MLB Player News

The Pirates aren't counting on Burdi (elbow) to join the big-league bullpen until August if his rehab goes according to plan, Adam Berry of MLB.com reports.

Burdi underwent Tommy John surgery in late May of 2017, so it would seem the Pirates are preparing for a 14-month timeline for a full recovery. Prior to going under the knife, Burdi was viewed within the Twins organization as a potential closer down the road, with the right-hander validating that optimism with a 0.53 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and 20:4 K:BB in 17 innings at Double-A Chattanooga before the injury surfaced. Burdi will face an uphill battle to regain the triple-digit fastball velocity he flashed pre-surgery, but the Rule 5 selection is an intriguing project for Pittsburgh.

Cimber has won a spot on the Padres' Opening Day roster, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports.

The 27-year-old has yet to appear in the majors, though he had a solid season for Triple-A El Paso last year. In 64.2 innings, the sidearmer posted a 2.92 ERA, walked just 3.2 percent of the batters he faced and generated a 54.3 percent groundball rate. He continued to impress this spring, striking out nine and allowing four hits, one walk and no runs in nine innings of work.

Miller (elbow) threw his fifth bullpen session of the spring Tuesday, incorporating breaking balls for the first time, Jack Magruder of FanRagSports.com reports.

Miller is working his way back from Tommy John surgery in May. The standard recovery timetable would see Miller returning to the big leagues at some point in June or July. He could be a factor down the stretch for the Diamondbacks and for fantasy owners, though with xFIPs of 5.06 and 4.84 in the last two years, he's both an injury risk and a performance risk.

Manager Torey Lovullo said Tuesday that Boxberger will be the Diamondbacks' closer to open the season, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.

With Opening Day just days away, Lovullo has finally picked his ninth-inning man, going with Boxberger over the likes of Archie Bradley and Yoshihisa Hirano. Boxberger has plenty of experience as an endgamer, notching 41 saves for the Rays back in 2015. While he's struggled to stay healthy over the past two seasons, he seemed to find his form in September of last year, posting a 0.96 ERA and 17:2 K:BB across 9.1 innings.

Richards could open the season as part of the Marlins' starting rotation, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.

Nothing has been announced yet, but injuries and the Marlins' lack of viable major-league options have left the door open for Richards to claim one of the team's final rotation spots out of camp. The 24-year-old has made as strong case for himself in spring training, accruing a 0.75 ERA and 1.17 WHIP across 12 innings of work, albeit with a mediocre 9:5 K:BB. Richards has never pitched above Double-A, however, so it remains to be seen what the team will do with him at this point. He has yet to register an ERA north of 4.00 in his three professional seasons, though he could prove overmatched at the major-league level if he does break camp with the big club.

The Pirates reassigned Schultz (elbow) to their minor-league camp Monday, Adam Berry of MLB.com reports.

The demotion came on the same day that Schultz made his first appearance of the Grapefruit League in the Pirates' 6-3 loss to the Phillies, tossing a scoreless seventh inning. It also marked Schultz's first competitive outing since he underwent Tommy John surgery almost exactly a year earlier. While Schultz has endured no complications thus far in his recovery from the procedure, he'll still need further time to build up his arm after remaining idle for the past year. Schultz will stick around at extended spring training to pitch in additional simulated games or report to High-A Bradenton, which isn't far from the Pirates' facilities in Florida.

The Mets placed Montero (elbow) on the 60-day disabled list Monday.

Montero is scheduled to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery Tuesday, so the Mets elected to shift him to the 60-day DL in order to clear an extra spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets will likely use the opening on non-roster invitee Phillip Evans, who was informed over the weekend that he earned a spot with the big club as a utility man off the bench.

The Marlins optioned Ellington (biceps) to Triple-A New Orleans on Tuesday, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports.

After making his lone appearance in Grapefruit League play back on March 4, Ellington experienced biceps tendinitis and has been shut down ever since. It's unclear how close he might be to resuming a throwing program, so the expectation is that he'll open the season on the minor-league disabled list. Once the hard-throwing right-hander demonstrates he's healthy in the minors, he could be summoned to the big club and slot into a setup role in front of closer Brad Ziegler.

Hernandez (shoulder) was scheduled to resume light throwing duties Monday, but the Reds don't yet know if he'll be available for Opening Day, MLB.com's Dave Sessions reports. "We haven't moved away from his availability on the Opening Day roster, but we certainly would like to have him throw today and tomorrow to be able to define his readiness," manager Bryan Price said.

The last two-to-three spots in the bullpen for the Reds remain undecided, pending Hernandez's availability. Among the candidates that could get a roster slot if Hernandez is out include Austin Brice, Zack Weiss, Vance Worley and Justin Nicolino.

Arano will make the Phillies' Opening Day bullpen, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.

Arano was competing with Jake Thompson for the Phillies' final bullpen spot, but a trip to the disabled list for Tommy Hunter ended that battle. Hunter's hamstring strain is mild, so one of Arano or Thompson could return to the minors by mid-April. Arano has the makings of a future high-leverage reliever and posted a 1.69 ERA with a 31 percent strikeout rate in 10.2 innings with Philadelphia last year. The 23-year-old leaned heavily on his slider, throwing it over 50 percent of the time. If he remains on the roster all year, he'll provide a solid amount of strikeouts as a middle reliever, though he's not likely to be close to the top of the closer depth chart unless he really breaks out.