MLB Player News

Montas allowed an unearned run on two hits and a walk over four innings in a 12-11 Cactus League win over the Cubs on Wednesday. He struck out five.

Montas' push for the final rotation spot continued in excellent fashion during the relief outing, as he shut down what had been a hot-hitting Cubs squad up to his entry into the game. With his latest dominant performance, Montas lowered his spring ERA to a minuscule 0.69 across 13 innings. The combination of Montas' lack of minor-league options, his strong spring and an established big-league track record seemingly give him a leg up on the job, but manager Bob Melvin is also considering phenom Jesus Luzardo, among others, for the open spot.

Stroman allowed one run on two hits over 4.1 innings while striking out six in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Orioles.

Named the Jays' Opening Day starter earlier in the day, Stroman celebrated with another impressive outing. The right-hander now boasts a 2.19 ERA and 13:1 K:BB over 12.1 spring frames as he looks to rebound from a rough 2018 and return to the form that saw him top 200 innings and 160 strikeouts in each of the previous two seasons.

Eovaldi allowed one run on one hit and a walk while striking out one in three innings Wednesday against the Twins.

Eovaldi geared up quickly in his first Grapefruit League start, hitting 94 mph on his first pitch to leadoff batter Marwin Gonzalez, then hitting 99 mph before the at-bat was over. Earlier in camp, he talked about his growth as a pitcher since joining the Red Sox and echoed those comments to Ian Browne of MLB.com following the game. "Yeah, just being able to throw different pitches, not having to rely on just your fastball and your slider," Eovaldi said. "I can rely on other pitches, and I feel like I've grown as a pitcher since then, and just working with our catchers and pitching coaches to be able to do that." Eovaldi, who has become a mini-folk hero in Boston for what he did in the postseason, sounds confident as he steps into the fourth spot in Boston's rotation to begin 2019.

Cole allowed two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four over 4.2 innings Wednesday against the Mets.

Cole was still hitting the upper 90s near the end of his 70-pitch outing. "His interest is getting up and down, hot and cold four times today," manager AJ Hinch told Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle before the game. "In a perfect world, when you talk about four innings, you hope for 60, 65 -- no more than 70 pitches." According to Hinch's vision, Cole is right on schedule. He'll have two more outings to ramp up to 90 pitches. The right-hander has a 1.69 ERA over four Grapefruit League starts and will start Houston's second game of the season.

Dunning (forearm) will meet with Dr. James Andrews on Monday to determine whether he'll need Tommy John surgery, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.

Dunning had recently been shut down for two weeks with what was originally diagnosed as forearm discomfort. It sounds as though the issue may be worse than that, and when Dr. Andrews is involved, the situation generally isn't good. A clearer prognosis should emerge following the visit.

Heaney has been shut down from throwing due to irritation in his left elbow, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

The MRI didn't show significant damage, but manager Brad Ausmus admitted Heaney might not be ready for Opening Day. He started last season on the shelf with a similar issue and was still able to have a very effective season, but it is certainly troubling that the same elbow that gave him trouble earlier in camp this year is once again an issue.

Stephens was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

He is close to big-league ready, but has a very low ceiling and is more of an organizational depth arm or middle reliever long term.

Cease was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

This was inevitable, as Cease only logged 52.1 innings at Double-A and zero innings at Triple-A. He is Chicago's best healthy pitching prospect, and is expected to debut in the majors sometime this summer if he stays healthy.

Cobb will start on Opening Day on the road against the Yankees.

This will be Cobb's first Opening Day start, and he has a pretty tall task, taking on a Yankees lineup that could set an MLB record this year for home runs in a season. His 2018 numbers are pretty poor. He did manage a 2.56 ERA (4.28 FIP, 4.20 xFIP) in the second half, but still had a very mediocre strikeout rate (16.2 percent) over that stretch.

The Blue Jays named Stroman as their starter for the regular-season opener March 28 versus the Tigers, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.

Stroman, who is scheduled to make his fourth start of the spring Wednesday against the Orioles, has looked sharp thus far during Grapefruit League play, holding opposing hitters to a .143 average through eight innings. Perhaps more so than his strong numbers this spring, Stroman's improved health is probably the most positive development for his fantasy outlook coming off a 2018 campaign that was sullied by injury. Stroman was limited to just 19 starts last season and saw his performance suffer while he battled shoulder fatigue and a blister on his pitching hand, but he could be a bounce-back candidate after enjoying a relatively normal offseason and experiencing no setbacks since reporting to camp.