MLB Player News

Milone signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners on Thursday, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Milone spent the majority of the 2021 season in the Blue Jays organization, which included 14 innings with the big-league club. He struggled while posting a 6.43 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. Milone will almost certainly start the season at Triple-A Tacoma, though he could reach the majors and appear in low-leverage roles as the season progresses.

Kopech threw two innings while allowing one earned run in Thursday's Cactus League matchup against the Reds, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

Kopech was behind in his preparation for the regular season due to an illness that he suffered from over the winter. However, he was strong in his spring debut, as he was hitting between 95 and 98 mph with his fastball and also consistently threw his curveball for strikes. "The plan today was no more than what I did," Kopech said after the outing. "But I said when I came out [of the game] that I felt like I was good to go for another [inning]." It remains to be seen whether the right-hander will be ready to start the season in the rotation, though this is a positive step in that direction.

DeGrom is experiencing shoulder tightness and will be evaluated Friday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.

Arm issues are always a major concern for a pitcher, and that will only be heightened for deGrom given he battled elbow issues to end the 2021 season. He appeared to be fully healthy for the upcoming campaign after throwing two scoreless innings in his Grapefruit League debut on March 24. DeGrom was scheduled to pitch Friday, though that now seems unlikely, and his status for Opening Day should be closely monitored.

Cabrera was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville on Thursday, Andre Fernandez of the Miami Herald reports.

Cabrera faced a difficult path to make the Opening Day rotation. He was effective across three scoreless innings in Grapefruit League action on Monday, though he arrived to camp late due to visa issues, raising some question about his availability to begin the regular season. In addition, the Marlins boast a strong rotation, particularly given the promising spring performance of Jesus Luzardo -- the team's likely fifth starter. Despite the fact that Cabrera will begin the campaign in Jacksonville, he will almost certainly get starts in Miami at some point in the coming months.

Walker threw 3.2 scoreless innings in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

After throwing two scoreless frames in his spring training debut, Walker turned in another good performance Thursday. Most importantly, he built up to 54 pitches, 35 of which went for strikes. That should put Walker in good position to make the Opening Day roster and start the campaign in the rotation, though he may not throw more than five innings in his first regular-season outing.

Multiple scouts have heard that Cobb, whose fastball averaged 93 mph last season, is hitting 97 mph this spring, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.com.

Cobb's four-seamer and sinker each topped out at 95 mph last season, so if he has indeed added a couple ticks to his fastball, he could be in for a career year. The 34-year-old righty was excellent across 93.1 innings last season with the Angels, logging a career-high 16.5 K-BB% and a 53.3 GB%. If he can build back up to the 150-plus innings he logged in 2017 and 2018, Cobb could be one of the best fantasy values on the pitching side this year.

Bieber was named the Guardians' starter for Opening Day against the Royals on April 7, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.

Bieber is healthy after being limited to 16 starts last season due to a shoulder strain, and he'll unsurprisingly receive the nod on Opening Day for Cleveland. The 26-year-old has a 2.92 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 33.0 percent strikeout rate in 62 games over the past three years.

Manager Scott Servais said Thursday that Ray will start the Mariners' Opening Day game April 7 in Minnesota, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com reports.

Ray will unseat Marco Gonzales as the Mariners' No. 1 starter this season after Seattle brought him aboard on a five-year, $115 million deal following his improbable run to the American League's Cy Young Award in 2021 while he was with Toronto. Ray has always made bats miss at a prolific clip, but he reached a new level of success thanks largely to cutting his walk rate down to 6.7 percent last season after turning in rates north of 10 percent in each of the previous four years. So long as he proves that he can keep the free passes to a minimum, Ray shouldn't take too much of a step back statistically with the move from Toronto to Seattle.

Sale (ribs) was scheduled to undergo a pre-planned MRI on Thursday, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.

The MRI isn't the result of any setback in his recovery from a stress fracture on the right side of his rib cage; instead, Sale is being sent in for imaging so he and the Red Sox can assess how much his ribs have healed since he was shut down in mid-March. If the imaging shows the desired improvement, Sale could resume throwing before the end of camp, though he'll stick around at extended spring training in any case while he opens the season on the injured list.

Ryan will start Minnesota's Opening Day matchup against Seattle on April 7, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Even though the Twins acquired Sonny Gray during the offseason, Ryan will be on the mound for the team's season opener at home against the Mariners. The 25-year-old Ryan made just five starts for Minnesota last year in his first taste of major-league action, and he logged a 4.05 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in 26.2 innings. However, he's struck out six in five scoreless innings across two Grapefruit League starts this spring and will be rewarded with the nod on Opening Day.