MLB Player News

Williams has made his last two appearances for the Mets out of the bullpen, working 1.1 scoreless innings across back-to-back outings Sept. 13 and 14 against the Cardinals.

Williams made spot starts Aug. 31 and Sept. 6 when a heavy slate of games briefly forced the Mets to expand to a six-man rotation, but the team's lighter schedule of late has allowed the right-hander to shift back to a relief role. He'll continue to see most of his work in low-leverage or mop-up spots while he sticks in the bullpen, but he should be in store for one more spot start during the final week of the regular season. The Mets will have a doubleheader on tap Sept. 28 versus Miami to finish the campaign with a stretch of seven games in six days.

The Padres don't expect Snell (groin) to pitch again in a game setting until the postseason should San Diego secure a wild-card spot, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The second-place finisher in the National League West -- the Giants or Dodgers -- has already locked up the first wild-card spot, while less than three games separate the Cardinals, Phillies, Padres and Reds for the second and final postseason berth. Even though the Padres are still in contention, the decimated state of the pitching staff coupled with the team's sluggish offense in recent weeks have seemingly left San Diego limping to the finish line. With that in mind, Snell appears more likely than not to be done for 2021, as he has yet to resume throwing since sustaining the left adductor strain during his Sept. 12 start. If the Padres are on the brink of elimination during the final week of the regular season, there's a high likelihood the team won't entertain having Snell ramp up and could instead hand him ample recovery time to overcome the injury. Snell has largely failed to meet expectations during his first season in San Diego, but before going down with the injury, he had usurped Yu Darvish as the team's clear No. 1 starter since the beginning of August. Over his last eight starts, Snell has turned in a 1.83 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and a 65:14 K:BB across 44.1 innings.

Paddack (elbow) played catch from 75 feet Saturday, but multiple sources familiar with his health situation don't expect him to pitch again in the regular season, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Heading into Sunday's action, the Padres sat 2.5 games behind the Cardinals for the National League's second wild-card spot, and San Diego's shrinking playoff odds increases the likelihood that neither Paddack nor Blake Snell (groin) will be rushed back from their respective injuries. Given that he's at least throwing again, Paddack would seemingly have a better chance of the two to make it back from the injured list, but he presumably won't have sufficient time to build up for a traditional starting role. In a best-case scenario, the Padres believe Paddack could pitch at some point during next weekend's series with Atlanta, but he would face a workload restriction in any starter or bulk-relief role.

Cueto (elbow) could be cleared to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Sacramento later this week, Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com reports.

The Giants plan to have Cueto complete a bullpen session Monday before determining his next step, but the right-hander seems to be making good progress in his recovery from a strained elbow. Though he landed on the injured list Sept. 1 with the elbow issue, Cueto looks like he'll be ready to slot back into the San Francisco rotation during the final week of the regular season.

Flaherty (shoulder) will throw another bullpen session Tuesday, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

It will be the righty's third bullpen since beginning his throwing program, so a progression to facing live hitters seems likely if he avoids any setbacks. Flaherty has little chance of returning in his normal starting role this regular season, but his availability in any capacity could be huge for the Cardinals as they battle for the second wild-card spot.

Burnes didn't factor into the decision Saturday against the Cubs after allowing three runs on six hits and three walks while fanning 11 across six innings.

Burnes delivered a second straight quality start, and he looked absolutely filthy once again -- he has 25 strikeouts and just four walks over his previous two appearances. The right-hander has also posted six quality starts over eight outings since the beginning of August, delivering a 2.08 ERA with a 11.9 K/9 across 52 innings in that span.

Steele allowed two runs on on two hits across four innings and did not factor into the decision Saturday against the Brewers. He walked four and struck out four.

Steele was good at limiting hits and missing bats, but the four walks are concerning, and he also allowed two home runs. The lefty continued his trend of short outings, as he hasn't gone past five innings in any of his seven starts, and this was the second time he logged exactly four frames. Steele has shown some promise, though the inability to go deeper into games caps his fantasy value. He's projected to start again Friday against the Cardinals.

Nola (8-8) allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk while striking out nine across 5.2 innings, earning the win over the Mets on Saturday.

Nola surrendered a triple to Brandon Nimmo in the sixth inning that led to his only run allowed. He has 25 strikeouts over his last 16 innings. The 28-year-old has a 4.48 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with 211 punchouts in 168.2 innings this season. His next start is scheduled for Thursday against the Pirates.

Wainwright allowed two earned runs on seven hits while striking out two across six innings in the win over the Padres on Saturday. He did not factor into the decision.

Wainwright broke his streak of five straight wins, but he still managed his 11th quality start in his last 12 outings. In that stretch, he has an impressive 1.82 ERA in 84.2 innings dating back to July 21. On the season, the 39-year-old has a 2.89 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with 169 strikeouts in 196.1 innings.

Darvish fired seven scoreless innings on three hits and one walk while striking out nine in the loss to the Cardinals on Saturday. He did not factor into the decision.

Despite Darvish firing seven shutout innings, the Padres couldn't come up with the win. He surrendered just one extra-base hit, which was a Matt Carpenter double. It was a great bounce-back performance off of his last start, where he gave up eight runs over four innings. The 34-year-old has a 4.13 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with a 10.7 K/9 over 157 innings this season.