MLB Player News

Chirinos was informed Sunday that he earned a spot on the Rays' Opening Day roster, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

After delivering stellar numbers while splitting time in a starting role between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham last season, Chirinos will work as a multi-inning reliever for the Rays, who plan to deploy a four-man rotation at least at the outset of this season. While he won't warrant immediate rostering in most deeper mixed settings, Chirinos could be an appealing pickup for fantasy owners looking for ratio stabilization if the right-hander's four-pitch mix plays up out of the bullpen as the Rays anticipate it will.

The Orioles are expected to keep Cortes, a Rule 5 selection in December, on their Opening Day roster, Jon Meoli of The Baltimore Sun reports.

The 23-year-old had been a competing for a spot as the No. 5 starter in the Orioles' rotation during spring training, but with Mike Wright and Miguel Castro seemingly in better position to capture that role, Cortes will instead head to the bullpen, where he'll give Baltimore a second option from the left side. Cortes is expected to see most of his opportunities early in the season in lower-leverage or mop-up situations.

Sale (hip) doesn't believe his injury will cause him to miss Thursday's Opening Day start against the Rays, Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald reports. "Not at all," Sale told reporters when asked if he thinks he'll miss his scheduled first start.

Sale's initial reaction suggested a more serious injury than a bruise, but he said that's because the ball hit him on a nerve and sent immediate pain all the way to his foot. After a few moments, when that pain subsided, the left-hander tried to convince manager Alex Cora to let him stay in the game, but the manager was having none of that.

Rodriguez (knee) struck out three and walked none over three scoreless innings in a minor-league game Saturday, Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald reports.

Rodriguez was making a final push to get himself ready for the first turn of the rotation in the regular season, but the Red Sox backed off that plan and will have him begin the season on the disabled list. Boston has three off-days over the first nine days in April and can give Rodriguez some extra time to build up his pitch count.

Hamels made his final Cactus League appearance Saturday and tossed three scoreless innings against the Indians, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports.

Hamels was pleased with the explosion of his fastball, which had been lacking in a minor-league outing last week. He allowed six runs over 13 innings against major-league competition but just two over his last 10.2. He'll take the ball Opening Day (March 29) at home against the Astros. After that, he's scheduled to pitch the sixth game of the season (April 3) at the Athletics.

Luzardo (2-0), who was called up to major-league camp for the third time this spring prior to Friday's Cactus League game against the Angels, fired 2.2 scoreless innings in which he allowed three hits and one walk while striking out three.

It wasn't a lay-down lineup on the part of the Angels by any means, either, as the 20-year-old had to contend with the likes of Ian Kinsler, Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Albert Pujols and Zack Cozart, among others. Luzardo, who's yet to work above the Low-A level in the regular season, set Trout down on strikes before being pulled due to his pitch limit, but he left another lasting impression on manager Bob Melvin, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports. "He was really good," Melvin said. "This lineup's going to get your attention. I don't care who you are, but at [20] years old, throwing breaking balls in off counts, up to 97 [mph] that I saw on the radar gun, very poised, it was very impressive to go out and start against this team and look the way he did."

Rodriguez (knee) will begin the season on the disabled list, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports.

The Red Sox had been hoping to build Rodriguez's pitch count enough over the next week to have him ready for the first week of the season, but abandoned that plan Saturday. With Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz (forearm) both ticketed for the DL, Brian Johnson joins the rotation and Hector Velasquez is presumed to be the fifth starter. Rodriguez's stay on the DL is not expected to be a long one and he could be ready by mid-April.

X-rays on Sale's hip came back negative and manager Alex Cora said he expects the southpaw to be ready to pitch Opening Day against the Rays on Thursday, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.

This is certainly welcomed news for both parties after Sale was struck by a liner and exited Saturday's spring game with what was later diagnosed as a hip contusion. The ace was never worried about the injury, however, and further tests confirmed he wasn't dealing with anything overly serious. Look for the southpaw to stay on schedule for his Opening Day start Thursday against the Rays.

Sale (hip) said he's fine and that he expects to make his Opening Day start against the Rays on Thursday, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.

Sale was diagnosed with a hip contusion after exiting Saturday's spring game after being hit by a comebacker. The ace downplayed the issue afterwards, comparing it to getting hit by a pitch, and noted that he doesn't expect anything to linger at all, according to freelance sports writer Maureen Mullen. Still, the Red Sox will play it safe with Sale and send him for some X-rays, so his status should be updated after his test results are known.

Sale left Saturday's game with a left hip contusion after being hit by a line drive, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Sale will continue to be examined by team doctors within the next couple hours. It doesn't appear as though his Opening Day start against the Rays on Thursday is in jeopardy, but more should be known regarding his availability by the end of the day.