MLB Player News

Putnam suffered a lower-body injury and will be sidelined for a few days, MLB.com's Scott Merkin reports.

He was on schedule to pitch Friday, but that was put on hold when he suffered the injury. Nonetheless, if he only misses a couple days he will still be on track for the start of the regular season.

Andriese has already been scratched from Sunday's start due to left abdominal tightness, Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Andriese plays an important role for the Rays as a swing man/long reliever, but given the Rays' starting rotation depth, he is unlikely to see many starts this season. Taylor Guerrieri will start in his place Sunday, and Andriese should be considered day-to-day.

Smith (back) is scheduled to throw Sunday in Port Charlotte against the Rays, the Boston Herald reports.

Smith, who hasn't pitched in a game since last Sunday, threw a bullpen session Thursday. He's seen as one of three relievers, along with Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa, that will work in a seventh- and eighth-inning setup role.

Fulmer will be stretched out as a starter, but could be in the mix for a bullpen role, Jason Beck of MLB.com reports.

Fulmer hasn't appeared in a level above Double-A so far in his career, but his results are good enough to think he could hold his own in a bullpen role. It would cost him some development time as a starter though, which the Tigers may be reluctant to do with their key return from the Yoenis Cespedes trade.

Smith has been out since last Sunday due to back spasms, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal reports.

Britton also reports that Smith said he felt fine yesterday and has already thrown a bullpen session but will need another before he can appear in a spring training game. The 26-year-old hasn't appeared in a game in Florida yet. If he has to miss any time to start the season, Koji Uehara will likely take a bigger share of setup duties.

Beck was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times' Daryl Van Schouwen reports.

The 25-year-old righty was not in serious competition for a rotation spot out of camp, so it makes sense to re-assign him so that the other starters can get more work in. Beck should offer organizational rotation depth this season, but he will be behind at least Erik Johnson in the pecking order.

Layne has been working on pitches to become more effective against right-handed batters, the Providence Journal reports. "For me, either the ability to spin a bigger breaking ball or to have a changeup would benefit me. I'm doing both of them now in spring training. Whatever turns out being the better pitch is what I'm going to go with," said Layne.

Layne, a south-paw, has been death on left-handers, whom he held to a .148 average and .170 slugging percentage last season. His low-90s fastball and slider have been sufficient against same-siders, but right-handed hitters batted .322 and slugged .517 against him. Layne mowed down all three right-handers faced in Thursday's spring game, but he's still largely viewed as a lefty-specialist. The projected depth of Boston's bullpen should limit the number of times Layne is needed to face a right-handed batter in a high-leverage situation.

Manaea was removed from Thursday's game after taking a groundball off his hand, but is fine and was actually removed due to his pitch count, John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group reports.

Manaea was pulled after giving up a hit, two walks, and an earned run to go with a strikeout over 2.2 innings. It's good to hear that the event isn't affecting him at all, so now he can continue gaining valuable experience against major league hitters.

Hultzen (shoulder) is "going to be down for a while," per manager Scott Servais, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

Hultzen suffered a setback earlier in the week, and it now appears the situation could be a bit more severe than initially anticipated. Servais noted that the team is still considering its options with regard to Hultzen, but for now it seems unlikely that Hultzen will be taking the mound in a spring game any time soon.

Kelly admitted his mechanics were off while making his second spring start Wednesday, the Boston Herald reports. He allowed one run on three hits (all singles) and two walks while striking out three in 2.1 innings.

The starters should be able to get through three innings in their second start, so from that standpoint, it wasn't a good outing. Kelly said he was going too slow in the windup and then too quickly from the stretch, something that pitching coach Carl Willis pointed out to him. He's still in line to be Boston's fifth starter.