MLB Player News

Winker is one of a handful of Reds prospects expected to get the call when rosters expand on September 1.

Winker has been a good on-base threat at Triple-A Louisville, but he still hasn't found the ability to hit for power, slugging just .380 on the season.

Pederson is out of the lineup Friday versus the Cubs.

With the left-handed Mike Montgomery taking the mound for Chicago, Pederson will head to the bench and give way to Enrique Hernandez in center field. Pederson will likely be back in the lineup Saturday, as Jason Hammel is slated to pitch for the Cubs.

Pederson is out of the lineup Thursday against the Giants, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reports.

The Dodgers are once again rolling out their right-handed-heavy lineup with San Francisco starting another left-hander in Matt Moore. Enrique Hernandez starts in center field in place of Pederson and the two players will likely continue on in a platoon situation for the foreseeable future.

Belt was dropped to seventh in the batting order Wednesday, going 0-for-3 with a walk in a loss to the Dodgers.

Belt has cooled off at the plate in the second half of August (.231, no homers and two RBI over last 10 games) after hitting three homers through the first 10 games of the month. Manager Bruce Bochy may have moved him down the order in an effort to take the pressure off his slugging first baseman, or it may have simply been a matchup play with a left-hander on the mound. Either way, Belt is one of several Giants whose cold bats have resulted in a 2-8 record over the club's last 10 games. Batting lower in the order (especially for an on-base machine like Belt) will result in fewer scoring opportunities. Thursday's series finale against the Dodgers will feature right-hander Ross Stripling, so we'll see if Belt's lineup movement was temporary or not.

Turner went 2-for-3 with his 24th homer Wednesday in a 1-0 win over the Giants.

His fourth-inning shot to left center off San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto accounted for the game's only scoring. With five hits in the last two games and a .343 average (including six homers) in August, Turner's brought his season average up to .282 -- its highest point since the first week of April action. He certainly won't match the career high he set two years ago (.340), but Turner's made up for that with a host of career marks in other categories -- homers, doubles (28), RBI (74) and runs (61) -- and he has plenty of time left to pad those stats.

Carpenter went 1-for-5 with a homer and two strikeouts Wednesday in an 8-1 win over the Mets.

The long ball was his first in two weeks, dating back to Aug. 10 against the Reds. Carpenter cut his strikeout rate earlier this year, but has backslid this month, whiffing 16 times in 16 games; accordingly, he's hitting only .219 in August. Nonetheless, Carpenter has been enormously productive when healthy as the Cards' leadoff hitter, as he'd easily be on pace to clear 100 runs (something he's done in two of the past three seasons) if not for the time he spent on the DL due to an oblique injury.

Ozuna is in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Royals, Craig Davis of the Sun Sentinel reports.

Ozuna left Tuesday's game due to a family emergency, but is back in the lineup Wednesday evening. He'll start in center field and bat cleanup as Miami takes on Dillon Gee and the Royals.

Soler (leg) is back in the lineup, hitting cleanup and manning left field Wednesday against the Padres.

Soler has been a league average hitter this year (101 wRC+), but he has nine home runs in 197 plate appearances after managing just 10 long balls in 404 plate appearances last season. He won't play every day due to the Cubs' ridiculous depth, but whenever he is in the lineup, particularly in the middle of the order, he can safely be deployed in most formats.

McCutchen is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game against Houston.

The struggling outfielder doubled in a run in Tuesday's win over the Astros, but he'll take a seat Wednesday, marking his first absence from the lineup since Aug. 4. Starling Marte will get the nod in center field and he'll bat in McCutchen's usual No. 3 spot in the order.

McCutchen went 1-for-3 with an RBI double, a walk and a run in Tuesday's 7-1 win over the Astros.

McCutchen played a key role in Pittsburgh's four-run first inning, doubling in Matt Joyce before coming around to score on Gregory Polanco's single. His .244/.325/.409 line has been disappointing, but the 2013 NL MVP is still batting in the valuable third spot in the Pirates order.