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Fernando Cruz has been a revelation for the Yankees’ bullpen during his first season with the team, but the right-hander has landed on the Injured List.

The 35-year-old was officially placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to May 19, with right shoulder inflammation. Cruz told reporters on Thursday morning that he received a cortisone shot and that an MRI showed no structural damage.

When asked about a timeline for Cruz to return, manager Aaron Boone said the right-hander will “hopefully get on the mound in the next few days,” but the team will obviously need to see how he feels as he progresses.

Cruz, who previously spent three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, has pitched to a 2.66 ERA over 21 appearances. Featuring a lethal splitter, Cruz has struck out 35 batters in 23.2 innings.

To take Cruz’s place on the 26-man roster, left-hander Brent Headrick has been called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Phils won't keep shifting Walker back and forth, intrigued by what they've seen in relief originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

DENVER — The regular season isn’t even two months old and the Phillies have already moved Taijuan Walker from the rotation to the bullpen back to the rotation with another shift to the bullpen looming.

The shuffling won’t continue for much longer, though. Once Aaron Nola (right ankle sprain) returns from the 15-day IL, Walker will shift to the bullpen for the duration of the season — as long as the Phillies don’t suffer any long-term injuries in the rotation.

“It’s difficult. I don’t think many guys like doing it because there’s some wear and tear there. The chance of injury goes up,” manager Rob Thomson said Wednesday of the multiple changes to Walker’s role within a short timeframe.

“I think at some point, we’ve got to decide that whenever Nola’s back, with Tai, even if we need a spot start, we come get somebody else. Just leave him right where he’s at. Keep him healthy. I’m kinda excited to see him come out of the bullpen just to see if the stuff plays up because the few times he’s come out, the one time in Tampa was unbelievable but even the second time, the first couple innings were really good. I’m excited about it.”

Walker has a 2.97 ERA in seven starts and has allowed two earned runs in six innings out of the bullpen. His first relief appearance against the Rays was spectacular — three scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for his first career save. A week later, he went three innings against the Cardinals.

In both relief outings, his fastball played up, averaging 93.7 mph compared to a season mark of 92.3.

“As a starter I’m more of a contact pitcher but I’m kinda learning new roles in the bullpen where I can let it eat and go for the strikeouts as a bullpen guy,” Walker said Wednesday night after allowing three runs over five innings to beat the Rockies.

Nola has not yet thrown off a mound since being placed on the injured list last Friday so his return is not imminent. The Phillies want to see him throw a bullpen session first and that could come this weekend in Sacramento. Nola will not need a rehab assignment if he misses only a couple of starts. It’s safe to assume Walker will have at least one more.

When Walker does shift back to the bullpen, it won’t be exclusively mop-up duty. He will be eased into the relief pecking order but could soon thereafter find himself in late-game, high-leverage situations if he performs. The loss of Jose Alvarado until late August and for all of October to a PED suspension creates more opportunities in the Phillies’ bullpen.

“I think (initially) he’d go to a one-inning stint, maybe two,” Thomson said of Walker. “I think I’d start him in a middle inning and then start working him toward the end of the game as long as he’s having success. It’s what we did with (Jeff Hoffman) when he first got here and we think it’s a pretty good plan.”

Walker, who is making $18 million per year on a contract that runs through the end of 2026, is thrilled to be contributing in multiple ways after a career-worst year. And it’s not just a feel-good story, the Phillies have needed all of his outs and innings with Ranger Suarez and Nola suffering early-season injuries.

“I feel confident, I think that’s the biggest thing is being confident in my stuff and knowing it’s playing well,” Walker said. “I can get outs in whatever role I do. The biggest thing for me is just keeping my confidence up.”

Slow down.

Previously limited to fastballs and splitters, Shohei Ohtani threw a handful of sliders and curveballs in his mid-week bullpen session, but that doesn’t mean he will be a two-way player again before the All-Star break.

Ohtani is lined up to potentially face hitters in a simulated game on Saturday in New York, but that doesn’t mean he will pitch in the upcoming four-week stretch that could determine the course of the Dodgers' season.

As encouraged as the team is with his progress and as desperate as the Dodgers are for one of their sidelined frontline starters to return, they will continue to slow play Ohtani’s return to the mound, according to a person familiar with the team’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly.

