MLB Player News

De Leon was optioned off the Reds' roster Saturday.

De Leon will remain with the team as part of the taxi squad for now. He endured quite a tough time in his lone appearance this season, allowing eight runs in 1.2 innings against Cleveland on Thursday. Joe Kuhnel was recalled in a corresponding move.

Kuhnel was recalled by the Reds on Saturday.

Kuhnel had been dealing with a shoulder issue back in spring training, but that's evidently not still bothering him. Kuhnel will likely start out in a low-leverage role for the Reds, as he's thrown just 9.2 career major-league innings.

Venditte's contract was selected by the Marlins on Saturday.

Venditte is ready to go just nine days after joining the team on a minor-league deal in late July. The 35-year-old ambidextrous pitcher owns a career 5.03 ERA across 68 big-league innings.

Suarez was recalled by the Giants on Saturday.

Suarez will replace Jeff Samardzija, who landed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement. It's not yet clear whether he'll be filling Samardzija's rotation spot, however. Just two of his 21 appearances last season were starts, and it wouldn't make a ton of sense for the Giants to call him up Saturday with no intention of using him until Wednesday, when Samardzija was next due to pitch.

Patino is a candidate to start against the Dodgers on Monday or Tuesday, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports.

The Padres have an open spot in their rotation with Joey Lucchesi moved to the team's alternate training site Thursday, so they will choose from a number of options to fill the role. Cal Quantrill appears to be the leading candidate for the job, but Patino is in the running, according to Padres manager Jayce Tingler. Patino pitched two innings against the Dodgers in his MLB debut Wednesday, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out two.

Strop (groin) could be out for an extended period of time, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Strop has yet to be placed on the injured list after leaving Friday's game against the Brewers with a groin injury, though it sounds like that move could be coming soon if "an extended period" translates to "at least 10 days." Michael Lorenzen and Amir Garrett will handle top setup duties in front of Raisel Iglesias.

Strop suffered a groin injury in Friday's win against the Brewers, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports.

Strop was removed from Friday's contest after issuing two walks and failing to record any outs. Manager David Bell didn't know the severity of the injury following the contest.

Howard will be called up to start one of the two games in Sunday's doubleheader, Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The 24-year-old was the likely candidate to start Sunday's game, and the team has now told him that he'll get the nod. It's unclear which of the two seven-inning contests he'll start. Since Howard isn't on the 40-man roster yet, he should be officially added to the major-league club sometime after Saturday's contest. The highly-touted prospect turned heads during summer camp, but the team secured an extra year of service time by letting him develop at the alternate training site to begin the regular season. If all goes well in his MLB debut Sunday, he could become a regular fixture in the Phillies' rotation.

Clarke struck out three over three scoreless innings in Friday's 3-0 loss to the Padres.

The Diamondbacks went into the game planning to limit starter Luke Weaver to three innings, so there was going to be a need for bulk innings. It was his third outing, all three coming in relief of Weaver, who ran into significant fourth-inning trouble during his first two starts. Clarke has thrown at least three innings in all of his outings and sports a 2.79 ERA with eight strikeouts and three walks over 9.2 innings.

Yates notched his second save of the season Friday against the Diamondbacks. He pitched a scoreless inning, allowing one hit and fanning one.

Yates allowed a single to Starling Marte, who advanced to second on a throwing effort from the Padres' closer. Yates would close the door by inducing a popout and a liner to first, and as a result, he earned his second save of the campaign. It was only the second time in five outings this season in which Yates didn't allow a run.