MLB Player News

Vazquez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Sunday's loss to the Orioles.

Vazquez didn't appear in Saturday's contest, but he returned with another strong performance and smacked his first home run of the season. The 29-year-old has gone 4-for-7 with two RBI over his first two games this year.

Murphy went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Sunday's 6-4 win over the Angels.

The Angels had cut the Athletics' lead to one run prior to Murphy's sixth-inning blast off reliever Noe Ramirez. The 25-year-old Murphy seems to be in line for the majority of the playing time behind the dish this year. In 2019, he managed four homers and eight RBI across 53 at bats in a limited role.

Contreras went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, two RBI and two runs scored in Sunday's win over the Brewers.

Contreras was scorching hot in summer camp with six home runs, and now he has his first long ball that counts in 2020. The 28-year-old caught two of the Cubs' first three games, with an appearance at DH in between. That formula could be used the rest of the way to limit the wear and tear on Contreras behind the plate.

Stephenson was added to the 30-man roster Sunday, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports.

The 23-year-old will take the roster spot of Mike Moustakas (illness), who was placed on the injured list Sunday. Tucker Barnhart (paternity) is away from the team, but Stephenson is still unlikely to see significant opportunities with Curt Casali and Kyle Farmer still on the roster.

Caratini is the designated hitter and batting eighth in Sunday's game against the Brewers.

That makes two starts at DH for Caratini during the weekend series, with an appearance behind the plate as Yu Darvish's personal catcher in between. It looks like rookie manager David Ross is going to try to get both Caratini and Willson Contreras into the lineup most days, with one catching and the other serving as DH. The Cubs elected to keep Josh Phegley on the 30-man roster as a third catcher, so they can afford to deploy Contreras and Caratini at DH and still be covered behind the plate.

Contreras laced an RBI double off Hunter Strickland in the 10th inning of Saturday's win over the Mets.

After Matt Adams pinch hit for Alex Jackson in the eighth inning, the 22-year-old Contreras made his big-league debut behind the plate, and when he made his first trip to the plate two innings later, he made it count. Contreras remains Atlanta's catcher of the future, but his time in the majors this season will likely come to an end once Tyler Flowers and Travis d'Arnaud come off the COVID-19 list.

Plawecki went 1-for-3 with an RBI in Saturday's 7-2 loss to Baltimore.

Boston manager Ron Roenicke plans to rest starters early in the season, per Ian Browne of MLB.com, so Plawecki replaced Christian Vazquez on Saturday. That could mean Plawecki is the top backup, ahead of Jonathan Lucroy, who appeared as a fill-in for Vazquez in the season-opening blowout win over the Orioles on Friday. Expect Plawecki and Lucroy to get their chances over the first few weeks of the season in a battle for the backup role before roster cut-downs.

Sanchez is not in the lineup for Sunday's game at Washington.

Sanchez is 0-for-7 with four strikeouts through the first two games of the season and will head to the bench for the series finale. Kyle Higashioka will take over behind the plate and bat eighth Sunday.

Garver isn't in the lineup for Sunday's game against the White Sox, LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Garver started behind the plate for the first two games of the season, so he'll receive the day off Sunday. Alex Avila will bat ninth and catch for Kenta Maeda in the series finale.

Nola is not in Sunday's lineup against the Astros.

He is 2-for-7 with one double and two strikeouts through two games. Joe Hudson will start behind the dish and hit ninth.