MLB Player News

Rodon won't start Tuesday against the Padres and isn't expected to pitch in Wednesday's season finale, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Manager Gabe Kapler indicated Monday the left-hander may not make his final turn through the rotation, and Alex Cobb has now been announced as the starter for the penultimate game of the season. Rodon threw a career-high 178 frames in 2022 and had a 2.88 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 237:52 K:BB with a 14-8 record. He joined the Giants on a two-year, $44 million deal in March but can opt out of the contract since he exceeded 110 innings, so he's likely headed back to the open market this offseason.

Contreras was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday.

After allowing multiple runs in each of his last three starts, Contreras will finish the 2022 season in the minors. He put up a 3.79 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in the majors this season and will likely be back on the major-league roster to start 2023. JT Brubaker (arm) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list in a corresponding move.

Brubaker (arm) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list ahead of his start against the Cardinals on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was previously confirmed as the starter for Tuesday's contest and has now officially been activated from the injured list. Brubaker spent the past couple weeks on the shelf with right arm inflammation and could face some workload limitations given he hasn't seen game action since his last big-league start Sept. 15.

Alexander was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

With Matt Bush (illness) heading to the injured list, Alexander will rejoin the Brewers' bullpen for the final two games of the season. Alexander has allowed at least three earned runs in four of his last five appearances, his last coming Sept. 18 against the Yankees, when he allowed three earned runs over 3.2 innings.

Strasburg's (ribs) status for 2023 is a "mystery," according to general manager Mike Rizzo, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.

Strasburg has been focusing on strengthening his shoulder since being diagnosed with a stress reaction of his ribs, a side effect of the issue that led to thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in July 2021. Even the team is feigning optimism here, but admitting the obvious, that it's unclear what to expect from Strasburg going forward. He has logged 31.1 innings since the start of the 2020 season.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said that Flaherty is likely to throw roughly 45 pitches in a relief appearance Tuesday against the Pirates, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

Since Flaherty's most recent start came Friday, he would have lined up to start Wednesday's regular-season finale on his typical four days' rest, but the Cardinals prefer to use him Tuesday to give him some additional time off before St. Louis begins its wild-card series this weekend. Even though he'll be pitching in relief Tuesday for just the fourth time in his career, Flaherty may still be in good position to come away with a win for fantasy managers. Dakota Hudson is scheduled to start but isn't expected to work deep into the contest, which could put Flaherty in line to appear in the critical middle innings when the outcome of the game is more likely to be decided. After Tuesday's outing, Flaherty would likely be in line to start either Game 2 or 3 of the wild-card round.

Luzardo (4-7) picked up the win in Monday's 4-0 victory over Atlanta, scattering four hits and a walk over six scoreless innings while striking out 12.

The southpaw kept Atlanta from clinching another NL East title with one of his best performances of the year. Luzardo tied his career high in strikeouts -- generating a massive 20 swinging strikes among his 101 pitches -- while delivering his fourth straight quality start and his 11th in 18 outings. The 25-year-old ends a breakout campaign with a 3.32 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 120:35 K:BB through 100.1 innings, and the next step for Luzardo if he wants to become a true ace in 2023 is finding a way to stay off the IL.

Elder (2-4) took the loss Monday, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk over five innings as Atlanta fell 4-0 to the Marlins. He struck out five.

The rookie right-hander wasn't able to take advantage of a soft matchup, getting tagged for a pair of runs in the first and third innings while getting no run support. Elder fired 67 of 98 pitches for strikes, and he still sports an impressive 1.75 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 23:6 K:BB through 25.2 innings in September, although all four of his starts have come against the Marlins or Nationals -- not exactly playoff-caliber competition.

Gonsolin (forearm) tossed two innings against Colorado on Monday, allowing one run on three hits and no walks while striking out three batters in a no-decision.

Gonsolin missed over a month while dealing with a right forearm strain, so his start Monday was intentionally brief. The right-hander threw 40 pitches (24 for strikes) and did well by striking out three batters, though a trio of Rockies hits in the second inning resulted in a run against him. Gonsolin finished the regular season with a standout 2.14 ERA and 0.87 WHIP over 130.1 innings, but the time missed due to injury means he won't qualify to be among the league leaders in those categories. Gonsolin will next throw a simulated game Sunday, and if that goes well, he's expected to be placed on the NLDS roster as a potential starter in Game 3 or 4, per Michael J. Duarte of NBC LA.

Urena did not factor in the decision against the Dodgers on Monday, allowing one run on five hits and no walks while striking out four batters over six innings.

The Dodgers have wrapped up MLB's best regular-season record, but that didn't intimidate Urena as he logged one of his best starts of the campaign. The right-hander gave up only one run (on a Trayce Thompson solo homer) and didn't walk any batters for just the second time this season. It was the culmination of a nice late-season turnaround for Urena, who had a 6.13 ERA after a poor start Sept. 4 but has since lowered that to 5.01 by giving up just seven earned runs over 28 innings across his subsequent five starts.