The Dodgers could use Ohtani’s arm, but they absolutely need his bat, and they don’t plan on jeopardizing his offense by exposing him to any unnecessary risks on the mound.

Read more:Back in the lineup, Teoscar Hernández provides the offense as Dodgers beat Arizona

Which is a major gamble in itself.

Every one of their next 26 games will be against teams with winning records. Of them, 23 will be against teams that would have qualified for the playoffs if the regular season ended on Wednesday, the exception being the St. Louis Cardinals, who have won 13 of their last 17 games.

Starting on Friday at Citi Field with the opening game of a three-game series against the New York Mets, the stretch of games will include seven meetings with the San Diego Padres and three with the San Francisco Giants.

The Padres were 2 ½ games behind the Dodgers in the National League West entering Thursday. The Giants were just two back.

Considering the state of their pitching staff, the Dodgers could very easily emerge from this stretch of games in second, third, or maybe even fourth place in their division.

Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell will be sidelined for another month, leaving Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the team’s only reliable starter.

Roki Sasaki is targeting a return in late June from what the team described as a shoulder impingement, but the rookie never looked entirely comfortable before he went down, so who knows what he will offer them when he comes back.

“Not sure I’ve ever seen their pitching so decimated,” an executive from a rival team said.

The loss of frontline starters is nothing new for the Dodgers, whose injury problems last year practically forced them to acquire Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline. What’s new is their lack of depth.

The returns of Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw have mitigated the problem but only so much. Along with the inconsistent Dustin May and the consistently mediocre Landon Knack, Gonsolin and Kershaw represent the rotation’s final line of defense.

In previous seasons, the Dodgers always seemed to have 10 pitchers in their organization who could beat a mid- or low-level opponent on any given day. However, the inability to keep their young pitchers healthy has cost them much of that depth. Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan and Gavin Stone underwent major surgeries last year. Michael Grove had a shoulder operation this year. Injuries have turned Bobby Miller into a pedestrian minor leaguer, but if another starter is injured, the Dodgers could be forced to call him up again.

Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts it, Dodgers finish it with walk-off win over Arizona

Dave Roberts expertly managed a depleted rotation and exhausted bullpen in the playoffs last year, and he’ll have to do it again less than two months into the regular season. He could have to punt on certain games. When his team is behind, he could have to ask his starter to pitch an extra inning or two so that he could save his high-leverage relievers for games in which they are ahead.

This isn’t to say Ohtani’s pitching comeback should be expedited. Whomever they have pitching, the Dodgers will have to score runs to win another World Series, and that starts with Othani. Before they unleash Ohtani the pitcher, they have to protect Ohtani the hitter.

Because of that, they have gambled on May pitching more games like the one he pitched on Wednesday night in a 3-1 victory over Diamondbacks. They have gambled on Kershaw figuring out how to pitch as a 37-year-old returning from multiple operations. And they have gambled on Roberts managing an injury-ravaged pitching staff.

The wagers will decide what kind of season this will be, whether this is a year in which the Dodgers will run away with the NL West or one in which they will have to fight until the final days of the regular season to determine which team is granted a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Phillies reportedly look into Robertson to fill void left by Alvarado's PED ban originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies bullpen needs help. A unit that had already struggled for much of the season to his point lost its anchor, closer Jose Alvarado, to an 80-game PED suspension. GM Dave Dombrowski and the rest of the front office could be facing the sobering possibility of giving up one or more of the organization’s most talented prospects as they scramble to fill the void left by the flame-throwing left-hander.

But there is a relief pitcher the Phillies could pick up. One that wouldn’t cost them any personnel. One with whom they are quite familiar. In fact, they’ve already looked into it for this season.

According to mlb.com’s Mark Feinsand, the team contacted free agent pitcher David Robertson even before the Alvarado suspension was announced.

Robertson, who turned 40 on April 9, has had two stints with the Phillies. He signed a two-year deal prior to the 2019 season, but suffered an elbow injury requiring Tommy John surgery after only seven appearances, missing the rest of 2019 and all of 2020. He was acquired at the 2022 trade deadline and pitched to a 2.70 ERA in 22 games, notching six saves, and held a 1.17 ERA in eight postseason appearances.

