MLB Player News

Dunn (shoulder) was placed on the 60-day injured list Thursday.

Dunn was traded from the Mariners to the Reds in March and was expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation, but he'll be forced to miss at least the first two months of the season due to the right shoulder strain that kept him sidelined for most of the 2021 campaign. Luis Castillo (shoulder) and Mike Minor (shoulder) are both on the 10-day injured list to begin the year, so Vladimir Gutierrez, Reiver Sanmartin, Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo are all beginning the season in the rotation for the Reds.

The Nationals placed Strasburg (neck) on the 10-day injured list Thursday.

Strasburg is being brought along slowly to begin the season while he works his way back from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he underwent last July. He's seemingly experienced no setbacks since reporting to spring training, as he's been throwing throughout camp and has faced hitters. Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reported Tuesday that Strasburg is in line to throw another live bullpen session next week at extended spring training in Florida, where he's expected to continue building up for a few more weeks before potentially heading out on a minor-league rehab assignment. Per Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports Washington, general manager Mike Rizzo said Wednesday that it's a "possibility" that Strasburg could make his season debut with the Nationals as early as May 1, though the organization is reluctant to put a hard timeline on his return.

The Cubs placed Miley (elbow) on the 10-day injured list Thursday, Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

He'll open the season on the IL along with Alec Mills (back) and Adbert Alzolay (lat), with the their absences clearing the way for Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and the newly-signed Drew Smyly to capture spots in the Cubs' rotation coming out of spring training. Miley was shut down last week due to his inflamed left elbow and is expected to be re-evaluated in the coming days, but he appears likely to miss more than the minimum 10 days.

Gore was optioned to Triple-A El Paso on Wednesday.

Gore had 16 strikeouts over 12 innings during spring training, but he was never a likely bet to make San Diego's Opening Day roster. He made six starts for El Paso last season and struggled with a 5.85 ERA, 1.80 WHIP and 18:12 K:BB across 20 innings. Gore remains one of the organization's top pitching prospects and could be promoted for his major-league debut at some point in 2022.

Manager Dave Martinez said Wednesday that Gray will start the second game of the Nationals' season-opening series with the Mets, Jessica Camerato of MLB.com reports.

Gray is tentatively lined up to start Friday, though Martinez acknowledged that the right-hander may be moved back to Saturday if Thursday's season opener is postponed due to rain being in the forecast that day in Washington D.C. Though Gray's spot in the rotation was never believed to be in any jeopardy, fantasy managers may be best off treading carefully with the 24-year-old, who struggled with both his command and control as a rookie. He showed improvement in the latter area by posting a 13:1 K:BB over 9.2 innings during the Grapefruit League season, but he surrendered five home runs en route to finishing the exhibition slate with a 9.31 ERA.

Woodford is slated to open the season as a member of St. Louis' bullpen, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Woodford and Drew VerHagen were both in contention for the fifth starter's role, but the two will instead head to the bullpen as multi-inning options after manager Oliver Marmol announced Wednesday that Jordan Hicks secured the final opening in the rotation. Hicks has been slowly building up his pitch count during spring and isn't likely to work deep into his first start Tuesday against the Royals, so Woodford could be called upon to piggyback him in that outing, if needed. Beyond that game, however, Hicks is expected to be deployed as a traditional starter, so forecasting when Woodford might be used out of the bullpen could be a difficult endeavor.

Megill will start the Mets' Opening Day matchup against the Nationals on Thursday, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.

The Mets were trending toward awarding the Opening Day start to Megill since Max Scherzer (ankle) won't be ready to pitch Thursday, and manager Buck Showalter confirmed the news Wednesday. Across two appearances (one start) this spring, Megill allowed five hits and five walks while striking out seven in 6.2 scoreless frames.

Quintana will be included in the Pirates' Opening Day rotation and is slated to make his season debut Tuesday against the Cubs in Pittsburgh, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Quintana is the most accomplished pitcher in the Pirates' rotation and the only one not on a pre-arbitration contract, so he was a lock to win a starting role despite having been in steady decline since being shipped from the White Sox to the Cubs ahead of the 2017 trade deadline. Though JT Brubaker was awarded the Opening Day start Thursday in St. Louis, Quintana will take the hill for the Pirates' home opener and will face off against one of his former teams. While serving mainly as a reliever between stops with the Angels and Giants in 2021, Quintana turned in a career-best 28.6 percent strikeout rate, but his good work in that area was mostly negated by a 11.8 percent walk rate and 1.71 HR/9, which were both career-worst marks. He didn't provide much reason to be optimistic about his outlook this spring, as he struck out only four batters across nine innings while surrendering four home runs and walking three.

Miller pitched three scoreless innings in an exhibition contest against the Angels on Tuesday, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out two.

Miller set the tone for the evening when he began the game by striking out reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani on a 100-mph four-seam fastball. The right-handed hurler routinely touched triple-digits throughout the appearance, and he averaged 99.3 mph on his fastball overall, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. Miller will open the campaign with Double-A Tulsa, and he could make his big-league debut at some point this season if he continues to fare well against minor-leaguers.

Keller secured a spot in the Pirates' Opening Day rotation and is scheduled to make his first start of the season Saturday in St. Louis, Alex Stumpf of DKPittsburghSports.com reports.

Keller appeared to be on strong footing for a rotation role heading into the spring, but he solidified his spot after submitting a 2.92 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 12:3 K:BB across 12.1 innings over his four starts. Though Keller's results weren't eye-popping on the surface, he and the Pirates are optimistic he can take a step forward in 2022 after he tinkered with his repertoire over the winter to incorporate a new-look slider featuring more horizontal break, according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. The refined slider could emerge as a much-needed reliable breaking pitch to his upper-90s fastball, as Keller has thus far struggled to find a consistent secondary offering to complement the heater during his time in the majors.