MLB Player News

Junis is expected to start the Royals' second game of the regular season March 30 versus the White Sox, Rustin Dodd of The Athletic reports.

Beyond announcing that Brad Keller would take the hill for Opening Day, the Royals haven't formally outlined their rotation plans to begin the season. Manager Ned Yost did clear things up somewhat Tuesday, however, when he said Ian Kennedy would head to the bullpen, leaving Junis, Jorge Lopez and Homer Bailey to follow Keller in the pitching schedule. Junis had some decent moments in 2018 -- particularly in the second half -- but he served up a whopping 32 home runs in 30 starts to prop up his ERA and WHIP to an underwhelming 4.37 and 1.27, respectively. He hasn't seemed to correct his struggles with reining in the long ball so far this spring, serving up two homers over 12.1 innings.

Martin was optioned to Double-A Frisco on Wednesday.

Martin spent all of 2018 with Frisco, but it's hard to say he doesn't need more time there after he stumbled to a 7.28 ERA in 89 innings last season. Some positive regression may be all he needs to take the next step, however, as his ERA was affected by an unsustainably high .443 BABIP and an unsustainably low 57.2 percent strand rate. His FIP was actually quite good, coming in at 3.36.

Jurado was optioned to Triple-A Nashville on Wednesday.

Jurado had at least a chance to crack the Opening Day roster as a reliever but will have to prove himself at the Triple-A level, a stop he skipped last season. There's no reason to believe he'll be much much of a weapon if and when he returns, however, as he posted a 5.93 ERA in 54.2 innings for the Rangers last season while striking out an extremely low 9.1 percent of opposing batters.

Trivino struck out the side in the ninth inning of a 9-7 loss to the Mariners in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday.

Trivino disposed of the dangerous trio of Jay Bruce, Edwin Encarnacion and Domingo Santana on a modest 17 pitches, notching a swinging strikeout of each. It was an auspicious start to 2019 for the 27-year-old, who was a valued component of the bullpen last season while racking up an 8-3 record, 2.92 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 82 strikeouts over 74 innings. When considering Trivino also mowed down nine batters over just five Cactus League innings prior to Wednesday's dominant performance, it appears the right-hander is poised for a successful encore to his stellar rookie campaign.

Manager Charlie Montoyo said that Axford experienced elbow pain earlier this week and will be checked out by doctors Wednesday, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Axford has been attending spring training as a non-roster invitee, but he was seemingly in good position to break camp as a member of the big-league bullpen. The injury suddenly puts him on shakier ground to crack the Opening Day roster, but the Blue Jays will await analysis of Axford's health from doctors before revealing whether he's merely day-to-day or dealing with a longer-term setback.

A third opinion on Fulmer's injured elbow confirmed the previous two diagnoses, and he has decided to undergo Tommy John surgery, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports.

Fulmer had trouble with his velocity and mechanics earlier in camp, but he felt discomfort after a recent bullpen session and underwent an MRI, which revealed the tear in his elbow ligament. He wanted to get several looks at the MRI results, but all of them came back the same, so instead of preparing for the regular season, he will undergo surgery in the near future and miss the entire season, and likely part of the 2020 campaign as well. A better estimate at Fulmer's return timetable should be revealed after the procedure is completed.

Milner remains in contention for the final bullpen spot, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

Milner has kept his name in contention amidst a solid field of competitors by putting together an impressive spring. The 28-year-old southpaw has racked up 12 strikeouts and generated a 1.93 ERA across 9.1 Grapefruit League innings over seven appearances, the latter in sharp contrast to the 7.36 ERA he posted with the Phillies and Rays over 14 appearances in 2018. Like fellow candidate Adam Kolarek, Milner has the advantage of serving as a left-handed option for manager Kevin Cash. However, he could still find himself opening the season with Triple-A Durham if the Rays' skipper opts to go with one of the more experienced arms under consideration in Emilio Pagan, Hunter Wood or Kolarek.

Lopez allowed three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out two over 6.1 innings Tuesday against the Reds.

Getting into the seventh inning is the target for many pitchers during spring training, so Lopez appears ready for the regular season. He'll get one more outing before the end of the Cactus League, and it looks like he'll slot in as the second member of the rotation behind Carlos Rodon. The right-hander has a 5.79 ERA and 1.74 WHIP over 15.2 spring innings.

Armstrong will be out at least a couple weeks with a Grade 1 oblique strain, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

We now have an official diagnosis, and it's generally good news as it's the least severe type of strain. Still, Armstrong will be forced to take it slow for a while to avoid more extensive damage. With Anthony Swarzak (shoulder) also on the injured list, the Mariners will have to lean on the likes of Dan Altavilla, Cory Gearrin, Chasen Bradford and Zac Rosscup in the mid-to-late innings.

Kolarek remains in contention for the final bullpen spot despite allowing nine earned runs over seven innings in Grapefruit League play, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

A ragged spring notwithstanding, Kolarek is still a candidate for a bullpen spot also being chased by Emilio Pagan, Hunter Wood and Hoby Milner. Kolarek does have the distinction of being a southpaw, which could play into manager Kevin Cash's final decision from an overall matchup perspective. Kolarek presumably sports a respectable track record in Cash's eyes after having posted a serviceable 3.93 ERA over 31 appearances last season, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough to override his struggles thus far this year. Cash is on record as stating that the winner of the bullpen race may not be announced until the last couple of Grapefruit League games, meaning that Kolarek and his fellow competitors should still have at least one more opportunity each to make their respective cases.