MLB Player News

The Pirates have ruled Burdi (elbow) out for the remainder of the season after he was placed on the 45-day injured list Wednesday, Adam Berry of MLB.com reports.

Burdi is technically eligible to return from the IL on Sept. 18, but the Pirates won't have him ramp up at that point with the regular season ending about a week and a half later. At this time, Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said the team is still gathering more information about the extent of Burdi's right elbow injury, so no formal timeline for his recovery has been established. The elbow injury is the latest in a string of arm-related setbacks for Burdi, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017 and missed most of the 2019 season after requiring surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome.

Smith was optioned to the Marlins' alternate training site Thursday, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports.

Not to be confused with Josh A. Smith, who remains on the Marlins' active roster, this Smith was promoted earlier in the week but did not get into a game before being sent down. He will be available if the Marlins need a fresh arm later this summer.

Feyereisen was optioned to the Brewers' alternate training site Thursday.

He has not pitched since July 24, when he gave up one run in one inning against the Cubs. Feyereisen may be called upon again this season when the Brewers have need of a fresh bullpen arm.

The Braves activated Smith from the COVID-19 injured list Thursday.

Scott Schebler was designated for assignment to clear room for Smith on the 40- and 28-man rosters. The Braves weren't expected to activate Smith from the injured list until the weekend, but he was brought back a day early with Atlanta needing to trim down its active roster from 30 men. When he signed a three-year, $39 million deal with the Braves in the offseason, Smith was viewed as a potential candidate to close, but he'll most likely have to settle for a setup role in front of Mark Melancon after missing most of summer camp following a positive COVID-19 test. Smith was one of baseball's most dominant end gamers in 2019 with the Giants, posting a 2.76 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 96 strikeouts over 65.1 innings while converting 34 of 38 save chances.

Suarez was optioned to the Giants' alternate training site Thursday.

He was up for a couple days but did not pitch in a game and will now be transferred to the taxi squad for the final seven games of this road trip. Suarez should provide bullpen depth over the rest of the season.

The Reds optioned Antone to their alternate training site Thursday.

Antone initially made his MLB debut as a reliever after he was called up from the Reds' alternate camp July 25, but he picked up a spot start Wednesday against the Indians with Cincinnati temporarily in need of a sixth starter. Though he took the loss in the outing, Antone did well to limit Cleveland to one run on two hits and four walks while striking out four. He should rank near the top of the list for a callup in the event the Reds require another starter at any point this season.

Jansen feels that his conditioning has not yet fully returned following his bout with COVID-19, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

Jansen missed the start of summer camp as he recovered from the virus, but he was able to return in time to lock down the Dodgers' closer role by the start of the regular season. The veteran indicated that he expects to add strength as the campaign progresses, though his stated lack of conditioning has not affected his performance in the early going. Through six outings, Jansen is a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities while allowing only one earned run and compiling a 6:3 K:BB over six innings.

Jansen earned his fourth save of the season in Wednesday's win over the Padres. He allowed one run on two hits and a walk while fanning one in one inning.

Jansen worked the ninth and gave up an RBI single to Tommy Pham, who scored Fernando Tatis, but he got the job done after inducing Manny Machado into a game-ending double play. It was the first time Jansen allowed a run this season, but he remains 4-for-4 in save opportunities.

Gott threw a scoreless ninth inning against the Rockies on Wednesday to earn his third save of the season.

After putting the tying run aboard via a two-out walk, Gott struck out Garrett Hampson to end the threat. Manager Gabe Kapler talked quite a bit about not having defined roles in the bullpen, but he's actually had a fairly traditional structure at the back end. Kapler has leaned on heavily on Tyler Rogers, Shaun Anderson and Tony Watson to set up while Gott has received all three save chances the team has had thus far.

Ginkel struck out two over one scoreless inning in Wednesday's 14-7 win over the Astros.

Ginkel has been slowly chipping away at a monstrous 54.00 ERA, which was the result of a four-run outing in two-thirds of an inning on Opening Day. He was a valued setup man over the second half of 2019 and opened the year in that role, but Ginkel has not been used as such since Opening Day. Since then, he's allowed one run on three hits and two walks while striking out four over four innings. As the right-hander adds more positive results, manager Torey Lovullo may eventually return Ginkel to a setup role.