MLB Player News

Freeman (personal) is out of the lineup Friday against the Nationals.

He left the team Wednesday to be with his wife for the birth of the couple's first child, but was not officially placed on paternity leave -- there was really no need to do so with expanded rosters. It's uncertain when Freeman will return to the lineup but chances are he will be back before the end of the series.

Rizzo is out of the lineup Friday against the Brewers.

Manager Joe Maddon is resting his star players, as the team plans to celebrate, win or lose, after Friday's day game. Chris Coghlan will get the start at first base and hit fifth Friday.

Joseph will be on the bench for the next three games, Ryan Lawrence of the Philly Voice reports.

The Phillies intend to honor Ryan Howard as he closes out his career with the team. He'll start the next three games at home against the Marlins and the last three games of the season at home against the Mets. That will leave Joseph with nine more starts this season in a best case scenario, but he could end up losing playing time to Howard in some of those games as well.

Manager Pete Mackanin said Howard will start the next three games against the Marlins at first base, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports.

Howard has been splitting time at first base fairly evenly of late with Tommy Joseph. Mackanin also said the Phillies plan to start Howard for the team's final three home games of the season against the Mets. They will be Howard's final games with the Phillies before he becomes a free agent.

Abreu went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and a walk in Thursday's 2-1 win over the Indians.

Abreu has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball of late, as this was his 10th homer in the past 25 games. It was probably the most special of the bunch, though, as the Cuban slugger had promised a young cancer patient pre-game that he'd hit one out of the park for him. With 24 home runs and 95 RBI on the season, Abreu is just six and five, respectively, shy of becoming the second player in major-league history after Albert Pujols to reach 30 homers and 100 RBI in each of their first three seasons.

Bell is not in the lineup for Thursday's game against the Phillies.

Bell raised his batting average from .277 to .292 with eight hits over his last seven games, but manager Clint Hurdle still decided to give him a day off Thursday. John Jaso will get the start at first base in Bell's place.

Rizzo went 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBI in a 7-0 victory over the Cardinals on Wednesday.

The two homers were Rizzo's 30th and 31st of the season. He needs just two more to set a new career high. Rizzo also has a .290 average, .938 OPS and 101 RBI, all of which are either career bests or tied with previous career highs.

Gurriel went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI against the Rangers on Wednesday.

The rookie's now hitting .338 over his first 21 games in the majors, and after displaying little pop at first, he's starting to deliver more and more extra-base hits -- including hitting all three of his homers over the last eight games. Gurriel appears locked into a spot in the Astros' batting order, and in addition to his fine hitting, he offers helpful positional eligibility in leagues with loose requirements.

Freeman exited Wednesday's game to join his wife, who is in labor with their first child, Kevin McAlpin of Sports Radio 680 The Fan reports.

Freeman will likely miss a couple games and be placed on the paternity list because of the event. However, the Braves don't really need a roster spot due to the expanded September rosters. In his absence, Gordon Beckham could be in line for playing time at first base.

Joseph went 2-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored in a 6-2 win over the Pirates.

Joseph has struggled mightily of late after initially hitting quite well following a midseason call-up. He was hitting .167/.225/.278 in his last 15 games prior to Wednesday. The home run was Joseph's 19th of the season over 280 at-bats, which projects as roughly a 40-homer year given a full season's worth of at-bats.