MLB Player News

Ashby (undisclosed) was forced to exit his outing early against the Reds on Monday, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Ashby pitched one scoreless inning, while walking two batters versus Cincinnati before leaving the game. He reportedly dealing with command issues when he was on the mound ahead the second inning. More information on Ashby's status will likely come in the near future.

Skubal breezed through three scoreless innings in Monday's Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays. He allowed one hit and struck out three.

Through five innings this spring, Skubal has allowed only two singles and no walks to go along with four strikeouts. The lefty ace looks ready for the regular season, and he'll start the Tigers' Opening Day game March 27 against the Dodgers to kick things off. Skubal was the unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner in 2024 and should be one of the top pitchers in fantasy in 2025.

With Andrew Chafin joining the Tigers on a minor-league deal last month, Hurter's roster spot could be in jeopardy coming out of camp, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reports.

The lefty Hurter pitched well last year during his MLB debut, compiling a 2.58 ERA and 0.88 WHIP across 45.1 regular-season innings. However, the 34-year-old Chafin has a lot more MLB experience, which could lead the Tigers to choose him as a southpaw for their bullpen to complement the likes of Tyler Holton and Sean Guenther. Hurter still probably has a leg up in the competition, though he'd likely feel more secure if he strung together some strong outings to wrap up the spring slate.

The Blue Jays optioned Macko (knee) to Triple-A Buffalo on Monday, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Macko will get a late start to the minor-league season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery last month to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee. He's without a clear timeline to make his 2025 debut, but if Macko ends up being sidelined at least two months into the season, Toronto could recall him from Triple-A and place him on their 60-day injured list to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for another player.

The Pirates placed Oviedo (elbow) on the 60-day injured list due to a right lat strain.

Oviedo missed the entire 2024 season while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, but he appeared to be progressing smoothly in his recovery this spring before he suffered the lat strain during his most recent live batting practice session, manager Derek Shelton told Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The lat strain prompted the Pirates to send Oviedo to the 60-day IL, which makes him ineligible for activation until late May. Oviedo's removal from the 40-man roster frees a spot for waiver pickup Justin Lawrence.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday that Gil has been diagnosed with a high-grade right lat strain and will not throw for at least six weeks, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Gil will basically be starting from scratch once he's ready to be built back up, so this is going to be a lengthy absence which seems likely to keep the right-hander sidelined for at least the first couple months of the season. Marcus Stroman is the obvious candidate to take Gil's spot in the Yankees' rotation, but Will Warren has impressed during spring training and also appears to be in the mix.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Monday that deGrom will begin the season at "the back end" of the rotation, Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News reports.

He's expected to make his first regular season start either March 30 versus the Cubs or March 31 against the Reds. DeGrom is considered healthy, but the Rangers are simply allowing the two-time Cy Young Award winner ample time to build up after he missed most of the last two seasons while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. The 36-year-old will make his Cactus League debut Friday against the Rockies and will be built up to five innings by his final spring outing.

Blackburn gave up four runs (three earned) on three hits and two walks over 1.1 innings in Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox. He failed to strike out a batter.

After tossing a scoreless inning in his spring debut last week, Blackburn ran into trouble against a Boston lineup that featured most of its likely Opening Day starters. The 31-year-old right-hander is competing in camp for a spot at the back of the Mets' injury-plagued rotation, but Blackburn will need better performances than this to climb over Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning on the depth chart.

Scherzer struck out four without walking a batter over 3.2 innings in Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Phillies.

The right-hander gave up a solo homer to Kody Clemens in the second inning, but it was the only baserunner Scherzer allowed. The 40-year-old has had a dominant start to camp, posting an 8:0 K:BB through 5.2 innings in two starts, and he seems intent on proving he still has something left in the tank after he was able to work only 43.1 innings for the Rangers in 2024 due to multiple injuries.

The Brewers agreed to terms on a one-year, $4 million contract with Quintana on Monday, Robert Murray of FanSided.com reports.

Quintana was left dangling on the free-agent market into March but has finally found a new club. The deal is worth $4-5 million, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com, with more possible in incentives. It's not clear whether the veteran left-hander will have enough time to ramp up for Opening Day, but once he's ready Quintana will join the Brewers' rotation. The 36-year-old made 31 regular-season starts for the Mets last season, collecting a 3.75 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 135:63 K:BB over 170.1 innings.