MLB Player News

Flexen is scheduled to start Wednesday's game against the Angels, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

As anticipated, Flexen will enter the rotation as a replacement for Robbie Ray, who was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a Grade 1 flexor strain. The right-hander will likely make more than a handful of starts while Ray recovers, and Flexen should be reasonably stretched out after pitching four innings of one-run ball in relief of the injured Ray in Friday's game against the Guardians. Flexen doesn't miss many bats and relies on quality defense behind him, so he likely profiles as more of a streaming option in the majority of leagues.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced Sunday that Rodon (forearm) could pitch with hitters in the box for his next session, Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News reports.

Rodon will have another "two-up" session the next time he's on the mound, and while it won't be a live bullpen, it's another step forward for the southpaw. The 30-year-old hurler is expected to miss close to a month while recovering from a left forearm strain, but he could make his debut with the Yankees late in April or the early part of May.

Whitlock (hip) is scheduled to pitch Thursday for Double-A Portland, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

Whitlock, who had a successful outing for Triple-A Worcester on Friday , will make at least one more appearance. If there are no setbacks following his start for the Sea Dogs, Whitlock will be activated to join the Red Sox. His season debut will likely occur during Boston's four-game series in Tampa, which begins April 10.

German threw a bullpen session Sunday and said he is scheduled to start Tuesday's game against the Phillies at Yankee Stadium, Marly Rivera of ESPN.com reports.

German initially looked on track to make his first start of the season in Sunday's series finale with the Giants, but the Yankees are instead turning to rookie Jhony Brito to take the hill in what will be his major-league debut. The Yankees haven't indicated that the decision to push German's first start back a couple of days was the result of a health-related setback; instead, it's plausible that he was pushed to the end of the pitching schedule due to his rough showing in spring training. Over his four Grapefruit League starts, German was tagged for 10 earned runs on 14 hits and a walk while striking out 11 over 10.1 innings.

Dunning allowed three hits over three scoreless innings to earn a hold in Saturday's 16-3 win over the Phillies.

Dunning opened the sixth inning with Texas up 7-4, then was gifted additional support from the offense. He got just one swing-and-miss, but Philadelphia hitters failed to generate much hard contact against him. Dunning will serve as a multi-inning reliever, particularly early on when the Rangers restrict starters in April.

Turnbull (0-1) took the loss Saturday, allowing seven runs on eight hits and three walks over 2.1 innings against the Rays. He struck out three.

This one was ugly right from the get-go as Turnbull started single, wild pitch, single, double, walk. The third inning got out of hand and Trey Wingenter replaced Turnbull with one out in the frame. Turnbull was at his best ever in 2021 before going down with an elbow injury which required Tommy John surgery. He will need to show some semblance of that form again before he can be trusted in fantasy lineups.

Gilbert (0-1) was tagged with the loss Saturday against Cleveland, allowing one run on four hits and one walk while striking out seven batters over six innings.

Gilbert was excellent in his season debut, tossing 64 of 85 pitches for strikes and limiting the Guardians to just a fourth-inning home run by Josh Naylor. However, Seattle couldn't manage to push any runs over the plate, saddling the right-hander with the loss. Gilbert -- and his fantasy managers -- nonetheless should walk away from this performance with plenty of positive takeaways, and there's certainly reason to believe that the third-year hurler can build upon his strong 2022 campaign during which he posted a 3.20 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 174:49 K:BB over 185.2 frames. His next outing is tentatively slated to be a rematch against Cleveland next week.

Civale (1-0) earned the win over Seattle on Saturday, pitching seven scoreless innings during which he allowed two hits and one walk while striking out three batters.

In his 2023 debut, Civale largely silenced Seattle's bats, allowing just a pair of singles and a walk while preventing the Mariners from putting multiple runners on base in any inning. The right-hander didn't have overpowering stuff -- he notched just five swinging strikes and three punchouts -- but he consistently got ahead in counts, throwing 17 of 23 first pitches for a strike. Civale is trying to bounce back from last season, when he posted a career-worst 4.92 ERA, and he's off to a strong start with Saturday's performance.

Eflin (1-0) allowed one earned run on three hits and one walk while striking out five across five innings to earn the win Saturday against the Tigers.

Eflin took the mound for the first time in the regular season as a member of the Rays, and he delivered a strong performance. The lone earned run against him came in the fourth inning after he allowed a leadoff double. Otherwise, Eflin was in control and generated six groundball outs along with 13 swinging strikes across 74 total pitches. The only downside to the outing was that the Rays pulled him early in the game, and that may not be likely to change moving forward given the team's preference to aggressively deploy its bullpen and limit its starters' exposure to opposing lineups.

Eovaldi (1-0) picked up the win Saturday, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks over five innings in a 16-3 rout of the Phillies. He struck out six.

The right-hander wasn't at his sharpest, throwing 49 of 82 pitches for strikes, but Eovaldi got all the run support he could have asked for. The 33-year-old has posted an ERA between 3.72 and 3.87 and a WHIP between 1.19 and 1.23 in each of the last three seasons, an impressive run of consistency, but after making only 20 starts in 2022 it's Eovaldi's ability to stay healthy that will be the biggest driver of his fantasy value. His next outing is scheduled to come during next weekend's three-game road series against the Cubs.