Worldwide Sports News

Today’s roster moves: Here

The Cubs are interested in Lucas Giolito, per The Athletic.

Tuesday notes…

• DOUBLE DIGITS THE WRONG WAY: Last night’s game was the Cubs’ 106th since 2016 in which they allowed double-digit runs. They played another game after 102 of the previous ones. They won 53 and lost 49, including 1-0 this year, 7-4 last year and 5-4 in 2024. They allowed an average of 4.34 runs in all 102 subsequent games, including five shutouts and 20 games with one run. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• DANSBY, HEATING UP: Dansby Swanson, last three games: 3-for-9 (.333) with two home runs, four walks and six runs scored.
• KEEPING POSITIVE: The Cubs’ five-run eighth Monday kept their run differential in positive territory at +4, despite their 7-9 record.
• YOU GO, MO BALLER: Moisés Ballesteros, last six games since April 7: .563/.556/1.000 (9-for-16) with a double, two home runs, five RBI and five runs scored. (The BA/OBP difference is a mathematical oddity due to having one walk and one sacrifice fly.)

Cubs lineup:

Phillies lineup:

Riley Martin, LHP vs. Aaron Nola, RHP

Riley Martin, clearly, is an opener tonight, starting so he can face Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, Phillies left-handed batters who will come to the plate in the first inning.

Martin started one game at Triple-A Iowa this year and allowed one run in three innings. He’s never faced the Phillies, obviously, and perhaps he can stop Schwarber and Harper, and then give way, most likely, to Colin Rea, the originally scheduled starter for this game.

Rea stepped in admirably for Matthew Boyd when Boyd hit the injured list — just as he subbed capably for Justin Steele last year. He threw five two-hit innings against the Rays last Wednesday.

Last year, Rea made two starts against the Phillies. One was pretty good, the other not so much. J.T. Realmuto is 5-for-11 with a home run vs. Rea, and Kyle Schwarber has also homered off him.

Aaron Nola is off to a good start this year, with all three of his starts at least decent.

Last year he missed a whole bunch of time due to injuries, but before that he threw seven one-run innings against the Cubs April 27, 2025 at Wrigley Field.

Michael Conforto has homered twice off Nola — but is 10-for-53 overall with 19 strikeouts. Similar for Dansby Swanson: three homers off Nola, but overall 15-for-66 (.227) with 13 strikeouts.

Here is the weather forecast for Philadelphia.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also on TBS (outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue. If you do go there to interact with Mets fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

A brand new day for another game of baseball. This time, the Atlanta Braves are looking to bounce back from an embarrassing low-run loss in yesterday’s matchup. The rosters have been released.

No changes to today’s lineup, as it’s an exact reflection of yesterday.

You know what this could tell us? The same roster is set for their version of redemption, and chalk yesterday up to an unlucky opener. Reynaldo López will be taking the mound in his return, and if he can keep his steady streak (pre-brawl versus the Angels last week), the defense will be taken care of.

Maximizing runs on the board and applying offensive pressure will be what this competition comes down to. And if they can take advantage of Marlins’ Max Meyer’s weaknesses on the road, they just might accomplish that. When the Braves faced him on the road before, the on-base percentage was pretty high. Let’s see if they can extend that.

The Marlins are also keeping most of their lineup the same, with only one change near the bottom of the order.

Javier Sanoja will be taking over left field in today’s matchup, but the remainder of the roster is staying the same, in hopes of having a repeat of game one.

And get this, no one on the roster has faced López, so we’re in for a treat.

7:15 p.m. EDT is where it all happens tonight. We’ll check in with you after to discuss the results.

Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz has returned to his post, but did not emerge totally unscathed after taking a line drive off his face during a ballgame.

Albernaz told reporters Tuesday, April 14 that he suffered a broken jaw and at least seven facial fractures when a foul ball off Jeremiah Jackson's bat, clocked at 70.6 mph, struck him in the face during the fifth inning the night before.

The first-year manager was quickly shuttled down the tunnel and into the clubhouse by coaches and ballplayers, but he returned to the dugout a little less than an hour later. Perhaps unrelatedly, the Orioles stormed back from a six-run deficit as Jackson hit a grand slam and solo home run to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-7.

Albernaz did not meet with the news media after the game, farming out those duties to bench coach Donnie Ecker, but he was back for his usual afternoon briefing, and just like his first press conference as manager, evoked the name of his 2-year-old daughter.

Craig Albernaz has a broken jaw & 7 fractures in his cheek/orbital area after he was hit by a foul line drive in the face last night.

Albernaz is in good spirits & was joking through his pregame media.

Here’s a look at the damage, with a scrape on his cheek and a black eye. pic.twitter.com/tvcyo8NuMk

— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) April 14, 2026

"Gigi," Albernaz said after telling reporters he'd be on a diet of soft foods for several weeks, "has a better diet than I do."

The Massachusetts native has a scar on his cheek and a semblance of a shiner on his right eye, but is no worse for wear. Nor are the Orioles - they've now won six of seven games to improve to 9-7 and share the AL East lead with the New York Yankees.