In 2024 the right-hander pitched 68 games for the Texas Rangers, going 3-4 with a 3.00 ERA and a 33.3 K%, among the best in the game. His cutter, a pitch he throws nearly two-thirds of the time, held a plus-17 run value, tied for 2^nd-best in MLB.

The season, and the Phillies’ search for relief help, could go in a lot of different directions in the next few months. But another look at Robertson could be a low-risk, high-reward option for Dombrowski and Company.

Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers play a three-game series at Citi Field starting on Friday at 7:10 p.m.

5 things to watch

NLCS rematch

The last time these teams faced off was last year’s NLCS when the Dodgers ended the Mets’ miraculous postseason run -- jumping on both Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga in a Game 6 clinching victory. 

Los Angeles, of course, ultimately went on to defeat the Yankees in five games in the World Series to secure the eighth title in franchise history.  

Both teams made some big additions over the offseason, and they are currently considered among the favorites to represent the National League in the Fall Classic this year.

The Mets (30-20) have hit a bit of a rough patch after their red hot start to the season -- currently sitting in second place in the NL East, just 1.5 games behind the Phillies and 10 games above the .500 mark. 

The Dodgers (31-19) have been struggling of late as well, but they are coming off a series win over the Diamondbacks and are currently tied with Philadelphia for the most wins in the National League. 

Could this rematch be an early NLCS preview?

Brett Baty's confidence continues to grow

Baty just keeps building his case for everyday playing time. 

With Mark Vientos struggling defensively, the youngster drew the start at the hot corner in each of the three games in Boston and he impressed with the leather in the first two. 

Carlos Mendoza said pregame Wednesday that Baty’s defense was the main reason he decided to leave him in the lineup against a tough left-hander in Garrett Crochet for the series finale. 

Baty responded by cracking a two-out RBI single in the second inning to get the scoring started. He came through again later on, going the other way to put New York back in front with a two-run double off another tough lefty in Brennan Bernardino. 

The 25-year-old finished the day 2-for-4 while driving in three of New York’s five runs. 

After his strong showing against the lefties, Baty figures to have earned himself the opportunity to get back out there against Clayton Kershaw in the opener -- he should be in the lineup for all three games of this set. 

Signs of life at the plate

Baty wasn’t the only positive sign during Wednesday’s win in Boston. 

The rest of the bottom four did a good job setting the table as well -- Luis Torrens was on-base three times, Tyrone Taylor picked up a knock of his own, and Luisangel Acuña reached on a pair of infield hits. 

Francisco Lindor had two hits out of the leadoff spot as well -- opening the game with a double off Crochet and then cracking a solo shot over the Green Monster in the ninth for the Mets’ first homer since last Tuesday. 

As a team, though, they still finished 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. 

They are now an abysmal eight-for-56 in such situations over their last eight games.

Juan Soto still looks a bit lost at the plate -- he was fooled badly on three strikeouts against Crochet, but drove one deep to center with the bases loaded in the seventh which would’ve been a grand slam if not for the wind. 

Soto now hasn't left the yard since May 9 and he's just 5-for-35 over that span. Pete Alonso’s production has slowed down mightily as well since the calendar flipped to May -- he's now gone 56 at-bats without a homer, which is the third-longest streak of his career.

Vientos also still isn’t offering much of anything in the power department, and Brandon Nimmo continues to struggle mightily at the plate.  

For this offense to get back in a groove, they need the big guns at the top to get rolling again.

Dodgers' pitching has been hittable

The positive for the Mets is the Dodgers’ pitching staff has been very hittable thus far. 

LA came into the year with a loaded rotation from top-to-bottom after making some offseason additions, but they’ve battled numerous injuries and have been forced to tap deep into their depth. 

Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Emmett Sheehan, River Ryan, and Gavin Stone are all currently sidelined and Shohei Ohtani is still yet to make his return to the mound.

Relievers Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates, and Brusdar Graterol are also on the IL.

With their pieced together young staff, the Dodgers have allowed the ninth-most runs (222) and seventh-most homers (65) in baseball to this point in the season. 

The Mets will have to deal with the veteran Kershaw, who is 11-0 against them in his career, but he struggled in his season debut -- allowing five runs and walking three in just four innings against the Angels. 

Tony Gonsolin (4.05 ERA) and Landon Knack (6.17 ERA) are set to pitch the final two games.

