MLB Player News

Turnbull is expected to claim the final spot in the Tigers' Opening Day rotation, Evan Woodbury of MLive.com reports.

Manager Ron Gardenhire hasn't officially named Turnbull as the fifth starter over Daniel Norris, but the Tigers appear inclined to use the latter out of the bullpen to give the team another reliable setup arm while Drew VerHagen (forearm) opens the season on the injured list. Even if the injuries to VerHagen and Michael Fulmer (elbow) hadn't intervened, Turnbull would have been a justifiable pick for the rotation after allowing just three runs and posting a 15:2 K:BB in 15 spring innings.

Glasnow allowed four earned runs on eight hits and a walk over four innings in a Grapefruit League loss to the Braves on Sunday. He struck out five.

Glasnow posted an 0-5 record through spring play and finished with a 9.59 ERA, but his outlook remains positive heading into the regular season as the projected No. 3 starter. Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports the right-hander was primarily focused on breaking in a new delivery this spring in an attempt to gain better control over his pitches, so the inconsistent showings aren't necessarily surprising. At least publicly, manager Kevin Cash continues to echo that sentiment as Opening Day approaches. "I think in fairness to Tyler, it's still a work in progress," Cash said of Glasnow's adjustments. "We're going to see him continue to make progress. [Pitching coach Kyle Snyder] is on board. We're all on board. I'm on board. Tyler is going to be a big part of our rotation."

Liberatore is expected to be held back in extended spring training to start the year but still expects to throw around 115 innings in his first full season, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports.

Teams often hold young pitchers back in extended spring training early in the season rather than sending them out to pitch in the Midwest before the weather heats up. Liberatore should join Low-A Bowling Green in May or June, which will give him plenty of time to hit his innings goal. Given his advanced arsenal and command, he could move quicker than the typical prep arm.

Mize added a mid-80s slurve to his arsenal this spring -- a pitch that he says is his fourth-best offering but is "going to move up pretty quickly," Jim Callis of MLB.com reports. "I really like the shape of the pitch and how it was spinning," Mize said. "The slurve is something I've been working on all offseason, so I want to put that in a game and see that be successful. That's going to be big."

Part of what made Mize so appealing as the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft was his deep arsenal, but even so, he sought to add a sharper, more traditional breaking ball to his repertoire this offseason. A "slurve" is a term scouts use when referring to a breaking ball that has slider and curveball qualities and is therefore difficult to identify. The term is not often used in a positive light, as most scouts prefer a true curveball or slider, so it is good to hear Mize speak with confidence and satisfaction with regards to his new pitch. The three pitches he currently ranks ahead of his improving slurve are his fastball (because of how well he commands it), splitter (because it's his best offspeed pitch) and cutter (because he can throw it for strikes in hitter's counts).

Cobb (groin) is expected to open the season on the injured list, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Cobb is dealing with a mild right groin strain. His absence isn't expected to be a long one. The Orioles can backdate his placement on the injured list by three days, leaving him eligible to start the team's home opener against the Yankees on April 4.

Lynn allowed two runs on two hits and two walks while strking out four over five innings Sunday against the Royals.

Lynn's final spring tuneup gives him a nice bounce into the regular season. After giving up a first-inning run, he set down 13 of the next 14 batters. "When you get five up-downs and your pitch count up to the seventies going into the season, that's good," the right-hander told T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. "For the most part, everything felt good. When I look back at it, just one bad pitch right into a guy's bat path on a bad breaking ball. But other than that, it was a good day, besides two walks in the first inning." Lynn had a 4.86 ERA over 16.2 innings and held opponents to a .169 average. Adding in the work he did in a Triple-A game, Lynn threw 21.2 innings this spring, much more than the seven spring innings he had for the Twins last year after signing March 15. That may have been a factor to his slow start. He'll pitch the third game of the season for the Rangers on Sunday against the Cubs.

Cole allowed three runs on five hits and one walk while striking out five over 5.1 innings Sunday against the Nationals.

Cole was his usual stingy self this spring, holding opponents to a .179 batting average and posting a 2.81 ERA over five starts (16.1 innings). His next outing will be the second game of the season, Friday against Tampa Bay.

Montas fired three scoreless innings in an exhibition win over the Giants on Sunday, allowing two walks and recording three strikeouts.

The right-hander brought his spring ERA down to a minuscule 0.56 with the outing, which may have cemented his claim to one of the two open rotation spots. Montas has added a bit more variety to his repertoire thus far this year, utilizing sinkers and changeups to make his mid-90s fastball even more effective. Chris Haft of MLB.com reports that while manager Bob Melvin isn't ready to announce his final personnel decisions, he's clearly been impacted by Montas' spring performance. "Frankie Montas is pitching great," Melvin said. "I'm not saying he's on there for sure -- we'll let guys know at the appropriate time -- but, man, he's done everything that you would ask to make a team. And when you're pitching like he is to make a team, there's more pressure on you. So it's been doubly impressive."

Kikuchi will be limited to one inning every few starts in the coming season in order to preserve his arm during his first major-league campaign, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. "The whole key with Yusei is to get him through the entire season healthy," manager Scott Servais said. "I can't tell you if it'll be the fourth start or fifth start or sixth start or seventh start. I don't know when exactly, but it's definitely something we want to stay on."

The Mariners will deploy the unique approach with the goal of having Kikuchi steer clear of the arm issues that often plague Japanese pitching transplants once they're exposed to the more accelerated pitching schedule stateside. The team also plans to utilize most of those abbreviated starts as opportunities to have a Triple-A prospect such as Justus Sheffield or Erik Swanson work as a long reliever and thus get experience against big-league bats. Following a solid major-league debut versus the Athletics in Japan last Thursday, Kikuchi is slated to next take the mound against the Red Sox on Friday night.

Verlander allowed two hits and struck out nine over five scoreless innings Saturday against the Marlins.

Verlander put a nice cap on spring training, during which he posted a 2.60 ERA. He reported being out of sync earlier in the camp but found something by watching video Friday and made adjustments Saturday, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. The right-hander didn't get into detail but said the adjustment revolves around the way he's loading his hips. "I saw something I thought I could improve upon now," he said. "I think I told you guys how kind of off I was as I was trying to make some adjustments. I think that kind of led me down the path of where I'm at now. I was looking for some things. ... I'm pretty good intuitively listening to my body and it doesn't get much better than it does tonight for me with the feel I had." Verlander's next outing will come Opening Day, March 28, against the Rays.