MLB Player News

Paxton (illness) will throw a bullpen session Friday, and if all goes well, he could draw the start Monday against Oakland, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

Paxton continues to battle back from pneumonia, and if he feels good during Friday's bullpen, there's a good chance he'll get the nod Monday. The 29-year-old is optimistic he can make two more starts prior to the conclusion of the regular season.

Cobb (finger) will throw a light bullpen session Friday, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

Cobb had a bullpen session Tuesday and indicated the blister is feeling much better. The 30-year-old remains hopeful he can make another start before the end of the season, though he has yet to receive an official return date.

McCullers (forearm) will return to the team Friday, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.

McCullers was sent to the 10-day disabled list with a forearm strain suffered during an at-bat. He tossed one final simulated game Friday without issue, so he's flying to Houston to return to the team ahead of the series opener. Manager A.J. Hinch stated that McCullers will be activated from the DL on Monday at the earliest, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle, at which point he'll be deployed out of the bullpen.

Kluber is listed as the Indians' probable pitcher for Monday's game against the White Sox.

The Indians will activate Trevor Bauer (fibula) from the 10-day disabled list and have him start Friday against the Red Sox, while Adam Plutko will return from a brief stint in the bullpen to start Sunday's series finale. Those two additions will take Kluber out of the mix for a two-start week, as he'll get pushed back to take the hill Monday on five days' rest. Considering Kluber's prior turn Tuesday came on seven days' rest, it appears the Indians' main priority is easing up on their ace's workload down the stretch with the hope of keeping him fresh for the postseason. With that in mind, it's far from a lock that Kluber will make more than one start in the final week of the regular season, despite leading off the Indians' seven-game road trip to close out the campaign.

Rodriguez allowed five earned runs on four hits and seven walks while striking out four across 3.2 innings Thursday against the Yankees. He did not factor into the decision.

Rodriguez fought with his control throughout the start, with only 53 of his 100 pitches going for strikes. Though he has battled control for extended periods throughout his career, the seven walks on Thursday were unsurprisingly a career-worst. Even after Thursday's start, Rodriguez has only a 3.14 BB/9, his best mark since 2015. That said, this should be considered an isolated problem for Rodriguez, as he had walked only 2.4 batters per nine innings across his last 15 frames.

Chirinos tossed 4.2 scoreless innings and took the no-decision Thursday, allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out five in the 9-8 loss to Toronto.

After the "opener" Ryne Stanek allowed three straight hits to start the second inning, Chirinos came in and shut the Blue Jays down. The 24-year-old now owns a 3.68 ERA and would've earned the victory had it not been for Tampa Bay's bullpen meltdown in the ninth inning. Chirinos should work another long-relief game sometime next week, likely against the Yankees.

Boyd allowed five runs (two earned) on six hits across 1.1 innings Thursday but escaped with a no-decision in an 11-8 win over the Royals.

Boyd struggled Thursday, but Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez was worse, as he allowed seven runs in his lone inning. The lefty entered the night with a solid 3.75 ERA and 0.94 WHIP since the beginning of August, so perhaps this was just a hiccup and he'll be able to rebound in his next (and likely last) start of the season, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Twins on the road.

Manager Terry Francona said Carrasco will come in for Trevor Bauer (lower leg) on Tuesday against the White Sox after the latter pitches a few innings, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

With Bauer attempting to build his arm back up to speed before the start of the postseason, he will take the hill Friday and then again Tuesday in the hopes of gradually increasing his workload. In order to assist the club in getting Bauer as much time as possible on the mound, Carrasco agreed to serve out of the bullpen instead of making a start during the three-game set in Chicago. Looking ahead, the Indians are lining Carrasco up to start Game 1 or 2 of the ALDS as long as everything goes according to plan.

Chirinos is slated to serve as the long man for Thursday's "bullpen day" after opener Ryne Stanek exits, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Chirinos will thus fill what's become his full-time role, one in which he's been relatively effective. The 24-year-old has two wins in three September appearances in such a capacity, with both of those outings the equivalent of a quality start. Chirinos has also encouragingly upped his strikeout rate during the month, generating a 16:4 K:BB across his 18.2 September innings after recording just 18 whiffs over 26.0 frames in August.

Eovaldi will start Monday against the Orioles, then will likely follow Rick Porcello out of the bullpen next Friday against the Yankees, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.

Manager Alex Cora wouldn't commit to Eovaldi being a reliever during the postseason, preferring to see which team the Red Sox will be facing. "We don't know who we're going to play," Cora said. "We're getting ahead of ourselves. You guys know I hate to get ahead of myself. If we win the division we don't know who we're going to play. Who matches up better against [the Yankees] or Oakland or the Rays?" That likely means Cora may prefer to have Eovaldi start if the Yankees are the opponent. The right-hander has a 2.11 ERA and 0.78 WHIP over 21.1 innings in three starts against the Bronx Bombers this season.