Mets pitchers will have their hands full

As bad as the Dodgers' pitching has been thus far, their offense has had their backs.

They currently lead the league with a .284 average. They also rank second in home runs (81), hits (454), runs scored (284), and OPS (.814) and find themselves in the top-10 in several other key categories.

Their star-studded top of the order leads the way headlined by Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and All-Star catcher Will Smith -- three of which are hitting above the .300 mark.

Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman have returned from stints on the IL and they’ve been great thus far as well -- producing a combined 18 homers and 64 RBI.

The speedy Hyeseong Kim has also provided a spark since being called up and Andy Pages has locked himself into an everyday role after producing nine long balls over the first 46 games of the season.  

The Mets’ pitching staff has continued to carry their weight amid the offenses struggles, but they'll really be put to the test this weekend -- and it'll be up to Griffin Canning, David Peterson, and Senga to keep this high-powered group in check. 

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Francisco Lindor.

He's been tremendous at home this season and showed some positive signs on Wednesday.

Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?

Kodai Senga.

Senga is rolling and will be determined to make up for his rough showing in the NLCS

Which Dodgers player will be a thorn in the Mets' side?

Freddie Freeman.

One of the biggest Met killers around, who leads the NL with a .368 average and 1.087 OPS.

Ace mismanagement? Red Sox' plan for Crochet backfires in loss to Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox appeared to be in a good spot Wednesday night.

The Sox were tied 1-1 with the New York Mets with one out in the sixth inning and seeking their first three-game winning streak since late April. Their ace, Garrett Crochet, was dealing, with just five hits allowed and five strikeouts on 85 pitches, his latest a nasty sweeper to ring up Juan Soto.

But that would be the last pitch Crochet threw, as manager Alex Cora emerged from the dugout to give Crochet the short hook and summon reliever Liam Hendriks from the bullpen. While Hendriks completed the sixth inning, it was all downhill from there: Hendriks, Brennan Bernardino and Sean Newcomb combined to allow four runs over the final three innings en route to a disappointing 5-1 loss.

So, why did Cora pull Crochet so early? The Red Sox manager explained that Wednesday was a planned shorter start for Crochet, who leads the majors in innings pitched and had gone a full seven innings in three of his last four starts.

“It’s for the benefit of the player,” Cora said after the game, via MassLive.com. “We’re here for the long run and we need that guy to make his starts. And for us to go to where we feel we can go, we need him.”

Crochet — who wasn’t informed about Boston’s plans to limit him before the game — wasn’t too happy about his early exit.

“I was frustrated,” Crochet said, via MassLive. “Just wanted a chance to pick up my teammates, the bullpen. They’ve obviously worked really hard this series. And I wanted to try and keep them out of it as much as possible.”

To Crochet’s point, no Boston starter had lasted more than 4.2 innings in the previous four games entering Wednesday. And just one day earlier, six Red Sox pitchers combined to log 6.2 innings of relief after starter Walker Buehler was ejected in the third inning.

Yet there was Cora at Fenway Park on Wednesday pulling the plug on Crochet’s shortest outing of the season, and turning to an already-taxed bullpen to get 11 more outs.

“I like to think that I’m built up for that workload at this point,” Crochet said. “Obviously the focus is on being healthy in October, which I understand. But my focus right now is looking out for my teammates, trying to pick up slack when there needs to be.

“If I’m gonna be the starting pitcher that we’re looking towards right now, I wanna go out there and lead the league in innings. I want to throw as many innings as possible.”

There’s a rational case for monitoring Crochet’s workload; the 25-year-old is just three years removed from Tommy John surgery and has only thrown more than 100 innings in a season once (146 in 2024). If the Red Sox want Crochet to be at his best in October, there’s a benefit to not overworking him on a cold night in May.

But the reality is that Boston may not be playing in October unless it can win games more consistently. The Red Sox are 25-26 after Wednesday’s loss and now are 3-6 in their last nine games. In their defeat to the Mets, they squandered a rare opportunity to complete a series sweep and gain momentum entering a three-game set with the lowly Baltimore Orioles.

You could argue there’s plenty of time for the Red Sox to get hot. But their conservative approach with Crochet highlights an overall lack of urgency of Fenway Park that’s reflected in the team’s current record.