MLB Player News

McCutchen went 2-for-8 with a double in Tuesday's twin bill against the Mets. He also struck out four times.

McCutchen is wearing a guard to protect his thumb, but it's obvious he's less than 100 percent at the plate. In a perfect world, the team would rest the center fielder for at least a couple games. Starling Marte's absence from the lineup makes that scenario unlikely, however. McCutchen has struck out two times in each of the last four games and holds a .759 OPS -- the lowest mark of his career.

Turner hit a three-run homer, his fourth, in a 1-for-3 game in Tuesday's win over the Rockies.

It has been looking for much of the season like Tuner's 16 home runs in 2015 were a fluke. Tuesday night's performance doesn't fix that problem, but Turner has shown solid plate discipline (9.7 percent walk rate, 16.1 percent strikeout rate). Power can be streaky, and if he finds a quick hot streak soon, he can return to the form he showed in 2015. But Turner has just a .409 career slugging percentage, and it is probably wishful thinking to believe he can get back to the .490+ level he was at in 2014 and 2015 for the Dodgers.

Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said Tuesday that Brantley (shoulder) is without a timetable for a return, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. "There's nothing new," Antonetti said. "We've tried to be transparent with it. We don't have a definitive timetable. We need to work off Michael and how he responds to activities. We'll continue to do that."

Antonetti echoed manager Terry Francona's sentiment from Monday; basically that Brantley has had no setbacks in his recovery, and the team isn't sure when he'll be back. A Yahoo Sports report from Monday suggested there is "serious concern" within the organization that Brantley could miss significant time. Antonetti said it's not the team's expectation that Brantley will miss a big part of the season. "But we don't have a crystal ball," he added.

Blackmon is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Dodgers.

The Rockies are facing lefty rookie Julio Urias on Tuesday, so manager Walt Weiss will use this opportunity to get right-hander Ryan Raburn a start in the outfield. Gerardo Parra will take Blackmon's place in center field Tuesday while DJ LeMahieu moves up to the leadoff spot against Urias.

Stanton is back in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Twins.

After getting the day off for Sunday's series finale against the Mets, Stanton will return to the lineup for Tuesday's tilt in Minnesota. Stanton has faced some difficult struggles at the plate over the last month, slashing .118/.230/.263 with 37 strikeouts in that span, but he'll have an opportunity to break out of that slump when he faces left-hander Pat Dean on Tuesday. Despite his struggles, Stanton is still slashing a more-than-respectable .267/.389/.567 against southpaws on the year.

Tuesday's MRI confirmed a hamstring strain for Soler and he has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune reports.

The Cubs will promote longtime prospect Albert Almora to take Soler's place in the outfield with Soler headed to the DL. According to Gonzales, Soler is expected to miss more than the minimum 15 days while he's on the DL, so this could be a lengthy audition for Almora. Soler's injury comes at an unfortunate time as he had begun to turn things around at the plate in recent weeks, slashing .310/.444/.552 with two home runs over the last two weeks.

Manager Terry Francona was noncommittal when asked about an earlier report that Brantley (shoulder) could miss a significant amount of time, the Indians' official site reports. "We've been really forthright in saying that the timetable is on him getting better," Francona said. "Absolutely there's been no setbacks. Nothing's changed."

The Indians have taken a cautious approach with Brantley, who's just recently started to work in some light swinging in his recovery. There's never been a firm timetable for a return, and although it doesn't sound like he's experienced a setback, there's still a lot of uncertainty around his recovery progress.

Soler (hamstring) will undergo an MRI on Tuesday, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports.

Soler exited Monday's game against the Phillies with an apparent hamstring injury, which he suffered while running to first. If he's forced to miss further time, Ben Zobrist or Matt Szczur will be the top candidates to take over in left field.

Soler left Monday's game against the Phillies after injuring his left hamstring while running to first base, Jerry Crasnick of Baseball America reports.

It's unclear how severe the injury is, but Soler was in enough pain that he needed to leave the game right after singling in the third inning. Matt Szczur pinch ran for him and took over in left field. More details on the severity of Soler's ailment should become available once he's evaluated by team doctors.

Pederson is out of Monday's lineup against the Rockies.

Scott Van Slyke will play in just his seventh game of the season as Pederson gets a night off. Pederson, who has played in 12 straight games, is likely to return to the lineup for Tuesday's game against Colorado. Perhaps giving Pederson a night to rest will help rejuvenate him at the plate, as he's slashed just .152/.188/.239 since his last day off.