MLB Player News

White Sox pitcher Chris Sale (foot) is not expected to be ready by opening day, but the team sees him returning not long after the regular-season opener, CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman reports.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura said earlier this week that Sale had "a slim chance" to be ready for the opener. The ace suffered an avuncular fracture in his right foot in late February, delaying the start of his camp.

Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish left Thursday's game against the Royals due to right triceps tightness, according to MLB.com. 

The injury is not believed to be serious and Darvish will be re-evaluated on Friday. 

Darvis said he felt tightness in his arm before the game, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He added it's nothing to worry about, though. 

"I felt some tightness with my triceps and I focused only on my location and command with my pitches," Darvish said, via FOX Sports Southwest. "Today in the bullpen I felt the tightness was more so I didn't have a lot of effort on the mound in the game. It wasn't serious so I went to the mound as usual."

Darvish was still able to pitch a scoreless first inning with just 12 pitches. 

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, who had his start on Saturday pushed back due to flu-like symptoms, threw a side session and appears fully recovered, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group. The Indians have not announced when Kluber will make his Cactus League debut.

Rangers pitcher Martin Perez, recovering from Tommy John surgery last May, is scheduled to throw off a half-mound on Tuesday, according to FOX Sports Southwest on Thursday. Perez took a few days off as a precaution, and is targeting a return at some point in the middle of the season.

Mariners pitcher Taijuan Walker tossed two scoreless frames in his spring debut on Wednesday. 

Walker gave up just one hit during his two innings of work. He struck out two during the start. Walker is considered a strong favorite to open the season in the rotation, but is technically competing with Roenis Elias for the fifth spot. 

Walker said he was pretty amped for the start, but calmed down after the Mariners put an early run on the board. "The first inning I was up just because I was amped up for the first game and facing their best hitters and potential starting lineup," Walker said. But for the most part, I calmed down, especially after D.J. hit that home run. I was, 'Whew, OK, we got a run. Let's get 'em now.'"

Walker, 22, posted a 2.61 ERA over 38 innings last season. 

Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman is hoping to have a better spring this year after struggling in 2014, reports MLB.com.

"I struggled all last spring, I wanted to make the team so bad," Stroman said following his debut during the Blue Jays' 4-1 win over the Pirates on Wednesday. "I feel a lot different. I feel much more relaxed, I'm focused. I know what I have to do rather than doing everything in my power to go out there and try to make the team, doing more than I had to. So I'm relaxed, I'm motivated, I'm ready to go. I'm excited for this year."

Stroman heads into the 2015 campaign looking to add another pitch, a sinker.

"I've always wanted a sinker," Stroman said. "If you can have a sinker, all hitters say that's one of the hardest pitches to hit when it's located. So it was not that I needed another pitch to make an adjustment, it was more so that I saw it as a weapon I never had that I wanted to add to my arsenal."

Yankees pitcher Nathan Eovaldi made his debut in pinstripes Wednesday, throwing two innings and allowing two hits and one earned run.

"It's definitely special," Eovaldi said. "It's the same game. You're just in a different uniform. That's the mentality I was trying to take out there to compete."

Eovaldi is building his relationship with Brian McCann as he looks to be a workhouse in the rotation.

"Everything has been good," Eovaldi said. "I got to throw one bullpen [session] with him previously. He's awesome back there. Today, I told him I just wanted to work on moving the ball in and out and work on the split. He said, 'Let's go.'"

White Sox starting pitcher Jose Quintana made a case for himself Wednesday to be the opening day starter for Chicago.

Quintana pitched two hitless innings against the Dodgers in his spring training debut, including 20 strikes on 26 pitches.

"It's time for preparation, throw good pitches, more strikes the first time," Quintana said. "The first hitter I was a little bit nervous because I wanted to throw a good pitch, but I feel really good. I threw the fastball in and out really good."

Quintana would like to get to start opening day, but knows it's out of his hands.

"I don't have control over that, Quintana said. "I would like one time, but I think Sale is the first guy here, and we need him to throw the Opening Day, and we want him to come back healthy."

The Orioles are taking things slow with relief pitcher Kevin Gausman. He pitched just one scoreless inning on 14 pitches in Wednesday's game, but it's a part of the plan, reports MLB.com.

"Every year is a little bit different," said Gausman. "My first year I wanted to come into camp and show what I had and possibly be an option for later in the year, knowing I wasn't going to make the team. But pitched well. Last year came to camp, felt I had a good chance of making the rotation and then we signed Ubaldo [Jimenez]. So, it’s one of those things. Every spring is going to be different."

Gausman went 7-7 in 2014 with a 3.57 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 113 1/3 innings pitched.

"That's one thing that's different this year is they kind of held me back. [The Orioles] told me don't throw any bullpens before you get to camp. Normally I throw 7 or 8 bullpens before camp."

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is dealing with flu-like symptoms, and manager Terry Francona is unsure if he'll have his Cactus League debut pushed back, per the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Kluber, who is coming off his AL Cy Young campaign in 2014, is penciled in for Saturday.