MLB Player News

Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed Severino (arm) is "good" following a four-inning start in Saturday's 10-0 win over Atlanta, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Severino was initially set to make his third start of the Grapefruit League slate Wednesday, but the Yankees instead had him throw a bullpen session after he dealt with arm soreness. Fortunately, Severino came out of the throwing session fine and returned to the mound Saturday with his best outing of the spring, as he limited Atlanta to no runs on one hit and no walks while striking out three in the 57-pitch appearance. The outing was Severino's final tuneup of the spring, with Boone indicating that the right-hander will take the hill for the Yankees' second game of the regular season next Saturday at home versus the Red Sox. Expect him to be capped at around 75 or 80 pitches in that start.

Manager Mark Kotsay said Sunday that Montas will start the Athletics' Opening Day game Friday in Philadelphia, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Though Kotsay said the Athletics planned all along to have Montas take the hill for the opener, it became more apparent that the right-hander would get the nod after Oakland dealt Sean Manaea to San Diego earlier Sunday. Montas could be the next domino to fall in the Athletics' ongoing fire sale, but for the time being, he'll operate as the club's clear No. 1 starter. He enjoyed an excellent 2021 campaign for Oakland, covering a career-high 187 frames and finishing with a 13-9 record to go with a 3.37 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 207:57 K:BB.

The Rangers informed Allard on Sunday that he'll be included on the Opening Day roster, independent baseball journalist Jeff Wilson reports.

Allard is expected to serve as a bulk-relief or multi-inning option for the Rangers after he was most commonly deployed as a traditional starter over parts of his first three big-league seasons in Texas. The southpaw has made two Cactus League appearances for the Rangers, working five innings in total and giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out six.

Matz is set to start the Cardinals' third game of the season April 10 versus the Pirates, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Matz hasn't had a great spring, allowing six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts across 3.2 innings. He'll likely get one more tuneup in Grapefruit League action before the team breaks camp. Matz was never in any real doubt for a rotation spot, but he has some work to do to get back into the form that allowed him to post a 14-7 record, 3.82 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 144:43 K:BB in 150.2 innings last season with Toronto.

Manager Derek Shelton said Sunday that Brubaker will start the Pirates' season opener April 7 in St. Louis, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com reports.

Scheduling more than anything may have factored into Brubaker getting the Opening Day nod, as Jose Quintana is the most accomplished starter on the roster, while Mitch Keller (0.93 ERA in 9.2 innings) has been the staff's top performer this spring. Brubaker has been serviceable in his own right through three Grapefruit League outings, and that coupled with his experience as a full-time member of the rotation when healthy a season ago was enough for him to earn the Opening Day assignment. Brubaker turned in a respectable 4.47 ERA and 88:19 K:BB in 88.2 first-half innings in 2021, but things fell apart following the All-Star break. Over his 35.2 innings after the break, Brubaker pitched to a 7.57 ERA and 1.65 WHIP while noticing huge spikes in his walk (11.4 percent) and home-run (2.52 HR/9) rates in comparison to the first half (1.83 and 5.4%, respectively).

Rockies manager Bud Black said that Senzatela has been scratched ahead of his scheduled Cactus League start Sunday against the White Sox due to a lower-leg issue, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

The skipper said the Rockies are just being "super cautious" with Senzatela, who is still expected to make his final start of the Cactus League slate either Monday against the Brewers or Tuesday against the Guardians. Kyle Freeland has been named as the Rockies' starter for the Opening Day game Friday against the Dodgers at Coors Field, while Senzatela and German Marquez are in line to start the final two games of next weekend in some order.

Rodriguez allowed two runs on three hits across five innings in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Orioles. He walked one and struck out eight.

Making his final tune-up start before his Opening Day nod Friday, Rodriguez looked sharp and brought his spring ERA down to 3.71. He also recorded 19 strikeouts across 17 Grapefruit League innings. The lefty should be a good source of strikeouts all season, and he may see improvements in ERA and WHIP working in a more pitcher-friendly home ballpark. With Boston last season, Rodriguez posted a 4.74 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, both of which were career worsts. However, he also won 13 games and struck out 185 batters across 157.2 innings.

Anderson is one of several pitchers still competing to fill out the back end of Detroit's bullpen to begin the regular season, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports.

Woodbery notes that six pitchers (Anderson, Jacob Barnes, Jason Foley, Rony Garcia, Will Vest and Drew Hutchison) are likely competing for five roster spots. Anderson has largely been a starter during his MLB career, but it appears that he won't be in the rotation to begin the year for the Tigers, so he'll likely need to make the team as a long reliever.

Clevinger was scratched from his scheduled Cactus League start Sunday against the Athletics due to a sore right knee and is expected to begin the season on the injured list, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. "It felt like we were kind of in a rush job with him to begin with," Padres manager Bob Melvin said, in reference to getting Clevinger ready for Opening Day during a compressed spring training. "So [placing him on the IL] allows us to kind of smooth things out, slow it down."

If there's a positive takeaway from Clevinger and his fantasy investors, it's that he's not dealing with an arm-related injury as he makes his comeback from the Tommy John surgery he required in November 2020. The extent of Clevinger's injury isn't yet known, but even if his soreness proves to be only a minor concern, a brief IL stint looks to be in the forecast. San Diego added to its already robust collection of starting pitcher depth Sunday by acquiring Sean Manaea, who will make his Padres and Cactus League debut against his former Athletics squad just hours after being traded.

Strider is set to make Atlanta's Opening Day roster, David O'Brien of The Athletic reports.

Barring any late roster additions, Strider, Tucker Davidson and William Contreras will be in the majors to open the season. Strider was competing for a rotation spot but will begin the campaign as a bullpen option, though he could also see some work as a sixth starter. The 23-year-old righty made his big-league debut with two appearances last season and spent most of the year at Double-A Mississippi, where he had a 4.71 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 94:29 K:BB over 63 innings.