The Cubs are loading up on left-handers as they play the Phillies the next two days — and then four times next week at Wrigley Field:

You all know about Luke Little. Throws hard, but often does not know where the ball is going. In 35.1 MLB innings over the last three years, Little has a 2.80 ERA — which is good! He’s struck out 44 batters in those innings, which is also good! He’s also walked 28 batters in those innings, which is… not good. If Little could ever harness command and control, he could be a useful MLB reliever. So far this year at Triple-A Iowa, Little has walked 10 batters (and struck out nine) in 7.2 innings, so… not yet, anyway.

Ryan Rolison, as noted, pitched for the Rockies last year. He was their first-round pick (22nd overall) in 2018 out of the University of Mississippi. Last year Rolison posted a 7.02 ERA and 1.772 WHIP in 42.1 innings. The Cubs claimed him on waivers in January. At Iowa this year, Rolison has a 3.68 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 7.1 innings over five appearances.

Here are the moves to make room for Little and Rolison:

Charlie Barnes was called up to the Cubs over the weekend and threw the last three innings of Monday’s loss to the Phillies. I assume he’ll be on the Iowa Shuttle his year.

Ethan Roberts, who has a 0.00 ERA in three games (2.2 innings) with the Cubs this year. Hopefully this injury is nothing serious. He seems like he could also be a useful Iowa Shuttle piece.

This gives the Cubs four left-handers in the pen as they face the lefty-heavy Phillies for six more games over the next week. In addition to Little and Rolison, Hoby Milner and Caleb Thielbar round out the southpaw relief crew. The Mets, who visit Wrigley Field this weekend, are a more right-handed hitting team, though they do have a couple of switch-hitters in Francisco Lindor and Jorge Polanco.

As always, we await developments. Today’s game preview will post at 3:30 p.m. CT.

The pitching wasn’t pretty, but the Yankees survived an 11-10 slugfest with the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in the opener of their four-game set. They did, however, decide that they needed relief reinforcements before they played another game.

Immediately after the marathon on Monday, the Yanks demoted right-handed pitcher Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Initially acquired from the Colorado Rockies before the 2025 Trade Deadline with the hopes that his ERA wasn’t indicative of the stuff he could provide, Bird unfortunately has yet to take flight.

Bird was quickly demoted last year following three bad games, and though he made the Opening Day roster, 2026 hasn’t gone much better. Memories of a few solid outings in San Francisco and Seattle were quickly tarnished in a blown loss to the Marlins on April 5th where he failed to record an out and allowed three runs. He was then a bit shaky against the A’s and Rays before getting roughed up by the Angels—particularly Mike Trout. In seven innings on the season, he has a 7.71 ERA, and blowing multiple leads in last night’s game appeared to be the last straw.

In his place, the Yankees called up another bullpen contender from spring training: Yerry De los Santos. The righty pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2022-23 and has spent the last few seasons as a Yankees Triple-A depth option, primarily sticking in Scranton. Last season though, De los Santos did make it into 25 games for the Bombers and did yeoman’s work as a middle reliever, racking up 35.2 innings across 25 games and separate call-ups between April 27th through August 25th. De los Santos notched 28 strikeouts, a 3.38 ERA (81 ERA-), and a 3.44 FIP (coincidentally, an 81 FIP-).

The Yankees elected to go with Bird and Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest as the last men in their 2026 bullpen on Opening Day, but with Winquest returned to the Cardinals upon Luis Gil’s activation and Bird demoted, an opening was there for De los Santos. The 28-year-old did his part to make a case for it, as in 9.1 innings early on for the RailRiders, he’d allowed just two runs on six hits, fanning 13 with a 1.93 ERA and 0.964 WHIP. The Yankees preferred to select someone already on the larger 40-man roster, and De los Santos got the nod over Angel Chivilli and Kervin Castro. The offseason trade pickup Chivilli had actually pitched a little better, but he is seen as someone who is more of a post-Rockies project like Bird, so it’s understandable to take the safer pick in De los Santos.

The Yankees’ bullpen to this point has been a bit of a concern, and De los Santos—while only having pitched in limited innings for the club to this point—has been a decent option to turn to when things get tight for Aaron Boone and his staff. The best-case, of course, is that the Yankees get into a blowout victory situation and De los Santos can soak up some innings for his 2026 debut. Regardless, he’ll be ready and waiting.

When the Nats traded MacKenzie Gore, the piece people talked about the most was Gavin Fien. It makes sense, Fien was the 12th pick in the 2025 draft and has been a famous name for a while. However, I think there is a solid chance that Devin Fitz-Gerald ends up being the real prize of the return.

The early signs are sure pointing in that direction. Fien struggled in his first four games in Low-A, and then missed the last week for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, Fitz-Gerald has taken to High-A like a duck to water as a 20 year old with limited professional experience. 

