MLB Player News

Milone wasn't able to pitch in his scheduled simulated game Tuesday due to a left trap injury, Steve Melewski of MASNSports.com reports.

The Orioles appear to be viewing the neck issue as a minor concern, as manager Brandon Hyde acknowledged that Milone might be ready to get back on the mound Wednesday to face hitters. The non-roster invitee is competing for a back-end spot in the Orioles' rotation this spring.

Sale (elbow) plans to meet with arm specialist Dr. Neal ElAttrache later this week for another opinion on his recent MRI, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

Manager Ron Roenicke said Wednesday that the Red Sox have already received an evaluation of Sale's MRI results from Dr. James Andrews, but the team will get another opinion before deciding the best course of action for its staff ace. According to Julian McWilliams of The Boston Globe, Dr. ElAttrache will be the third specialist to have examined the results, which doesn't inspire much confidence in Sale's ability to make a quick return from the injured list. Boston should have an updated timeline for Sale within the next few days, but fantasy managers should already begin preparing for him to spend more than the minimum 15 days on the IL.

Perez allowed six runs (one earned) on four hits and one walk over two-thirds of an inning in Tuesday's spring game against the Yankees.

Perez was done after 34 pitches but got his pitch count up by throwing another 20 in the bullpen. He chalked up the outing to bad luck, noting a lot of soft contact, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports. He's penciled in as Boston's No. 3 starter and becomes a more important piece after it was learned Chris Sale is out indefinitely after undergoing an MRI on his elbow.

Lyles allowed three runs on three hits and one walk while striking out three over three innings in Tuesday's spring game against the Giants.

Lyles was the fourth member to Texas' projected starting rotation to make his spring debut. He shrugged off the three-run home run allowed on a curve, as the right-hander was more focused on his changeup, a pitch he all but abandoned in his 11 starts with the Brewers in 2019. "I don't like the three runs, but overall, I wanted to get the changeup working and we were successful with that," Lyles told T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. "A great day working on the changeup. There's good and bad that goes with that. But that's what I wanted to work on today. And we did a good job working with it." Lyles is lining up to be the Rangers' No. 5 starter.

Urquidy allowed two hits and struck out four over three scoreless innings in Tuesday's spring game against St. Louis.

Urquidy came out of the bullpen for innings five through seven, so he wasn't seeing the Cardinals' best. Houston pitching coach Brent Strom all but anointed Urquidy as the team's fourth starter earlier in camp, based on a strong September and postseason in 2019. The 24-year-old right-hander has allowed two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out five over 4.1 spring innings.

Verlander allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and one walk while striking out three over 2.2 innings in Tuesday's spring game against the Cardinals.

The results aren't pretty, but Verlander's spring debut wasn't about that. A groin injury slowed him this spring, but the AL's reigning Cy Young Award winner said his leg was not an issue Tuesday. He threw 53 pitches and hit 97 mph on the radar. "Today, first and foremost, was to come out of it feeling good," Verlander told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "Having no issues with the groin. Check. Hoping that the velo's decent, which I think it was for this time of year. Better than normal. I'd have to reference years. I was pretty surprised seeing some of the numbers I saw." The right-hander added that his location and pitch quality are a bit behind, but that's natural after he's been focusing his efforts on getting healthy.

Montas started Monday's Cactus League win over the Cubs and fired two scoreless innings, allowing no hits and one walk while also hitting a batter. He struck out two.

On the heels of firing a perfect frame in his spring debut last Wednesday, Montas put together another mostly dominant outing over 32 pitches versus a Cubs lineup that was notably missing both Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. The right-hander got some good work in, however, and Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports the control issues that led to the free pass and hit batsman could have been due to some of the experimentation Montas was doing with his pitch selection. "He was working on his splitter and slider," manager Bob Melvin said. "Got a little out of whack for a minute. He's usually quite the strike-thrower. But he ended up finding it again."

Clevinger (knee) extended his flat-ground throwing program out to 150 feet Tuesday, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.

The 29-year-old moved over to the mound to begin simulating his delivery after playing catch and was very pleased to feel no discomfort. "We started rolling today," Clevinger told reporters Tuesday. "It was a really, really, really promising day." The next step for the right-hander will be to pitch off the rubber. Barring any further setbacks, Clevinger could potentially join the Indians' starting rotation around mid-April.

Giolito (chest) will make his spring debut Friday against the Cubs, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Giolito has been dealing with a strained chest muscle since early in camp. He's been brought along gradually, but his readiness for Opening Day never appeared to be seriously threatened. Assuming Friday's outing goes smoothly, he'll still have time to make a few more starts before the regular season begins.

Bieber is hoping to feature his changeup more this season, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal reports.

Bieber is hardly the first pitcher to talk up his changeup during spring training, and it wouldn't be smart to adjust his projections purely based on his words, but the young righty has certainly identified one of the few areas of weakness in his game. Bieber threw his changeup just 7.4 percent of the time in 2019, and it was the only one of his four pitches to receive a negative grade per FanGraphs' Pitch Values metric. Bieber's 30.2 percent strikeout rate and 4.7 percent walk rate last season were each outstanding, but hitters managed a strong 90.4 mph average exit velocity against him when they made contact. An improved changeup could theoretically help keep the ball off the barrel of the bat, though it remains to be seen whether or not the pitch has indeed improved.