.297 line, but Leon at least seems to be the one getting the at-bats at the moment.

Gomes is not in the lineup versus the Rays on Wednesday, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Roberto Perez will spell Gomes behind the plate during the series finale. During Tuesday's victory, Gomes went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

Garver is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Yankees, Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Garver will take a seat in favor of Willians Astudillo for the second time in three games. Astudillo could get a fair amount of playing time down the stretch, though Garver has started 10 of the last 15 games and his spot doesn't appear to be in immediate danger, especially since the Twins are giving Astudillo some of his at-bats at designated hitter.

Perez is not starting Tuesday against the White Sox, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports.

Perez sits for the second time in three games. It's possible that he won't have his usual heavy workload down the stretch in a lost season for the Royals, especially considering the thumb injury which just recently cost him seven straight starts from Aug. 29 to Sept. 5. Meibrys Viloria will start behind the plate.