MLB Player News

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Friday that the team plans to use a five-man rotation until Shohei Ohtani (shoulder/elbow) is ready to pitch, which would seemingly leave Gonsolin in a competition for one remaining spot, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

Manager Dave Roberts recently suggested that Ohtani could be ready to make his season debut on the mound sometime in May, though there's no concrete timeline yet. The Dodgers will shift to a six-man rotation at that point, but until then they will use a traditional five-man setup. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki are locked into four of the spots, which leaves Gonsolin, Dustin May, Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, Ben Casparius and perhaps others competing for the final slot. Roberts said Friday that Gonsolin and May will be considered for the bullpen if they don't make the rotation.

McGreevy added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

McGreevy has a shot at winning one of the last spots in the Cardinals rotation in camp and he's taking the opportunity very seriously, saying he tried to trim as much body fat as he could while putting on the 15 pounds of muscle. "He looks good [this spring training]," said manager Oliver Marmol. "He put on some weight and had a really good offseason, and I'm excited to see what's coming out of that arm." The 24-year-old righty logged 150 innings at Triple-A and 23 innings in the majors last season. He registered an elite 62.5 percent groundball rate and 2.3 percent walk rate in the majors, leading to a 0.78 WHIP. McGreevy sits in the low-90s with his fastball, but he has a plus slider and his command might be double-plus. Andre Pallante and Steven Matz may have a leg up on him for the final two spots in the rotation, but McGreevy is arguably the most appealing of the three from a fantasy perspective.

Wright (shoulder) could be ready to throw a live batting practice session next week, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.

Recovering from surgery to repair a torn capsule in his right shoulder, Wright will throw at least one more bullpen session before progressing to facing hitters. The righty hopes to be ready for Opening Day, but it will depend on how he looks and feels as he ramps things up. Wright could potentially compete for a spot in the Royals' Opening Day rotation, but he might be a long shot given how much time he's missed -- he didn't pitch at all in 2024, and he struggled over 31 innings for Atlanta in 2023 -- and the fact that he's behind other arms in camp.

Bello was shut down for a few days due to shoulder soreness but has resumed throwing, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.

It's encouraging that the right-hander is already back to throwing, but any arm issues early in camp are a cause for at least mild concern. There's no indication that Bello's availability for the start of the regular season has been affected however, and Boston is counting on him to take a regular turn in a rotation that already features question marks in Walker Buehler and Lucas Giolito (elbow).

Kloffenstein is dealing with right shoulder fatigue but recently underwent an MRI that came back negative, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Kloffenstein missed the final two months of the 2024 season with a right shoulder injury, so it's certainly not ideal that he's still battling shoulder issues. However, the expectation is that he'll be ready to resume throwing in a few days. Kloffenstein projects to open the 2025 season in the rotation at Triple-A Buffalo, and while his 2024 numbers were impacted by his health, he produced a 3.16 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 140:55 K:BB over 128 innings in 2023 between Double-A and Triple-A.

Meyer (shoulder) threw live batting practice Friday, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.

Meyer's 2024 season ended in early September due to right shoulder bursitis, but it appears he is entering camp this spring without any restrictions. The young right-hander, who was the third overall pick in the 2020 Draft, could have a leg up for one of the spots in the Marlins' rotation given the significant upside he offers. Meyer posted a 5.68 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 46:19 K:BB through 57 big-league innings in 2024, but he has a career 151:45 K:BB over 126 Triple-A innings.

McCullers (forearm) hopes to pitch in Grapefruit League games toward the end of spring training, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

He would then be assigned to Triple-A Sugar Land after that to begin a rehab assignment. McCullers had surgery in June of 2023 to repair his right flexor tendon and remove a bone spur, and he had to be shut down last July due to arm soreness. However, his recovery has been going well recently, and he began throwing bullpen sessions in January. McCullers could conceivably be ready to pitch for the Astros around May 1, but any timeline for the oft-injured righty is still guesswork.

Bieber (elbow) is scheduled to begin throwing off a mound in mid-February.

Bieber has progressed to playing catch five times per week and has expanded the distance out to 120 feet. The veteran right-hander had Tommy John surgery last April and is not expected back until midseason.

Espino (shoulder) is not expected to be game-ready until at least July.

Espino had another right shoulder surgery last March to repair his right shoulder capsule and rotator cuff. He's 11 months into a 16-to-18 month timeline, so while he could make it back for the second half, it's also possible he'll miss a third straight full season.

Crawford is behind schedule due to patellar tendon soreness, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

The knee soreness for Crawford cropped up at some point during the offseason. It's not clear at this point how long he might be set back, but the Red Sox believe there's a good chance Crawford will be ready in time for Opening Day. If healthy, the right-hander is one of six starter candidates for the Red Sox' rotation.