MLB Player News

For the second straight game, Marlins first baseman Michael Morse will be out of the starting lineup. Morse will be on the bench for Friday's game against the Orioles, while Justin Bour gets another start at first.

Morse's struggles this season have been well-documented, and they will earn him another night on the bench for the Marlins.

The Mets are seeming less and less likely to deal from their surplus of young pitching, according to CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman. There have been numerous on-going talks about the team possibly looking to deal one of their young arms for a shortstop. 

But as Heyman reports, the Mets are not necessarily rushing to go out and get a shortstop. The club is apparently willing to give Wilmer Flores more time to prove himself. They also have a stock of young shortstops in the minor leagues, including Matt Reynolds, Gavin Cecchini and 19-year-old Amed Rosario.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is going to miss Coors Field. Howard homered for the second straight game, going 1 for 4 with the solo bomb in Thursday's loss to the Rockies. Howard's fifth-inning home run was his ninth on the season.

"I mean all that stuff is cool," Howard said about moving up the home-run leaderboard, per MLB.com. "For me, it's just a matter of just getting back to playing ball and just playing my game. That's been my focus all year, is just playing ball. Everything that comes with it, you have good days, bad days, just try to stay even keel and just do what you do."

Howard's bat is really catching fire lately. He now has 13 hits in his last 31 at-bats over his last eight games. 

Indians first baseman Carlos Santana returned to the starting lineup and will bat second Thursday night against the White Sox.

Santana has been sidelined since Sunday with back spasms. He has been held without a hit over his last 14 at-bats. He is hitting .220/.365/.341 with four homers and 20 RBI in 35 games plated.

Santana is a .200 (6 for 30) lifetime hitter, with three homers and four RBI against Thursday starter John Danks.

Cleveland is favored (-130) at Chicago, per VegasInsider.com.

Struggling Rays shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is set to sit Thursday against visiting Oakland. Nick Franklin will play the position instead.

Cabrera has been steadily unproductive since mid-April. His batting average has not been higher than .225 since that point. He currently owns a stat line of .209/.264/.338 with two home runs and 11 RBI in 148 at-bats.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu pushed his hitting streak to 15 games with a 1-for-4 performance Wednesday against the Indians. It is now the longest hitting streak in the AL this season, besting Shin-Soo Choo by one game.

Abreu is batting .328 (19 for 58) with one home run, two doubles, seven RBI, 12 runs, six walks and 13 strikeouts during his hitting streak.

Abreu's batting average has climbed from .268 to .293 during his hitting streak. However, his slugging percentage has actually declined from .537 to .486.

Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson was held out of the starting lineup Thursday against the Cardinals for the first time in 10 games. With Granderson out of the starting lineup, center fielder Juan Lagares moved into the leadoff spot for the third time this season.

That wasn't the only change to the lineup manager Terry Collins made. He moved shortstop Wilmer Flores into the second spot in the batting order. Flores has started to improve offensively, batting .262 with a .524 slugging percentage, two doubles, three home runs and seven RBI in his last 11 games.

Third baseman Eric Campbell, who hit second the last four games, was moved to seventh in the lineup.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was not penciled into the starting lineup for the first time all season for Thursday's afternoon game against the Marlins. Mark Trumbo, who usually starts in right field, started at first base in Goldschmidt's absence.

Goldschmidt, who had started the first 39 games, has been mired in a bit of a hitting slump for a couple of weeks. Since May 10, he is batting just .200 (7 for 35) in his last 10 games. He has one triple, one home run, two doubles, five RBI, six runs, five walks and seven strikeouts in that span.

"This is more of a mental day off," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said, per the Associated Press. "To ask a guy to play 162 games today is tough to do."

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard hit his eighth home run of the season in Wednesday night's 4-2 win over the Rockies. 

Four of Howard's home runs have now come in the past 15 games. Howard's homer came on a 1-1 pitch to center field in the third inning. He finished the game 3 for 5 and also hit a double and single. 

"He's having good swings," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said, per MLB.com. "He crushed that ball to center tonight. There was no help at all on that."

Howard is now hitting .257/.308/.507. 

Indians first baseman Carlos Santana (back spasms) remains out of the lineup Wednesday against the host White Sox, but should return Thursday, per the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

Santana has been sidelined since Sunday.