MLB Player News

Andriese allowed two hits and a walk while striking out three over four scoreless innings in Tuesday's spring game against Atlanta.

Andriese pitched in relief after game starter Tanner Houck. Both pitchers were on the fringe of the rotation, as Boston manager Alex Cora kicked around the idea of six-man rotation. Cora announced Tuesday he will go with a five-man rotation, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. He didn't name the five, but it's fairly obvious it will consist of Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Richards, Martin Perez and Nick Pivetta. As such, Andriese is expected to pitch in a swing role, while Houck, who struggled mightily with command in Grapefruit League play, will likely head to the alternate site, and eventually, Triple-A Worcester.

Norris will likely fill a long-relief role for the Tigers this season, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reports.

After dealing with injuries the past few seasons and a bout with COVID-19 in 2020, Norris settled in as a primary pitcher last year, posting a 2.77 ERA across 13 multi-inning relief appearances. A similar role seems to be on tap for the lefty in 2021, which curtails his fantasy appeal but could make him a solid real-life option for the Tigers, especially as they look to monitor the workloads of starters such as Michael Fulmer, Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal.

Puk will start Wednesday's Cactus League game against the Royals and is expected to throw 45-50 pitches, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

This confirms a Monday report that indicated matters were trending in this direction for Puk, whose velocity and breaking ball both stood out in a Saturday sim game. The urgency to get the big left-hander stretched out has gone up a notch, considering he's the leading candidate to take Mike Fiers' (hip) place in the starting rotation to open the season if the veteran is sidelined as expected.

Flores was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old struggled in three spring appearances, giving up two runs on three hits and four walks over 2.1 innings. Flores will look to get back to the big leagues in 2021 after making his debut in the majors with two appearances last season.

Stiever was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old has been talked up by new manager Tony La Russa and is expected to contribute for the White Sox in 2021, but he won't make the Opening Day roster. Stiever made his major-league debut last season and allowed seven earned runs across 6.1 innings.

Burdi was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old appeared in eight games for the White Sox last season and surrendered nine earned runs with an 11:3 K:BB over 7.1 innings. Burdi is a likely bet to join the big-league club at some point in 2021.

Ramirez allowed two earned runs on two hit batsmen and a walk over one inning in a Cactus League loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday.

The outing marked Ramirez's spring debut following a bout with COVID-19 earlier in the month. The hard-throwing right-hander was a surprisingly pivotal part of the Mariners bullpen in 2020 with three saves, a hold and a 2.61 ERA across 20.2 innings (16 appearances), but control was also a significant concern (8.7 BB/9). His initial struggles aside, that body of work last season is likely to help Ramirez latch onto an Opening Day roster spot, with Daniel Kramer of MLB.com including the 25-year-old as one of the team's relievers in his latest roster projection.

Tapia (oblique) will play catch Wednesday, Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN Seattle reports.

Tapia was diagnosed with a strained right oblique at the start of last week. He'll wind up being shut down for just over a week, and the delay may make it tough for him to get up to speed by Opening Day.

Bazardo was optioned to the Red Sox's alternate site Tuesday, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

Bazardo was added to the 40-man roster in November but was always a long shot to break camp in the big-league bullpen. He looked good in 73.1 innings of relief in the minors in 2019, posting a 2.21 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 29.6 percent strikeout rate, but those innings came at the High-A and Double-A levels, so he may need some more time in the minors before pushing for a major-league job.

Harvey (oblique) is expected to be ready to return by late May or early June, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

Harvey just can't catch a break with injuries, as he was placed on the 60-day injured list Tuesday due to the strained oblique he suffered Friday against the Phillies. It doesn't look as though he'll miss much more than the required 60 days, though his injury history doesn't provide any reason for confidence that he'll avoid setbacks. He still has closer upside when he eventually gets back into game action, especially as the Orioles don't have any obvious alternatives for the role, but it's hard to hold onto a pitcher with Harvey's track record who isn't even guaranteed to close when he eventually returns.