MLB Player News

Baez (thumb) is out of the lineup Thursday against the Phillies.

Baez was scratched from Wednesday's starting nine with a sprained right thumb and will miss his second straight contest. The 28-year-old should be considered day-to-day until the Cubs indicate otherwise. Sergio Alcantara will receive another start at shortstop in his absence.

Story went 1-for-5 with a single in Wednesday's 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Story reached on an infield single in the third and would end up stealing second, but he never came around to score. The stolen base was his 16th of the year and he's on pace to set a new career-best after successfully stealing 27 times in 2018. The 28-year-old is slashing .252/.324/.445 with 11 homers, 41 RBI, 40 runs scored and a 28:67 BB:K over 309 plate appearances. Story currently is seeing a career-low in slugging percentage and BABIP which explains his lower home run tally and middle-of-the-road numbers.

Crawford went 1-for-4 with a walk and a steal in Wednesday's 5-2 win over the Cardinals.

Crawford got on for his first time of the day with a fifth-inning walk and then later singled and stole second in the seventh before the frame came to a close. The 34-year-old has racked up 13 hits over six games so far in July and is slashing .275/.355/.537 with 17 homers, 55 RBI, 46 runs scored, seven steals and a 31:64 BB:K over 290 plate appearances overall in 2021.

Adames went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in a 5-0 win over the Mets during the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader.

The shortstop took Drew Smith deep in the sixth inning. Adames continues to thrive in Milwaukee, and in 44 games since the trade from Tampa Bay, the 25-year-old is slashing .289/.369/.547 with nine of his 14 homers on the year.

Swanson went 3-for-5 with a double, a walk, an RBI, a stolen base and two runs in Wednesday's 14-3 win over the Pirates.

It was a huge afternoon for Swanson, who entered Wednesday hitting .167 with one RBI in his previous eight games. The 27-year-old has been plagued by the strikeout, fanning in 30.9 percent of his 2021 at-bats and hitting just .233. That being said, it would likely take a further drop-off in production, and an extreme one at that, for Swanson to lose his grip on the starting shortstop job.

DeJong is starting at shortstop and batting seventh Wednesday at San Francisco, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.

The 27-year-old wasn't included in the Cardinals' initial starting nine for Wednesday's series finale, but he'll join the lineup with Tyler O'Neill (illness) sitting out. DeJong is hitting .164/.274/.301 with three homers, seven RBI and six runs in 24 games since returning from the injured list in mid-June.

DeJong is out of the lineup Wednesday against the Giants, Zachary Silver of MLB.com reports.

DeJong is 4-for-22 over his past seven games and will take a seat for the second time in the past three days. Edmundo Sosa will work at shortstop for the Cardinals as DeJong continues to struggle offensively in 2021.

Baez was scratched from Wednesday's lineup against the Phillies with a sprained right thumb.

Baez hit a pair of homers Tuesday and has two hits in each of the past three games, and it's unclear when he sustained the thumb injury. He should be considered day-to-day while Sergio Alcantara receives the start at shortstop Wednesday.

Strange-Gordon signed a minor-league contract with the Pirates on Wednesday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

Strange-Gordon opted out of his deal with the Cubs on Tuesday, but he'll land another minor-league contract a day later. While the 33-year-old has been assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis for now, he could serve as an option for the major-league club in the near future with Erik Gonzalez (side) unavailable and Adam Frazier included in trade rumors. Strange-Gordon has hit .259 with two home runs, 23 runs, 11 RBI and five stolen bases across 37 Triple-A games to begin the year.

Cruz has been diagnosed with a forearm strain, Kevin Gorman of TribLive.com reports.

Cruz was placed on the 7-day minor-league injured list Tuesday after he had experienced forearm soreness recently. However, Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday that he doesn't believe the injury is particularly serious, and the right-hander could return after 2-to-3 weeks.