MLB Player News

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.

The Twins acquired Paddack and reliever Emilio Pagan from the Padres on Thursday in exchange for reliever Taylor Rogers and outfielder Brent Rooker, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.

In the two seasons since his brilliant 2019 rookie campaign in which he submitted a 3.33 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 153:31 K:BB in 140.2 innings, Paddack's run in San Diego went sour. Dating back to the start of the 2020 season, Paddack has submitted a 4.95 ERA (4.22 FIP), with injury concerns and a shallow repertoire beyond his changeup contributing to his demise. He was on track to open the 2022 campaign outside of San Diego's rotation entirely, so the move to a new organization can only help him, even though it's not immediately clear if Paddack is one of the Twins' top five starters. At the very least, the 26-year-old Paddack gives Minnesota a young pitcher under club control for the next three seasons who has already had success in the majors.

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.

Suarez is projected to be one of the Angels' six starters this season, Sam Blum of The Athletic reports.

Suarez notched a 4.44 ERA across 14 starts for the Angels last season, and that was enough for the team to give him the chance to retain his role in the rotation to begin 2022 despite the fact that his numbers (including a 1.98 ERA) were better out of the bullpen. The southpaw fared well enough in Cactus League play, posting a 4.50 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 10:3 K:BB across 10 innings. He likely won't have a long leash if he struggles out of the gate during the regular season, however.

Lorenzen is content to focus on a pitching role this season and won't pursue having an opportunity to hit, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Lorenzen worked as a starter, as a reliever, and occasionally as an outfielder during seven seasons in Cincinnati, though he logged only one big-league plate appearance in each of the past two campaigns. He appears to now be committed to pitching full time after signing with the Angels in the offseason and being tabbed to join the team's starting rotation. Lorenzen has started 26 contests in his major-league career, though 21 of those came in 2015 during his rookie campaign.

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.