MLB Player News

O'Malley was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday, Shannon Drayer of 710 AM ESPN Seattle reports.

O'Malley came up short in his efforts to win a spot as a super-utility man out of spring training, despite batting an impressive .471 and stealing five bases over 41 plate appearances in Cactus League play. It may take an injury to one of the Mariners' infielders before O'Malley gets called up to the big club.

O'Malley, who was competing for a utility job, was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday, the Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports.

Luis Sardinas is the favorite to win the utility spot. O'Malley can play outfield, third base and second base, but he was weaker at shortstop, which the Mariners prioritized. He had a good spring, with 16 hits in 34 at-bats, six walks and four strikeouts. He'll likely be called up sometime this season when injuries hit.

Bogaerts cracked a homer in Thursday's game against the Mets. He went 2-for-3 with the homer and two RBI.

Bogaerts had a nice breakout season in 2015, but with just seven homers, the power has been the last thing to develop. It's not a knock on his game, but after hitting 12 homers in 2014, we were expecting more. The Red Sox are preaching patience with the 22-year-old shortstop, who improved his batting average 80 points between 2014 and 2015 at the expense of the long ball. At some point, we hope to see both elements of offense -- a .300 hitter with 15-20 homer potential at a premium position.

The White Sox reassigned Anderson to minor league camp Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reports.

This shan't be the last we hear from Anderson this season. Although he should start the year in the high-minors, he should press for the team's starting shortstop gig early in the summer (assuming the Jimmy Rollins/Tyler Saladino combo does not impress).

Ciriaco has played his way into the utility infielder competition with a 1.036 OPS through 42 at-bats.

Ciriaco is competing with Hanser Alberto, with Alberto having an advantage of a spot on the 40-man roster, but Texas may ultimately elect to have Alberto play every day at Triple-A Round Rock and have the veteran Ciriaco remain in the majors. Neither player is expected to have a large role once the season begins.

Diaz was reassigned to minor league camp Saturday.

His opportunities were limited this spring, and Diaz will likely spend most of the season as depth at Triple-A again this year barring injury to several middle infielders ahead of him on the organizational depth chart. Diaz has hit .232/.346/.302 in parts of seven seasons at the Triple-A level.

Sardinas is hitting .406 with four doubles, one triple, one home run, 10 RBI, and two walks in 32 at-bats this spring.

Calf tightness cost him one game last week, but he's now rattled off six straight starts, knocking three extra-base hits over that stretch. A trade acquisition from Milwaukee in the offseason, Sardinas appears in line to open 2016 as the top backup at both middle-infield positions.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said Bogaerts will go back to third in the batting order for the time being, the Boston Herald reports.

Farrell experimented with Bogaerts batting cleanup for a stretch of games this week, but switched him back to the three-hole Friday. "Chance to get Bogey back in the 3-hole, where maybe he's more comfortable because of the number of at-bats in that spot last year," Farrell said. "We took an opportunity to take a look at (Bogaerts in the 4-hole), but for the time being, he'll be back in the 3-hole."

Mondesi started at shortstop and went 1-for-2 in a split squad spring game Friday. He's hitting .360 (9-for-25) this spring.

Mondesi will begin the season in the minors as there's been little talk of him staying with the big league team. He'll likely begin the season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and could advance rapidly.

Bogaerts found himself batting cleanup Wednesday for the fourth time this week, CSN New England reports.

Manager John Farrell is toying with the lineup and hinted that it might be something he employs during the regular season. The manager's motivation is two-fold: he'd like to move David Ortiz up to third in order to ensure a first-inning at-bat; and he wants to break up the run of righties at the top of the order with Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia and Bogaerts. The shortstop doesn't carry the power of a traditional cleanup hitter, but he's developed into a good hitter that can protect Ortiz and possibly get himself a few more RBI opportunities.