MLB Player News

Civale made his case for a spot in the rotation during his final start before the suspension of spring training, Joe Noga of Cleveland.com reports.

Civale struck out six Giants' hitters across three frames March 9, with his only blemish coming via a solo home run by Alex Dickerson to lead off the second inning. Though Civale threw only five total innings prior to spring training being suspended, he impressed by recording nine punchouts and allowing just one hit. The delay to the start of the regular season will give Mike Clevinger (knee) and Carlos Carrasco (elbow) a chance to get healthy, but Civale made a strong case to be in Indians' rotation when the regular season opens, regardless of the health of the more established arms.

Means will head the Orioles' rotation this season and was lining up to be the Opening Day starter, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

Means was never officially named to the Opening Day assignment before play was suspended, but his schedule lined him up for the duties. Whenever MLB resumes, the southpaw figures to lead the Orioles' rotation, working ahead of veteran Alex Cobb. Means is coming off a breakout 2019, during which he posted a 3.60 ERA and 1.14 WHIP while walking just 38 batters across 155 innings.

Odorizzi only threw two innings during Grapefruit League play, but he honed his offspeed pitches and built up to 52 pitches on the backfields against minor-league hitters prior to the shutdown, LaVelle E. Neal of the Star Tribune reports.

Odorizzi, who is coming off the best season of his career, likes to work on his pitches during spring training in a simulated game environment, where he is less focused on trying to get out of an inning. The Twins supported him in this approach, although he would have gotten into more Grapefruit League games had spring training continued. He was unwilling to shed any light on what exactly he was working on, although he said he really likes the shape of his offspeed pitches and values seeing how hitters react to those pitches in that informal environment -- few of the hitters were able to make contact.

Rodon (elbow) could return to active duty by July, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper talked about what looks like a strong starting rotation to open the season, then anticipated the additions of Rodon and Michael Kopech. Cooper expects both pitchers to join the rotation at some point in 2020. Rodon played catch while training camps were open, and Cooper said the left-hander looked better than expected. Rodon underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2019, so a return during the second half of the season is likely, unless there's a setback.

Sale will undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow.

Sale's elbow troubles date back to last season. Tommy John surgery appeared to be on the table back in August and again when the issue return at the start of this month. The procedure was deemed unnecessary both times, and Sale was able to resume throwing Wednesday. His elbow evidently didn't respond well to Wednesday's session, however, as the decision to have him finally undergo the procedure was made just one day later. With a typical recovery timeline, the lefty will miss all of this season and the start of the 2021 campaign as well.

Hill (elbow) is continuing his rehab at home while baseball remains shut down and is still on track to pitch in June, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reports.

Depending on when play is able to resume, it's possible Hill won't wind up missing any games due to his offseason elbow surgery. He's expected to be able to maintain a similar rehab schedule from home, so his timeline won't be significantly impacted.

Severino (elbow) has been rehabbing at the Yankees' spring-training complex, Marly Rivera of ESPN reports.

Severino is among a group of Yankees players and coaches who have chosen to stay in Florida during MLB's hiatus. The right-hander is in the very early stages of his rehab from Tommy John surgery and won't return to game action until 2021.

Sale (elbow) resumed throwing Wednesday at the Red Sox's spring training facility, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports.

The health of Sale's elbow remains up in the air despite the fact that he's able to throw. After three opinions on his flexor strain in early March, it was determined that he didn't need Tommy John surgery, but his elbow will need to continue to progress for that to remain the case. Even if all goes well with his recovery, it will still take some time before Sale is ready for game action, though with Opening Day still up in the air, it's conceivable he could be ready by the time play resumes.

The Tigers announced that Wentz (elbow) underwent successful Tommy John surgery in Florida on Wednesday.

Wentz was shut down early in camp with a forearm strain, but he had recently been cleared to resume throwing before Major League Baseball suspended spring training last week. The lefty apparently wasn't quite feeling right in his workouts, prompting the Tigers to send him in for follow-up tests that revealed he was dealing with a torn UCL. Detroit estimates that Wentz require 14-to-16 months to recover from the injury, meaning the 22-year-old will likely be sidelined until the second half of the 2021 season.

Verlander (lat) underwent surgery on his right groin Tuesday and will be out for six weeks, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Verlander left a spring training game in early March with what was originally called right triceps soreness and was later referred to as a mild lat strain. He had also battled what seemed to be a minor groin issue early in camp, but it's now that issue which is seemingly the larger concern. Verlander will still have to build his arm strength back up following his six-week shutdown, a period which will end in late April. With the start to the season uncertaintain due to the coronavirus pandemic, whether or not he winds up missing any time remains to be seen.