MLB Player News

The Kansas City Royals made several roster moves on Monday prior to the Cactus League game against the Rangers. The Royals reassigned pitchers Blaine Boyer, Michael Mariot, Brian Sanches and Yordano Ventura to minor-league camp.

Optioned to Triple-A Omaha were pitchers Everett Teaford, Will Smith and Nate Adcock.

Teaford, Smith and Adcock have all seen time in the majors and could come up for the Royals at some point this season. 

Mariners pitcher Brandon Maurer remains in Seattle spring training camp while many of the other big-time pitching prospects in the organization have been cut, reports MLB.com Monday. 

Prospects the likes of Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton have been sent to minor league camp, but the 22-year-old Maurer remains. He's never pitched above Double-A, but he made some noise last year after being named the Southern League Pitcher of the Year for Jackson. 

"All I know is I just have to go out there and throw well on Tuesday," Maurer said. "That's all I can worry about. I've got to get through five [innings]. That's the approach I've tried to take the whole time. Just worry about myself and not all that other stuff."

Maurer, the No. 6-rated prospect in the organization according to Baseball America, is simply trying to win a roster spot. That said, he is one injury from being in the rotation for the Mariners. He's given up just one run over 10 spring innings with 11 Ks. So far that is more impressive than the projected No. 5 starter Blake Beavan has been. It is definitely better than Jeremy Bonderman has been. Jon Garland has been OK, but only over six innings to this point. 

Twins pitcher Liam Hendriks was a bit shaky in his fifth Grapefruit League start Friday night against the Red Sox.

After allowing a run in the opening frame, Hendriks settled down until the fourth inning, where he gave up a two-run home run to Jarrod Saltalamacchia for his only damage of the night. He allowed three runs on five hits in four innings of work. Hendriks also struck out two and did not issue a walk as his ERA rose to 6.00 this spring.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire would have liked to have seen some variety in his pitch selection.

"Hendriks threw the ball good, but didn't really change his speeds much -- all fastballs tonight," Gardenhire said. "There really weren't many spinners in there, changeups, nothing. I mean, it's pretty impressive that you can throw all fastballs, but it doesn't really work. You've got to mix in your other stuff. We noticed that quite a bit."

Royals pitcher Will Smith endured his worst outing of the spring Friday against the Padres in Cactus League play.

Smith, who made his second start of the spring, allowed a two-run home run to Nick Hundley to capp off a three-run first inning.

"It was a first-pitch fastball, I was just trying to get a strike," Smith said. "It was up, belt-high and he did what he was supposed to do with it -- crushed it."

He gave up five runs -- one earned -- on five hits in four innings of work in a 7-5 victory. He also struck out two and did not issue a walk. His ERA went up to 1.64 in the spring.

The Red Sox optioned pitcher Rubby De La Rosa to Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday. De La Rosa posted a 9.45 ERA in four relief appearances in spring training. 

Rays starting pitcher Matt Moore allowed an unearned run and three hits over five strong innings during Tampa Bay's 3-1 win over Philadelphia in a Grapefruit League contest Friday.

Moore, who has been fighting his command throughout the spring, fanned seven batters while walking a pair.

His only run allowed came after his errant pick-off throw in the second inning as he lowered his spring ERA from 8.22 to 4.97 after his fourth outing.

"It was better. It's still not the finished product," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He was better, but there is still another level of him like we've seen in the past."

The Los Angeles Angels continued to reduce their roster Friday, optioning pitchers Michael Kohn, Ryan Brasier and Barry Enright to Triple-A Salt Lake.

For all the good that Rays closer Fernando Rodney did last year -- an 0.60 ERA and 0.78 WHIP with 48 saves -- he still remains somewhat worrisome for me, and I'm avoiding him in all drafts and auctions.

Yes, he looks like he carried that dominance over to this spring, with four WBC saves and no runs allowed in three spring training innings, but can we just forget what he did from 2007 to 2011?

During that five-year span, Rodney had a 4.42 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. I'm all for redemption stories and can totally understand the Rays fixing something flawed with Rodney, but I also have to balance 2012 against his much larger track record. Throw in the fact that he's 36 on Monday, and it adds up to a bunch of red flags and caution tape.

Rodney's ADP of 103 -- putting him ahead of Asdrubal Cabrera, B.J. Upton, and Brett Lawrie -- is way too high for my tastes and makes it look like drafters are putting a lot of faith in 2012, while basically ignoring his flailings in his five previous campaigns. 

Rays closer Fernando Rodney is in mid-season form as he came through big for the Dominican Republic national team on Thursday against the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Rodney only needed 16 pitches to pick up his fourth WBC save, and his second in Pool 2. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning and struck out one in a 3-1 victory. He has yet to allow a run in 4 1/3 innings of work in the WBC.

Athletics reliever Fernando Rodriguez has torn his UCL but will get a second opinion before deciding whether he’ll have Tommy John surgery, according to MLB.com. Rodriguez left Monday’s game after suffering an elbow injury.