MLB Player News

Muller's contract was selected by the Braves on Thursday.

Muller's addition to the 40-man roster protects him from being selected by another team in the upcoming Rule 5 draft. The southpaw was a member of the Braves' 60-man player pool last season, but he did not make it up to the major-league roster at any point.

Clevinger will undergo Tommy John surgery Tuesday.

The Padres also announced Monday that they'd signed Clevinger to a two-year contract, buying out his remaining arbitration years and presumably offering him some peace of mind while he recovers from the procedure. Clevinger dealt with elbow issues late in the regular season but attempted a comeback during the NLDS. He wasn't able to complete the second inning of his start and showcased significantly reduced velocity, indicating that he hadn't returned to full health. As it turns out, the situation with his elbow was actually quite bad, as he'll now miss the entirety of the 2021 campaign. The timing of the procedure should give him a decent chance to be ready by the start of the 2022 season, however.

Smyly signed a one-year, $11 million contract with Atlanta on Monday.

Smyly posted a 6.24 ERA in 2019, his first season back after missing two years due to Tommy John surgery. In 2020, however, he looked far better, posting a 3.42 ERA while striking out an impressive 37.8 percent of opposing batters. While that did come in a small sample of just 26.1 innings, it also came with a jump in his fastball velocity from 91.2 mph all the way up to 93.8. It would be a surprise if he can maintain that level of strikeout dominance over a full season given that he owns a solid but considerably less impressive 24.0 percent mark over the course of his career in that category, but there's reason to believe his 2019 blip is behind him and that he'll be quite a useful option in 2021.

Soroka (Achilles) has been throwing off flat ground, Arash Madani of Sportsnet reports.

Soroka tore his Achilles in early August and eventually underwent surgery. The fact that he's already throwing in some capacity is certainly a good sign, though he has a long wait to go before he's up to full speed. Whether he's at that point by Opening Day remains to be seen.

Syndergaard (elbow) recently threw off a mound, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.

Syndergaard underwent Tommy John surgery in late March, and he appears to be progressing smoothly in his recovery. He posted a video of himself on Twitter on Thursday throwing off a mound, although it's unclear when the video was taken or when he started mound work. An official timetable for the right-hander's return isn't yet known.

Gausman accepted a one-year, $18.9 million qualifying offer from the Giants on Wednesday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

Gausman was rumored to have several multi-year contract offers on the table, but he'll instead elect to take a short-term deal that will pay him more than double his salary from 2020. The right-hander was dominant during his first year with the Giants during the abbreviated 2020 season, recording a 3.62 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 79:16 K:BB over 59.2 innings.

Lorenzen said Wednesday that he will report to Cincinnati's spring training as a starting pitcher, and he expects to be a full-time member of the rotation in 2021, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports.

Like most pitching prospects, Lorenzen was developed as a starter during his minor-league career, and he made 21 starts during his first season in the majors in 2015 before converting to a bullpen role. The 28-year-old has been mostly dependable in that capacity the past five seasons, but he showed some renewed signs of promise as a starter in September when called upon to fill in for the injured Sonny Gray. Lorenzen covered 9.2 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out 14 over his two spot starts, and the pair of strong performances apparently convinced him to pursue a return to the rotation. Cincinnati is still expected to try and re-sign ace Trevor Bauer or perhaps pursue more affordable arms this offseason, so Lorenzen will still likely need to impress in spring training to ensure he breaks camp in a starting role.

Stroman accepted his one-year, $18.9 million qualifying offer from the Mets on Wednesday.

Stroman was expected to hit the open market during the offseason, but he'll instead remain with the Mets on a one-year deal. The 29-year-old suffered a muscle cramp in his left calf during summer camp before opting out of the remainder of the 2020 season. Over 59.2 innings with the Mets in 2019, Stroman posted a 3.77 ERA and 60:23 K:BB, and he'll reclaim a prominent role in the starting rotation in 2021.

Kelly's (shoulder) $5.25 million club option for 2021 was picked up by the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

He underwent surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome in September, but the club must be pretty optimistic about his status for the 2021 season. The 32-year-old righty logged a 2.59 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 29 strikeouts in 31.1 innings (five starts) this past season.

Urias pitched 2.1 innings of flawless work Tuesday, fanning four and earning the save in a win over the Rays in Game 6 of the World Series.

Urias came into the game with two outs in the seventh inning with a runner on first and proceeded to immediately fan Yandy Diaz. The southpaw allowed three earned runs in 23 innings of work and was so impressive starting and out of the bullpen that he was in the World Series MVP discussion. The 24-year-old was the youngest player to record a save in a World Series clinching game since 1981.