MLB Player News

Valencia's roster spot is safe over the rest of the season, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

There were rumors that Valencia may suffer a similar fate as Billy Butler -- with the A's releasing him before the end of the season -- but apparently the team has decided to keep Valencia around for the final few weeks. He is in the lineup Tuesday, batting third against Royals lefty Danny Duffy. Valencia has put together a .291/.347/.461 line this season, but he's been a major negative in the field and it seems likely he will be non-tendered or traded this winter.

Donaldson remains out of the lineup Tuesday against the Rays, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports.

Donaldson will sit for the second consecutive day, and manager John Gibbons indicated that the reigning MVP "jarred" his right hip during Sunday's game, leading to some minor discomfort. The Jays will again go with Darwin Barney at third base Tuesday, with the hope that Donaldson will be able to return to the lineup Wednesday afternoon.

Machado went 1-for-4 with a solo homer in the Orioles' 12-2 loss at the hands of the Red Sox on Monday.

Baltimore was hitless against David Price and the Red Sox except for homers by Machado and teammate Chris Davis. The home run was Machado's 35th of the season, matching his career-high total from last season. The power output has come with an increase in contact as well, as Machado is hitting .306, 20 points higher than a year ago.

Alvarez is not in the lineup Monday against the Red Sox.

Manager Buck Showalter is going for a primarily right-handed lineup with lefty David Price taking the ball for Boston, so Alvarez will head to the bench for a day off. Mark Trumbo will slide into the DH spot while Drew Stubbs fills the void created in right field.

Donaldson is not in the lineup for Monday's game against the Rays, according to Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star.

Donaldson is hitless since Sept. 3, so he will get a day off for the first time since he sat out back-to-back days in late August with a sore thumb. Darwin Barney will man the hot corner Monday in Donaldson's place.

Alvarez is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Tigers, according to Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun.

Alvarez is just 2-for-14 with seven strikeouts in his career against Tigers starer Justin Verlander, so he will be held out Sunday with Verlander on the mound for the opponent.

Moncada, who lost hold of the starting third-base job against right-handers, will get "an occasional at-bat" over the final 21 games, manager John Farrell told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

Moncada is having a difficult transition to the majors. The rookie was handed the third-base job with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski saying he could "help us win ball games" and that "he looks ready." However, the man who struck out 36 percent of the time in Double-A has whiffed 11 times in 22 at-bats, including eight straight, and has been replaced by Travis Shaw. Reduced to a bench role where he gets on the field for pinch-running duties, he blanked on a fundamental rule of baseball Saturday when he returned to first base on a pop-up with two outs. "That's an elementary play, to be honest with you, at this level," Farrell said. "Two outs and you're on the move no matter what direction the ball's going in. That's been addressed... we've got to be better than that."

Bregman went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Saturday's 2-1 victory over the Cubs.

The rookie shortstop opened the scoring with a 384-foot shot off John Lackey in the third, his eight homer of the season and third of September. Bregman has also wielded one of the hottest bats in the majors over the last three weeks-plus, with a nine-game hitting streak that includes six multi-hit efforts. He's also now over halfway to his 20 RBI total from August with Saturday's production.

Plouffe (oblique) was placed on the 15-day DL on Saturday, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports.

The Twins went ahead and deactivated Plouffe prior to Saturday's game, which may be a sign that he will indeed miss the rest of the season after suffering a strained oblique and strained intercostal muscles Tuesday. Reports from earlier in the week suggested Plouffe was "doubtful" to play again this season, but the team has yet to formally rule out a return.

Moncada now appears to be behind Travis Shaw and Aaron Hill on the depth chart at third base, WEEI's Rob Bradford reports.

Shaw has been heating up at the plate, while Moncada has really struggled since his promotion, and manager John Farrell said the team is putting winning ahead of player development at this point. There's no denying Moncada's talent and long-term potential, but he appears overmatched by big league pitching (57.9-percent strikeout rate) and now looks destined to only get one or two starts per week going forward.