MLB Player News

Graves (oblique) was placed on the 60-day disabled list Thursday, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.

Graves made just three appearances this spring before suffering an oblique strain in Grapefruit League play. The Rule 5 pick will now move to the 60-day DL, which opens up a 40-man roster spot yet still allows the Marlins to retain his rights. Graves will eventually need to make an appearance in the majors this season, or the club would need to return him to Oakland.

Flaherty (0-2) compiled four strikeouts and allowed an earned run on one hit over 2.2 innings in Tuesday's 1-0 exhibition loss to the Blue Jays.

Flaherty is slated open the season as the No. 5 starter with Adam Wainwright sidelined due to a hamstring injury. The 22-year-old right-hander offers plenty of upside, but the actual results at the big-league level have yet to catch up with his potential. Flaherty generated a 6.33 ERA over 21.2 innings with the Cardinals in 2017 and followed that up with a 4.60 ERA over 15.2 innings this spring (four home runs allowed).

Mikolas racked up six strikeouts and allowed just one hit over three scoreless innings in Tuesday's 1-0 exhibition loss to the Blue Jays.

Mikolas took over after starter Luke Weaver opened the game and worked a trio of frames, and he utilized the opportunity to put an exclamation point on a spring that only got better as it unfolded. The veteran right-hander turned in scoreless efforts in three of his last four appearances, compiling 16 strikeouts over that span. Mikolas has credited his time in Japan, where he essentially resurrected his career with a 31-13 record over his last three seasons, with helping him refine all aspects of his game, Sean Farrell of MLB.com reports. "Just putting in the work and really being kind of isolated over there allowed me to just really focus on my craft and work on a lot of things with my pitching," Mikolas said. "My breaking balls, my timing, my delivery, just a lot of time to get comfortable as a starter, and I think that's begun to translate pretty well over here."

Hill will begin the 2018 campaign as the Dodgers' fourth starter, toeing the mound at home against the Giants on Sunday.

While Hill's 3.32 ERA in 2017 would suggest he is the Dodgers' third best pitcher, manager Dave Roberts likely wanted to slot his only right-handed starter, Kenta Maeda, smack dab between all four of his southpaws. The 38-year-old took a step back in production from his shocking breakout in 2016, but he still maintained his ability to miss bats at a high clip (11.0 K/9) without suffering a huge dip in control (3.3 BB/9). The main culprit of the jump in ERA from 2.12 to 3.32 was a 1.2 HR/9, his worst mark since his time with the Cubs in the early 2000s when he was a fantasy afterthought. Hill dealt with lingering blister issues, which may have factored in to the slight regression, but the numbers he posted over 135.2 innings last year were good enough to warrant consideration in most formats.

Wood will make his regular season debut on Friday against the Giants.

The 2017 breakout arm posted a pedestrian 3.63 ERA over his five tuneup starts this spring, but he finished with 4.67 ERA last spring before going on to dominate to the tune of a 2.72 ERA during the regular season. It just goes to show how insignificant exhibition results can be for players with secure roles heading into the year. While Wood's strong performance may have surprised some, none of the lefty's underlying ratios suggest that his improvements were of a fluky nature, as his 8.9 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, 78.8 percent strand rate and 3.36 FIP were all at or near his career norms. Even if he were to "regress" to a low-3.00s ERA, Wood should still provide significant fantasy value.

Kershaw will take the mound for the Dodgers' home opener against the Giants on Thursday.

The dominant southpaw enters the 2018 campaign in midseason form after holding all six of his spring training opponents scoreless over 21.1 innings. More importantly, Kershaw begins the year with a clean bill of health after a back issue cost him a handful starts last season. As long as he stays on the field, there is little reason to think that the perennial Cy Young candidate can't retain his status as the top pitcher in all of baseball.

Rea (lat) was placed on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday. The move is retroactive to March 26.

Rea has been dealing with a strained right lat since the beginning of March and only recently resumed throwing. The 27-year-old remains without a timetable for his return, but he'll essentially have to go through an individual spring training all over again to build up to a starter's workload, which could end up taking more than a month. Rea missed all of 2017 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, so the Padres will likely give him ample time to get back up to speed.

Hendricks is slated to start the Cubs' second game of the regular season Friday in Miami.

Hendricks looked locked in this spring, finishing with a 2.37 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 19 innings. The jump in strikeouts was a nice development for a player with a career K/9 of 8.1, though small sample size caveats have to be applied. The smart money says that Hendricks will see his strikeout rate come down closer to his career mark, but he still figures to be a very strong fantasy pitcher who delivers above-average production in wins, ERA and WHIP.

Wainwright (hamstring) has been placed on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26.

Wainwright is still working his way back from a hamstring strain that he suffered over the weekend. It's unclear when the veteran will be ready to rejoin the Cardinals, but a more concrete return date should emerge as he continues to progress through his rehab. In the meantime, Jack Flaherty will occupy Wainwright's spot in the starting rotation.

Mahle will be pushed back a day in the Reds' pitching schedule after the team's Opening Day game Thursday against the Nationals was rained out, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic Cincinnati reports. The right-hander is now slated to make his first start Monday against the Cubs.

The rotation adjustment doesn't really move the needle for Mahle, who will miss out on a tough home matchup Sunday against a stacked Nationals lineup and instead face an equally strong Cubs lineup in Cincinnati. Mahle earned his way into the Opening Day rotation with a strong showing in the Cactus League, though he ended the spring with a clunker Monday, serving up six runs on 10 hits during a four-inning outing against the Rangers in Texas.