MLB Player News

Seth Smith will leadoff and make his second start of the year in left field for the Mariners on Friday against the Athletics, while Dustin Ackley will hit eighth and move over from left and make his second start in centerfield.

Shortstop Brad Miller, who lost his starting job when Chris Taylor was called up last week, will serve as the team’s designated hitter and bat second.

With centerfielder Austin Jackson on the disabled list, the Mariners continue to shuffle their outfield lineup.

Tigers outfielder Yoenis Cespedes hasn't hit a home run in eight games and has just one home run in 16 games since hitting two on April 19. Although, a matchup against White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana might help Cespedes stop his power drought.

Cespedes has hit safely in six of eight at-bats (.750) in his career against Quintana. Four of those hits have gone for home runs. He also has one double and nine RBI.

Cespedes is batting just .185 (5 for 27) against lefties in in 2015, but he has three home runs and 10 RBI.

Twins first baseman Joe Mauer received his first day off this year, as he was held out of Thursday's starting lineup against the A's. Mauer, whose last day off came on September 24, is sporting a .287 batting average this season but has yet to record his first home run of 2015.

Kennys Vargas took over at first base on Thursday, while Torii Hunter was the team's designated hitter on Thursday.

Twins manager Paul Molitor said he'd been looking for a chance to give Mauer a rest, according to the Star Tribune.

Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, who is currently on the 7-day concussion list, was not activated before Thursday's game against the Indians. However, Escobar could be nearing a return, as he took grounders before the game, according to MLB.com, which could determine if he is cleared to return to the lineup. 

Christian Colon will continue to be the starting shortstop until Escobar is ready to come back.

Twins first baseman Kennys Vargas connected on a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning of Wednesday night's 13-0 win over the Athletics. 

Vargas' shot drove in Danny Santana and Doug Bernier. It was his lone at-bat of the game after entering the game in the top half of the eighth. Vargas is now hitting .222/.267/.346 for the season. 

With outfielder Coco Crisp healthy enough to return to baseball, the Athletics have a question as to what to do with Mark Canha, who's hitting .271 this season. 

One solution for the time being is to ease Crisp back in and rotate him with Canha in the outfield still, which is what manager Bob Melvin said via the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday. 

Another is to play Canha at first base so that he and Crisp can be in the lineup together. 

This season, Canha has played 20 games in the outfield, six at first base and one at third base. He's not in the lineup Wednesday as Crisp is in left field. 

After starting six games in a row, Athletics outfielder Mark Canha was absent from the starting lineup on Wednesday against the Twins. While his .235 batting average over his last 10 games is rather pedestrian, he has hit three home runs and has seven RBI in that span. 

Coco Crisp, who was activated from the disabled list on Wednesday, took over in left field for manager Bob Melvin.

Indians outfielder Michael Brantley homered and extended his modest hitting streak to five games during Tuesday's 5-3 defeat to Kansas City.

Brantley took Kansas City starter Jason Vargas deep for a two-run home run in the opening frame. He reached base twice and finished 1 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and two RBI. Over his last 11 games, Brantley is hitting .441 (19 for 43) with eight extra base hits, 10 RBI and six walks.

Mariners infielder Brad Miller won't be starting at shortstop every day, but he'll still be in the lineup. Manager Lloyd McClendon said he plans to use Miller at a variety of spots to rest regular starters. 

"My vision is to see him as a Ben Zobrist-type of player," he said, per the News Tribune. "We’ll see. This is not etched in stone. This is something we’re trying, and we’ll see how it goes."

Miller, for one, isn't happy about the experiment. 

"He’s a great player," Miller said of Zobrist, "and he’s invaluable, but I wouldn’t want to pigeonhole myself to anything. I’m 25 years old. I’m still young in my career. Yes, a player who can play a lot of positions is very valuable. But also, a player who is an All-Star shortstop is very valuable. That’s kind of how I look at it. I don’t think you can compare yourself to anybody."

Indians center fielder Michael Bourn is out of the starting lineup on Tuesday, with Michael Brantley shifting to center and Ryan Raburn moving taking over in left field, according to MLB.com. Manager Terry Francona indicated Bourn will be held out of the lineup for the forseeable future against left-handed pitchers.

"I talked to Bourny today a little bit about it," Francona said prior to Tuesday's game, per MLB.com. "And this is just in the near future, because we really want Bourny to be our center fielder, but it's been a struggle for him against lefties."

It will be Brantley's first start in center field this season after drawing 44 starts there in 2014. The Indians are currently the underdogs (+110) against Kansas City.