MLB Player News

Cease (shoulder) has been invited to the White Sox's major-league camp this spring, James Fegan of The Athletic Chicago reports.

Cease will join a slew of other top prospects at Chicago's big-league camp, including Michael Kopech and Luis Robert, among others, as the White Sox look to get a better feel for their top young talent. The electric righty spent all of 2017 at Low-A, split between Kannapolis and South Bend, compiling a 3.28 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 93.1 innings before being shut down in September with shoulder fatigue. He's expected to be healthy heading into spring, but given Cease is entering his age-22 season and hasn't pitched above Low-A, he'll likely remain in the lower minors to open the 2018 campaign.

Perez (elbow) believes he'll be available to pitch by Opening Day, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Perez suffered a freak offseason injury in December that caused him to undergo surgery to repair a broken elbow. He was initially expected to miss the first month of the season but is now apparently well ahead of schedule. "I am not going to miss any time. I have conviction I will be ready for the first day," Perez recently opined. The lefty is expected to throw his first bullpen session in the next week. Even barring a clean bill of health entering the 2018 season, Perez and his 4.43 career ERA likely aren't worthy of fantasy ownership outside of deeper formats.

Rodriguez has been able to resume throwing following knee surgery in mid-October, The Boston Globe's Pete Abraham reports.

Rodriguez seems to be moving ahead of schedule as it looks like he might be ready to return to action in mid-April, barring any other setbacks to the knee. The left-hander compiled a 4.19 ERA and 1.28 WHIP over a career-high 137.1 innings of work in 2017, and is expected to return to the back end of the rotation for Boston this year. There will likely be further updates on his status as spring training approaches.

Kopech is not expected to break spring training in the White Sox's starting rotation, but could reach Chicago at some point in 2018, Scott Merkin of MLB.com reports. "I'm anxious for him to get there and stay there," White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said. "I'm anxious to see the continued work we will put into Spring Training but also the continued work he will get to continue to improve, because for a lot of these guys, not only Kopech, their time is coming."

Kopech reached Triple-A Charlotte last season, increasing his inning count to 134.1. The right-hander with the legendary fastball improved his command, a bugaboo since he was drafted by Boston in 2014, dropping his BB/9 from 6.00 during the first half to 2.71 in the second half. If he continues on the same path that he finished up last season, we could see Kopech at in the second half. That's the same path followed by fellow prospect Reynaldo Lopez, who made eight starts in the majors after 22 (121.0 IP) at Charlotte.

Whitley acknowledges expectations for him may be high in 2018 after a promising first full season in 2017, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. "There's extra excitement," Whitley said of the 2018 season. "I'm going to try to stay in my lane, stay where my feet are and be humble as possible and just play the game."

There's talk of Whitley possibly being invited to major league camp at spring training, which would only fuel the expectations he created after the 2017 season, when the right-hander struck out 143 batters over 92.1 innings across three levels as a 19-year-old last year. The 6-foot-7 Whitley will continue to work on harnessing those long limbs, something we noticed over the second half of 2017: he improved his BB/9 from 4.1 at Low-A to 2.6 at High-A to 2.5 at Double-A. Whitley, Houston's top-ranked prospect per RotoWire, is expected to open the season at Double-A Corpus Christi with a shot to reach Triple-A Fresno as a 20-year-old.

Ramirez (elbow) has been cleared to begin working toward throwing from a mound, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Ramirez continues to work his way back from a damaged UCL that cost him the final six weeks of the 2017 season. He underwent stem-cell therapy in an attempt to heal the issue without surgery, and a recent evaluation showed continued healing of his elbow. The 29-year-old has now been cleared to begin working toward throwing off a mound, though a concrete timetable for his return remains unclear. Ramirez will be worth keeping an eye on as the season approaches; he posted a 4.15 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 105 strikeouts in 147.1 innings last season and should compete for a rotation spot when healthy.

The Pirates agreed to trade Cole to the Astros on Saturday in exchange for Joe Musgrove, Colin Moran, Michael Feliz and Jason Martin, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reports.

Houston and Pittsburgh were able to move past whatever snag held up talks earlier in the week, as Cole will indeed join the Astros. Cole made 33 starts for the Pirates last season after missing time in 2016 due to elbow troubles. He improved both his strikeout and walk rates last year, and the move to Minute Maid Park is an upgrade for Cole, both in terms of run prevention and strikeouts. Look for his ADP to tick up accordingly.

McCullers plans on focussing on the development of his changeup in spring training, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports. "In the first half my changeup was an awesome pitch for me," McCullers said. "When I went on the DL for my back I kind of lost the feel for it and I never really got to get back to that."

McCullers is well known for his fastball/curveball combo, and he can eat up big-league lineups for a few innings on the strength of just those two pitches. However, if he can regain the feel for his changeup that would allow him to give hitters a different look and could allow him to work more efficiently and go deeper into games. The opposition hit .409/.447/.591 on 240 changeups that McCullers threw in 2017, so he clearly has a long way to go with that offering.

Rodon (shoulder) agreed to a one-year, $2.3 million contract with the White Sox on Friday, avoiding arbitration.

Pitching coach Don Cooper confirmed Thursday that Rodon is unlikely to be ready to begin 2018 after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder in late September. The timetable for his recovery from surgery was estimated at 6-to-8 months. Expect the team to exercise extreme caution throughout the rehab process.

Gray agreed to a one-year, $6.5 million deal with the Yankees on Friday, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports.

This was the second offseason as an arbitration-eligible player for Gray, who will receive a bump of $2.975 million from last year. During 27 starts between Oakland and New York in 2017, he posted a 3.55 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over 162.1 innings. Looking ahead, he should be a reliable option at the pitching position in 2018, but an area of concern lies with his propensity to give up home runs in Yankee Stadium. Nonetheless, expect similar numbers during this upcoming season.