It is way too early to make any real declarations, and I am not giving up any of my Gavin Fien stock after just four rough games. For Fitz-Gerald though, he seems like he is on the road to being a top 100 prospect. After the graduation of Astros prospect Brice Matthews, Fitz-Gerald is now one of the top 10 second base prospects in all of baseball.

I anticipate that his stock will continue to rise, and there is a chance he will become a top 100 prospect. It was a slight surprise to see Fitz-Gerald assigned to High-A Wilmington. He only played 41 games last year in his first pro season, which was cut short by injuries. Fitz-Gerald spent 31 of those games in rookie ball and just 10 in Low-A. 

Despite only playing 10 Low-A games, the Nationals were comfortable assigning him to High-A Wilmington, which is not only a level higher, but also a ball park that is notoriously tough on hitters. The Nats stockpile of young infield talent forced their hand a bit, but the fact they were comfortable sending Fitz-Gerald to High-A shows their confidence level in him.

So far, their faith is being rewarded. Through his first 30 at bats, Fitz-Gerald is hitting .333 with a .944 OPS. He also has five walks to just five strikeouts. The switch hitting infielder is showing his advanced hitting chops despite being assigned to a tough level.

Fitz-Gerald has a nice combination of pure hitting ability and power. In high school, Fitz-Gerald was seen as a contact first player, but showed surprising pull side power in his pro debut. We saw that pull side power on display when he hit his first High-A home run last week against Yankees prospect and former Nats farm hand Sean Paul Linan.

That home run was a real thing of beauty. His left handed set up and toe tap kind of remind me of Tigers young phenom Kevin McGonigle. Fitz-Gerald has some similarities to McGonigle with his advanced hitting ability and surprising power. However, the 20 year old has a long way to go if he wants to reach McGonigle’s level.

When you watch Fitz-Gerald play, you can tell he is a gamer who has been around baseball his whole life. His dad Todd is one of the most prominent high school baseball coaches in Florida. He coaches at Stoneman Douglas High School, which has produced players such as Roman Anthony, Jesus Luzardo, Anthony Rizzo and Coby Mayo. Fitz-Gerald hopes to be the next great product of his dad’s program.

There was a podcast recently that had Todd Fitz-Gerald on, which I really enjoyed. They talked about Devin’s development among other things. Todd was not worried about his son’s aggressive assignment because of his confidence in his hitting ability.

That is not just a father hyping up his son, it is just true. Wherever Devin Fitz-Gerald has been, he has hit. None of the concerns about him as a player come from his hitting ability. The questions about Fitz-Gerald come from his average athleticism and defensive home.

Fitz-Gerald played shortstop in high school and with the Rangers, but he is likely to settle in as a second baseman. He is not the twitchiest player, but he has great instincts and enough athleticism to be a good second baseman. In the past, Fitz-Gerald’s power upside was questioned, but those doubts have been answered for the most part. He now projects to be at least a 15 homer bat with the potential for more due to his ability to pull the ball in the air.

Of all the prospects in the Nats system, Devin Fitz-Gerald has one of the fewest question marks. He may not have the athletic upside of some other players in the system, but man can he hit. Fitz-Gerald also gets the most out of his tools due to his baseball IQ.

He has average speed, but already has 7 stolen bases thanks to his great instincts. There could be 15 SB upside here even without great speed due to his ability to make good reads. This is truly your prototypical coaches kid and I think he is the hidden gem of the MacKenzie Gore return. If he is the best player of the five guys the Nats got back from the Rangers, I would not be at all surprised.

The Cincinnati Reds are wasting zero time instituting their outfield (and offensive) shakeup, as Rece Hinds will start Tuesday evening’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants in RF. Hinds, 25, was recalled after Noelvi Marte was optioned to AAA following a horrid start to his 2026 season, and the Reds will hope the improved plate approach Hinds has shown for the better part of the last 13 months with the Bats will now translate at the big league level.

Rece will hit 6th tonight as the Reds stack their lineup with right-handed hitters as the Giants will send left-hander Robbie Ray to the mound for the start. As was mentioned yesterday, Hinds actually has hit right-handed pitching better than southpaws down at AAA for a while now, but the assumption is that he’ll still have a better shot at turning one around than left-handed outfield options Will Benson and, for now, TJ Friedl.

Friedl will start this one on the pine as righty Dane Myers covers CF and leads off.

On the mound for the Reds tonight will be Brady Singer, and there’s a great hope that his blister issues are far enough in the past that he’ll finally be able to put together a more vintage Singer outing. In his trio of outings so far this year his average fastball velocity is down to just 90.3 mph after sitting at 91.5 mph last year (and 92.5 as recently as 2023), and he’s leaning on his sinker usage almost 13% more than he did a year ago. The assumption has been that the blister (or the threat of it coming back) have hampered him a bit from letting it rip 100% the way he’d like, so hopefully that changes for the better beginning tonight.

First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET, and this one will be on Reds.tv/MLB.tv per usual.

Here’s how the Reds will line up for this one: