MLB Player News

The Blue Jays optioned Borucki to Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Borucki rose quickly through four levels of the Blue Jays' system last season and entered spring training as one of the organization's top pitching prospects, but the lefty wasn't in serious contention for an Opening Day rotation spot. With few innings available for him in Grapefruit League play, Borucki will face minor-league hitters in spring games as he prepares for a likely assignment to Triple-A Buffalo to begin the 2018 campaign.

Manager A.J. Hinch said he'll prepare his bullpen to bring in a pitcher whenever he wants to and that includes Giles, Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle reports. "If I bring (Ken) Giles in for a huge matchup in the seventh or eighth inning, (Hector) Rondon's closed, (Chris) Devenski's closed, (Will) Harris has closed, (Brad) Peacock could close. We really don't have a guy that I wouldn't go to in the ninth inning," said Hinch.

Giles should be considered the primary closer, and we don't expect his save opportunities to diminish much. However, it's worth considering how Hinch's planned bullpen usage may play itself out during the regular season before going all-in on Giles. It might be helpful for owners of Giles to marry him to another Astros reliever, though that could lead to more harm than good given how many save-worthy arms Houston carries, and over-investing on a single bullpen could harm a team's overall fantasy potential.

Rodriguez was reassigned to the Red Sox's minor-league camp Sunday.

Rodriguez, who last appeared in the majors in 2016 with the Athletics, was sidelined for much of the 2017 campaign while recovering from shoulder surgery. The 33-year-old still looked a little rusty in the Grapefruit League with a 9.00 ERA and 1.63 WHIP over eight innings, so he'll need to prove healthy and effective in the upper minors before getting a serious look from the Red Sox.

The Red Sox optioned Jerez to Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday.

A former hitting prospect, Jerez has slowly moved up the Red Sox's minor-league ranks since converting to relief duty in 2015. Though he didn't distinguish himself enough in camp to earn an Opening Day roster spot with the Red Sox, Jerez's first promotion to the big leagues could come quickly if he's able to impress out of the Pawtucket bullpen.

Beeks was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday.

Beeks was one of 11 players sent back to minor-league camp Sunday as the Red Sox whittle down their roster with Opening Day less than three weeks away. After being added to the 40-man roster over the winter, the 24-year-old should be on Boston's short list of callups should injuries hit the big-league rotation. Beeks tallied a 3.86 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 97:33 K:BB over 95.2 innings with Pawtucket in 2017 after being promoted from Double-A Portland early last season.

Rumbelow (neck, shoulder) was officially optioned to Triple-A Tacoma by the Mariners on Saturday.

Rumbelow was expected to push for an Opening Day roster spot in the Mariners bullpen, but has been held out with shoulder discomfort since Feb. 24 and more recently is also battling a neck issue. The 26-year-old tossed two-thirds of an inning in his lone appearance of spring training and has no clear timetable for his potential return.

Zych was placed on waivers by the Mariners on Saturday, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

Zych has been battling both elbow and shoulder issues this spring and has yet to make his Cactus League debut. The 27-year-old righty has a 2.72 career ERA over 72.2 innings but has made four trips to the disabled list in the past two seasons. He could be an effective middle reliever for whatever team claims him, but questions about his health are unlikely to go away any time soon.

Puk fired three scoreless innings in Friday's 2-0 Cactus League win over the Brewers, allowing two walks and striking out two.

The towering lefty continues to push the envelope in a positive way, as he's now allowed just one unearned run on four hits and three walks over eight innings across three spring appearances. Puk is still considered a relative long shot to make the starting rotation, although manager Bob Melvin didn't completely rule out that possibility recently, either. Irrespective of whether he makes the Opening Day roster, Puk is undeniably making quite the impression on the coaching staff, especially after facing a Brewers lineup with plenty of regulars Friday, Alyson Footer of MLB.com reports. "Using all four of his pitches, he keeps you off balance," manager Bob Melvin said. "I don't know what the [velocities] were on him today -- didn't look from the side as hard as maybe the last time out -- but he's got enough to keep you off balance. He pitched well again."

Kittredge struck out one and allowed three earned runs on two hits and a walk over 1.1 innings in Friday's 4-3 Grapefruit League loss to the Twins.

It was a ragged outing overall for the 27-year-old, who was touched up for a solo homer by Miguel Sano as part of a three-run second inning for the Twins. Kittredge threw 30 pitches, with 20 of them finding the strike zone. He remains in the mix for a bullpen role despite the uneven effort, Maureen Mullen of MLB.com reports, and his versatility is something that's particularly caught the eye of hs coaches. "He's pretty interesting," manager Kevin Cash said. "If you ask [pitching coach] Kyle [Snyder], every possible role that he was asked, he excelled in. He had some three-inning outings, he had some one-batter outings. I like the way that he can come in. Looks like he's a big strong guy that we're going to continue to explore lengthening him, building him up a little bit."

Robertson (illness) took the mound for his Grapefruit League debut against the Mets on Saturday, Erik Boland of Newsday Sports reports.

Robertson dealt with a bout of food poisoning that left him sidelined for the past week. The reliever was able to toss a simulated game earlier this week and should be operating at full capacity heading into the final couple weeks of spring camp.