MLB Player News

Milone signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners on Thursday, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

Milone spent the majority of the 2021 season in the Blue Jays organization, which included 14 innings with the big-league club. He struggled while posting a 6.43 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. Milone will almost certainly start the season at Triple-A Tacoma, though he could reach the majors and appear in low-leverage roles as the season progresses.

Kopech threw two innings while allowing one earned run in Thursday's Cactus League matchup against the Reds, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

Kopech was behind in his preparation for the regular season due to an illness that he suffered from over the winter. However, he was strong in his spring debut, as he was hitting between 95 and 98 mph with his fastball and also consistently threw his curveball for strikes. "The plan today was no more than what I did," Kopech said after the outing. "But I said when I came out [of the game] that I felt like I was good to go for another [inning]." It remains to be seen whether the right-hander will be ready to start the season in the rotation, though this is a positive step in that direction.

Bieber was named the Guardians' starter for Opening Day against the Royals on April 7, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.

Bieber is healthy after being limited to 16 starts last season due to a shoulder strain, and he'll unsurprisingly receive the nod on Opening Day for Cleveland. The 26-year-old has a 2.92 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 33.0 percent strikeout rate in 62 games over the past three years.

Manager Scott Servais said Thursday that Ray will start the Mariners' Opening Day game April 7 in Minnesota, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com reports.

Ray will unseat Marco Gonzales as the Mariners' No. 1 starter this season after Seattle brought him aboard on a five-year, $115 million deal following his improbable run to the American League's Cy Young Award in 2021 while he was with Toronto. Ray has always made bats miss at a prolific clip, but he reached a new level of success thanks largely to cutting his walk rate down to 6.7 percent last season after turning in rates north of 10 percent in each of the previous four years. So long as he proves that he can keep the free passes to a minimum, Ray shouldn't take too much of a step back statistically with the move from Toronto to Seattle.

Sale (ribs) was scheduled to undergo a pre-planned MRI on Thursday, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.

The MRI isn't the result of any setback in his recovery from a stress fracture on the right side of his rib cage; instead, Sale is being sent in for imaging so he and the Red Sox can assess how much his ribs have healed since he was shut down in mid-March. If the imaging shows the desired improvement, Sale could resume throwing before the end of camp, though he'll stick around at extended spring training in any case while he opens the season on the injured list.

Ryan will start Minnesota's Opening Day matchup against Seattle on April 7, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Even though the Twins acquired Sonny Gray during the offseason, Ryan will be on the mound for the team's season opener at home against the Mariners. The 25-year-old Ryan made just five starts for Minnesota last year in his first taste of major-league action, and he logged a 4.05 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in 26.2 innings. However, he's struck out six in five scoreless innings across two Grapefruit League starts this spring and will be rewarded with the nod on Opening Day.

Detmers is likely to open the season as the Angels' sixth starter, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

The team has reportedly picked its sixth starter but won't announce the winner yet, though indications are that Detmers has beaten Jaime Barria for the job. The 2020 10th-overall pick didn't show all that much in his five-start debut last year, posting a 7.40 ERA and a 6.36 FIP, but that's understandable given that he'd only made 13 starts as a professional prior to earning his first call-up. His 42.0 percent strikeout rate in the minors last season hints at his potential, though just how much of it he'll realize right away this season remains to be seen.

Stripling will not be part of the Blue Jays' Opening Day starting rotation, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Stripling seemed likely to be the odd man out after the team signed Yusei Kikuchi in mid-March. He's been a starter in 21 of his 29 appearances for the Blue Jays since joining the team in the middle of the 2020 season, and he should add a handful more starts this season. Stripling is likely the next man up whenever one of Toronto's starting five suffers an injury, though the nod could also go to Nate Pearson depending on the young righty's health and development.

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Thursday that Gausman is tentatively in line to start the team's second game of the season April 9 against the Rangers in Toronto, Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic reports.

Gausman was bypassed for the Opening Day nod in favor of Jose Berrios, but that's most likely a result of the latter having more seniority in the organization. Among the five projected members of Toronto's Opening Day rotation, Gausman was the top performer in 2021, when he compiled a 2.81 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 227 strikeouts across 192 innings with the Giants. Gausman cashed in on his career-best season by signing a five-year, $110 million deal with Toronto in November, with his big payday indicating the Blue Jays view him as a front-of-the-rotation arm.

Ramirez signed a minor-league deal with Minnesota on Thursday, Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Ramirez owns a 4.71 ERA in 288.1 career MLB innings, though just 14.2 of those have come in the last four years. He's been out of affiliated ball entirely over the last two seasons, pitching in Mexico and Taiwan. In nine starts for the Fubon Guardians of the CPBL last season, he recorded a 3.69 ERA and 1.19 WHIP.