MLB Player News

McKinstry is expected to open the season in the long side of a platoon at third base with Andy Ibanez, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports.

The Tigers optioned Jace Jung to Triple-A Toledo on Monday, a transaction which cinches a McKinstry/Ibanez platoon at the hot corner while Matt Vierling (shoulder) is out. McKinstry slashed only .215/.277/.337 with four homers across 118 regular-season contests for the Tigers last season. He did steal 16 bases without being caught, and that, along with his multi-position eligibility, gives McKinstry some utility in very deep leagues.

Torres (quadricep) will serve as Detroit's designated hitter and No. 3 batter in Monday's Grapefruit League game against Pittsburgh, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

Torres is back in the lineup one day after being scratched from the starting nine ahead of the Tigers' game against the Orioles due to a right quad bruise. Though Torres will be eased back into action in a non-defensive role, he'll presumably be ready to resume playing second base within the next few days.

Sweeney "appears poised to open the season as the primary shortstop" for the Tigers, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports.

Sweeney had just a .642 OPS for the Tigers down the stretch of last regular season and has only a .611 OPS so far this spring. However, Detroit likes his glove at shortstop and the club is also lacking alternatives, so Sweeney is slated to see most of the reps at shortstop to open the season, at least against right-handed pitching.

Noel started in right field and went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Sunday's spring game against Milwaukee.

Noel's seventh-inning home run was his second of the Cactus League. He's hit safely in eight of the last nine spring games and looks poised to make the Opening Day roster. Noel is expected to be the right-handed component of a platoon in right field along with lefty Will Brennan. Noel is batting .282 (11-for-39) with two homers, four RBI, one steal and a significant 16 strikeouts this spring.

Lively allowed four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out two over 3.2 innings in Sunday's spring start against the Brewers.

Lively breezed through two innings before giving up his first Cactus League home run in the third and more trouble in the fourth. The right-hander had three largely uneventful spring starts before tasting adversity in his fourth outing. He threw 74 pitches (50 strikes) and continues to build up in preparation for the regular season.

Guenther was optioned to Triple-A Toledo on Monday, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

Guenther gave up seven earned runs in 3.2 innings this spring. His demotion clears the way for Brant Hurter to make the team as the second lefty out of the bullpen.

Jung was optioned to Triple-A Toledo on Monday, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

It had seemed like Jung had a good chance of making the team after Matt Vierling (shoulder) was ruled out for Opening Day, but the Tigers will make do with the likes of Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibanez at third base while Vierling is sidelined. Jung hit .121 with one home run and a 10:4 K:BB in 37 plate appearances in Grapefruit League play.

Leiter allowed two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out four over four innings in Sunday's spring start against the White Sox.

Leiter gave up a lot of loud contact in the first inning, when the White Sox plated two runs, but he managed to grind out three scoreless innings after that. There were command issues, including the No. 9 batter with two outs after getting ahead of him -- but also enough for the right-hander to take away some positives following the game. "I think grinding through an outing like this, it wasn't the sharpest, but I made pitches when I had to," Leiter told Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. Much has changed for the pitcher since his previous start last Tuesday. Projected rotation members Cody Bradford (elbow) and Jon Gray (wrist) have been shut down and potentially face significant absences during the regular season. That puts Leiter and fellow Vanderbilt alum Kumar Rocker on paths to the rotation.

Anderson might be the Angels' Opening Day starter at second base due to Yoan Moncada (thumb) being a question mark for the beginning of the season, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Moncada may be destined for the IL due to a thumb injury, which would likely mean that Luis Rengifo will become the starter at the hot corner at the beginning of the campaign. That could open up the second-base job for Anderson, who has been getting some reps at the keystone this spring despite playing only two regular-season games there to this point in his nine years in the big leagues. If the second-base role does become available, Christian Moore and Scott Kingery, among others, could also be candidates for the position, but Anderson has done enough this spring to have his name called, as he's slashing .243/.300/.351 with a home run and two stolen bases over 40 plate appearances.

Detmers pitched four innings in a Cactus League contest against the Padres on Sunday, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks while striking out four batters.

Kyle Hendricks began the game with five frames for the Angels, and Detmers followed by pitching the remaining four innings. The lefty is locked into a competition with Jack Kochanowicz for the final spot in the Angels' rotation, and both pitchers have made a strong case this spring. Detmers has posted a 2.30 ERA and 12:2 K:BB over 13.2 innings while Kochanowicz has a 2.92 ERA and 7:4 K:BB across 12.1 frames. Jack Janes of The Sporting Tribune reports that the Angels are considering using whichever of the two pitchers doesn't get the rotation spot as a long reliever, though it's not clear if the team is leaning toward Detmers to come out of the bullpen since he's worked in relief in three out of his five Cactus League appearances, while Kochanowicz has started in all four of his outings.