MLB Player News

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said starting pitcher Justin Verlander will not be skipped in the rotation amid his recent struggles, according to MLive.com.

"No, I'm not going to give him a 10-day vacation," Leyland said. "If he's healthy, which he is, he'll pitch."

Verlander's next scheduled start is for Saturday against the Rays. Verlander is winless in his last three starts (0-1), but his struggles have persisted since mid-May. He has a 6.11 ERA in his last eight starts, raising his season ERA from 1.93 to 3.90.

Mariners starting pitcher prospect Taijuan Walker had quite the debut for Triple-A Tacoma Tuesday. The highly touted pitching prospect tossed six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, while striking out four.

"I've had the opportunity to be around a lot of special pitchers but tonight you got to see one of the really good ones," said Jason Jaramillo, Walker's catcher on Tuesday night, per MLB.com. "He's got composure, he's got the stuff, he's got the talent. He's really blessed, so just seeing him a couple days now, he's special."

Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish had a hard time keeping the ball in the park as he failed to factor in the decision Tuesday night against the Yankees.

Darvish allowed solo home runs to Travis Hafner, Brett Gardner and Jayson Nix. The right-hander surrendered three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings pitched in a 4-3 loss.

Darvish has not won a decision since May 16. He is 0-2 with a 2.94 ERA in his last seven starts. He is scheduled to make his next start Sunday at home against the Reds. He is 4-2 with a 3.05 ERA in nine starts at home.

White Sox starter Chris Sale snapped a four-start losing streak Tuesday with a no-decision at home against the Mets. Unfortunately, Sale was in line to win the game before Addison Reed blew the save. 

Sale struck out 13 batters over eight strong innings as he allowed three runs on four hits and two walks. Two of the three runs he gave up came in the first inning. He settled down after that and allowed only a solo homer the rest of the way over 110 pitches. 

Sale's record does not reflect how well he's pitched this season. He's gone 5-6, but has a solid 2.75 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 104 strikeouts over 98 1/3 innings. Sale will look to earn his first win since May 17 when he next starts Sunday against Cleveland. 

Indians starter Justin Masterson had everything working for most of his appearance Tuesday in Baltimore. He gave up just one run over his first six innings, but came apart in the seventh.

Masterson hit Adam Jones in the seventh before Chris Davis launched a two-run home run to tie the score at three runs apiece. The starter allowed a four-pitch walk as well during the seventh and his night was ended by a three-run home run off the bat of Alexi Casilla.

The ace of the Cleveland staff ended up allowing six earned runs on six hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and took the loss to fall to 9-6 for the Tribe. His ERA is at 3.76.

Masterson won his last time out and was cruising until one poor inning did him in Tuesday. He'll look to bounce back when he next takes the mound for Cleveland on Sunday in Chicago against the White Sox.

In case you haven't heard, Twins pitching prospect Kyle Gibson is set to make his major-league debut Saturday against the Royals. Don't worry. I haven't bothered to pick him up in any of my leagues either.

It's not because I've gotten burned by some of the other big-name prospects to come up recently, such as Kevin Gausman, Zack Wheeler and Tyler Skaggs. It's because I don't think Gibson is as big of a name as any of them. He's a legit prospect for sure and, at age 25, is probably more prepared than most for his big-league debut, but he doesn't capacity -- or more specifically, the jaw-dropping arsenal -- to become an instant ace.

He's more on the level of Chris Archer -- a second-tier pitching prospect who most likely will develop into a middle-of-the-rotation type. Maybe he has the potential for more, but it would surprise people, particularly in his rookie season.

In the right scenario, yeah, I'll put in a claim for that guy, but if I miss out on him, it's not the end of the world.

Though long considered a top prospect, Martin Perez has fallen short of expectations in both the majors and the minors so far in his young career, and for that reason, Fantasy might be inclined to ignore his latest stint in the Rangers rotation.

But those seven innings he threw at St. Louis Saturday seemed different. He didn't have a big strikeout total, but he issued just one walk and was a model of efficiency, throwing 82 pitches.

It was the continuation of a trend that began in the minors, where he had a 1.75 ERA in six starts at Triple-A Round Rock of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and issued just eight walks in 36 innings. Poor control held him back as much as anything else in past years.

Rangers manager Ron Washington put it best Saturday: "I've always seen the stuff, but tonight was the first time I think he showed he's a big-league pitcher." With his ability, Perez doesn't need to do anything tricky to succeed at the highest level, and maybe he knows that now.

Let's see him do it once more before adding him.

Justin Verlander's last start Sunday against the Red Sox was the fifth of nine in which he lasted five innings or fewer and the eighth of nine in which he allowed three earned runs or more. It was also the last straw as far as my rankings go.

After ranking him first or second at starting pitcher for the first 12 weeks of this season, he's now sixth at the position, behind Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Yu Darvish, Cliff Lee and Adam Wainwright. It's not a dramatic downgrade, but for the pitcher widely considered the one worth reaching for in Fantasy over the last couple years, it's a signifcant one. Nobody on the trade market is going to value him at that level anymore, so why should I?

It doesn't mean I've given up on him. The sixth-best starting pitcher is still a surefire ace, and Verlander still has many ace-like qualifities. He's hitting 98 mph with his fastball. The average velocity is a little lower, but it's been rising over his last few starts. Tigers manager Jim Leyland says command is the bigger issue, and he's probably right. Verlander's walks have been up during this little blip.

But the best pitcher in Fantasy shouldn't have any blips of more than a start or two, which is why I think Verlander no longer deserves that level of trust.

Rays pitcher Alex Cobb, who is on the disabled list after suffering a scary head injury June 15 against Kansas City, said Monday he's hopeful he will return this season, The Tampa Tribune reports. 

Cobb, who continues to suffer from concussion-related symptoms, has been limited to physical activity, despite being labeled with only a mild concussion. 

"The headaches after the fact, the first few days, were pretty tough to handle ... it was leading to some nausea and stuff like that," Cobb said. "It's with you every second of the day. Whenever you look in a certain direction too quickly, or even try to lay down to try to go to bed, you're reminded you have something serious going on. You're not going to be able to fight through that until your body says you're good."

All that said, Cobb still believes that he'll be back on the mound this season for the Rays. "I've read some reports that I won't be back pitching this season and nothing could be further from the truth," Cobb said.

Indians manager Terry Francona said Monday that he is all but certain that Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco will start in the doubleheader coming up Friday in Chicago, MLB.com reports Monday. 

That said, Francona would not officially announce that decision. Carrasco would come back up, after being optioned Monday, as the 26th man for the doubleheader.