MLB Player News

Arroyo is not in the lineup Friday at San Francisco.

Justin Turner will make a second straight start at second base and might become more of a regular presence there for Boston down the stretch, although the return of Trevor Story (elbow) figures to shuffle the Boston infield once again. Arroyo has slashed just .247/.276/.379 in 193 plate appearances when healthy this season.

Minnesota activated Polanco (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Friday.

Polanco will be back in action with the Twins on Friday night against the Royals after slashing .333/.448/.500 over 29 plate appearances on a seven-game minor-league rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul. The 30-year-old infielder has battled multiple leg injuries this season, but he typically produces solid offensive numbers when his health cooperates. Polanco could find himself returning to a utility role however, with rookie Edouard Julien having thrived as Minnesota's starting second baseman in his absence.

Merrifield is batting leadoff Friday against the Angels, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Normal leadoff man George Springer has been dropped to the fifth spot in the batting order amidst a slump. Merrifield has earned his ascension to the top of the order by putting up a .968 OPS with five home runs and two stolen bases in July.

Westburg is absent from the lineup for Friday's game versus the Yankees, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports.

Westburg had started each of the last three contests -- two against left-handed pitching -- but will take a seat for this one versus righty Gerrit Cole. Ramon Urias is at third base and Adam Frazier is at second.

Gimenez went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base in Thursday's 6-3 win over the White Sox.

It's the first multi-hit game for Gimenez since July 18 -- he'd gone just 4-for-26 (.154) in seven games prior to Thursday's contest. He opened the scoring against the White Sox with an RBI double in the first inning before adding a stolen base in the seventh, improving to 17-for-20 in steal attempts this year. While Gimenez has remained productive on the basepaths, he's had a fairly disappointing season at the plate after a breakout 2022 campaign. He's now slashing .244/.315/.389 with nine homers, 46 runs scored and 39 RBI across 394 plate appearances this season.

Gimenez went 0-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored in Wednesday's 8-3 win over the Royals.

Gimenez hit second in this contest, and he could have a chance to get more time in that spot following the trade that sent Amed Rosario to the Dodgers. It's been a productive July for Gimenez on the basepaths, as he's logged eight of his 16 steals over his last 20 contests despite slashing .240/.321/.453 for the month. Aside from an uptick in power, that's not all that different from his .241/.311/.385 slash line for the year, so he may need to be more consistent to stay in the No. 2 spot.

Drury (shoulder) fielded grounders and threw from third base Thursday, Sam Blum of The Athletic reports.

Worth remembering is that Drury's injury is to his left (non-throwing) shoulder, but he's still making nice progress as he continues to ramp up his rehab. He could continue with his workouts this week before potentially rejoining the Angels sometime next week.

Ibanez is absent from the lineup for the first game of Thursday's doubleheader against the Angels.

Ibanez had started seven of the last nine at second base, but he'll yield to Zack Short for this one. He figures to be in the lineup for the second contest.

Merrifield went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and four RBI in Wednesday's 8-1 win over the Dodgers.

His three-run shot off Tony Gonsolin in the fifth inning put the game out of reach and all but wrapped up a series win for the Blue Jays. Merrifield is putting the finishing touches on a huge July, slashing .352/.377/.592 through 19 games with five of his seven homers on the season to go along with two steals, 14 runs and 16 RBI.

Kemp went 3-for-4 with a stolen base in Wednesday's 8-3 loss to the Giants.

Kemp snapped an 0-for-11 skid with his strong performance in this contest. He also recorded his 12th steal of the season, six of which have come in July. The 31-year-old is slashing .212/.300/.301 with three home runs, 19 RBI, 31 runs scored, eight doubles and three triples over 83 contests. Kemp's retained a starting job in left field with Ramon Laureano back, which has pushed Seth Brown to fill in for Ryan Noda (jaw) as the strong-side platoon option at first base.