MLB Player News

Ford is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Rays.

Though the Yankees' designated hitter spot remains open with Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) on the injured list, Ford hasn't been able to lock down a full-time role, as manager Aaron Boone has instead opted for a rotation of players at the position. Ford will be on the bench for the third time in four games while Aaron Hicks gets a turn at DH.

Choi is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Yankees, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

Choi and fellow lefty hitters Yoshi Tsutsugo, Brandon Lowe and Kevin Kiermaier will bow out of the starting nine while the Yankees bring southpaw James Paxton to the hill in the series finale. Mike Brosseau will fill in for Choi at first base and bat leadoff for the Rays.

Canha went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and a walk in Wednesday's win over Arizona.

Canha notched his third long ball of the season and has been seeing the ball well of late, hitting safely in nine of Oakland's last 11 games, a span in which he has hit .333 with two homers and a .980 OPS. However, he has also struck out in 30.6 percent of his at-bats during that stretch, meaning he's essentially a boom-or-bust hitter. The 31-year-old slugger is hitting .274 this season and, if the season ended today, that would be a career-best mark for him.

Choi went 1-for-2 with a walk and a solo home run Wednesday against the Yankees.

Choi took Gerrit Cole deep in the second inning to record the Rays' first run of the contest. He now has two homers on the season, but it was his first since July 26. While likely a coincidence that he went deep the same day, Choi announced Wednesday that he was ending his experiment as a switch-hitter, because he believed it had disrupted his swing from his natural left side. Considering he is hitting just .179/.282/.368 across 78 plate appearances, there's certainly a possibility that Choi was out out of sync due to hitting from both sides of the dish.

Vogelbach was designated for assignment by the Mariners on Wednesday, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Vogelbach is slashing just .094/.250/.226 with two home runs through 18 games this season, prompting the Mariners to cast him off their 40-man roster. The 27-year-old slugger made his first All-Star game in 2019 while hitting .208/.341/.439 with 30 home runs in 144 games, so he could draw some interest on waivers. Sam Haggerty was added to Seattle's roster in a corresponding move.

Alvarez will have surgery to repair a partial tear of the patella tendon in his right knee and will miss the remainder of the season, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Manager Dusty Baker hinted earlier Wednesday that Alvarez could be out for the year, but he confirmed prior to Wednesday's game that he'd have surgery. It's unclear whether he'll be ready for spring training in 2021. Abraham Toro could see an uptick in playing time with Alvarez sidelined.

Brantley (quadriceps) traveled with the Astros on their road trip to face the Rockies and Padres, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.

Quadriceps soreness sent Brantley to the injured list over the weekend, though it sounds like he'll have a chance to make a minimum-length stay. He's eligible to return Saturday in San Diego.

Choi will return to being purely a left-handed hitter for the rest of this season, though he isn't giving up on switch-hitting down the line, Neil Solondz of the Rays Radio Network reports.

While it was certainly an entertaining moment when Choi surprised the world by hitting right-handed in the third game of the season and crushed a homer over the center-field wall, it's difficult to say the experiment worked. His small-sample .773 OPS as a righty this season was quite decent, though he struck out in 63.6 percent of his right-handed plate appearances, so it's unlikely he would have been able to maintain that number. He believes that his right-handed work messed up his left-handed swing, which seems accurate as he's hit just .167/.270/.278 as a lefty against righties this season. Choi had only started once against a lefty this year, so ending the experiment shouldn't significantly affect his playing time.

Alvarez (knee) may be done for the year, according to a radio interview manager Dusty Baker did with Sports Talk 790.

This ominous knee issue has plagued Alvarez dating back to last year, and it was disconcerting to see it pop up almost immediately after returning from the COVID-19 injured list. The team remains very vague about the nature of the injury and whether or not it will require surgery. Abraham Toro is a candidate to see an uptick in playing time with Alvarez out of the mix for the foreseeable future.

Martinez (illness) is not in the lineup Wednesday against the Phillies.

Martinez exited Tuesday's game due to dehydration. It's not exactly clear what the root of Wednesday's absence is, but it's apparently serious enough to sideline him for at least one day. Xander Bogaerts will rest his legs as the designated hitter in his absence, while Tzu-Wei Lin starts at shortstop.