As the 2025 regular season continues, here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day today:
1. Arraez to be activated:
Padres infielder Luis Arraez has spent more than a week on the concussion list after a collision at first base led to him being carted off the field in Houston. Per Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase, Arraez is expected to be activated prior to tonight’s home game against the visiting Giants, set for 6:40pm local time. It’s a boon for the Padres’ lineup. While Gavin Sheets has performed well amid a move from DH to first base while covering for Arraez, that left more at-bats for Oscar Gonzalez and Tirso Ornelas, both of whom have looked generally overmatched so far this season. Gonzalez is hitting .256/.273/.279 in 44 plate appearances, and Ornelas has delivered just a .071/.188/.071 slash in a smaller sample of 16 plate appearances (1-for-14 with two walks). An active roster move will be necessary to activate Arraez.
2. Gibson to make season debut:
Five weeks after he signed with the Orioles on a one-year deal, Baltimore is welcoming veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson back into its rotation today. He’s already on the 40-man roster, but a corresponding move to clear room on the active roster for the 37-year-old will still be necessary. Gibson is set to begin the 13th MLB season of his career tonight against the Yankees and southpaw Carlos Rodon, who sports a solid 3.50 ERA through six starts to this point in the year.
Gibson carries a career 4.52 ERA and a 4.68 mark over the past three seasons, but his ability to eat innings and keep his team in games has still made him a valuable back-end starter. That includes his previous stint in Baltimore, when he helped the 2023 club make it to the postseason by acting as a veteran leader in the rotation (33 starts, 192 innings, 4.73 ERA). Now that the Orioles have slid to fifth place in the AL East, will Gibson once again be able to help left them to the postseason?
3. MLBTR chat today:
The month of April is coming to a close. Some expected contenders like those in Atlanta and Baltimore have struggled considerably (though the Braves have now won eight of their past 10). Meanwhile, the Giants stand as the most surprising division leader, currently holding a 19-10 record that ties them with the Dodgers for the NL West lead. There’s still plenty of baseball left to go. If you have questions about which starts to believe in or are already looking towards July’s trade deadline then MLBTR’s Steve Adams has you covered in a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Regarding Arraez. His absence has given Gavin Sheets more time at 1B and DH, but the main reason Gonzalez and Ornelas have been getting ABs has little to do with Arraez being out. It has everything to do with OFs Heyward (back from IL today), Merrill, and Lockridge having been on IL.
Brew, Deed’s takes are always bad. Just ignore them and focus on the few facts he delivers. In this case, Arraez will be activated today. As you noted and he failed to note, so will Heyward.
Hopefully Arraez and Heyward returning means that Gurriel is released.
Ha ha. Go get him Pads Fan.
Arraez is a good player, it’s refreshing to see a hitter who doesn’t swing for the fences every plate appearance.
I’d rather have Jung Hoo Lee.
Same approach as Arraez, but with speed and better defensive ability. Good match up for tonight. Hoping for the wisk broom.
(Short series sweep)
Lee’s watch ability is off the charts. The little guy has skills.
6 ft 200 lbs isn’t a little guy
Crazy thing is he hasn’t even learned any of the opposing pitchers yet.
Can only get better.
The “little” padre gang is on it today ! Straighten out those panties boys.
It’s a term of endearment. Comparatively speaking he is little.
Very very promising.
He’s much bigger than Willie Mays
Lee is striking out 7 times as much as Arraez has this season and his SLG is 120 points higher. Not the same type of hitter.
Yup.
Better.
When he has at least a half season of at bats, then you might be able to say better. So far, he has not come close to having multiple 4 WAR seasons like Arraez so trying to say that is premature.
Does anybody else play Immaculate Grid and do you always try to go for the most obscure players like I do?
It can be just as fun to try to get as high a score as possible. Answer Babe Ruth for “Yankees Player who had a 30 home run season” and do that for all nine boxes
The April Fools grid effectively allowed nine random Major Leaguers to be selected and all the squares ended up Babe Ruth as the most popular. But for a brief shining moment during the day, Rusty Kuntz was one of the most popular.
I do this and I either get a really low score or I make 2 wrong guesses every day
name recollection was never my forte, but I play anyway
I always go for the most popular because it is very hard to get all nine of those correct. So, my stats say my average score is 8.7, but my rarity score is 213.
If there’s a Cubs or Sox category, I may try a rare grid incognito.
Nice! Yeah, obviously I can’t remember everyone… but I’ll spend an extra 15 minutes on a box if I think I can recall some random. Today I played Ricky Bones for the BAL/CIN box and it said .00001% of people played him! Hahaha! 7.1 box average with a 279 average Rarity score. Cheers fellas, have fun!
Hey Deeds, Heyward is also being activated today and you don’t even mention that.. Arraez had nothing to do with Ornelas and Gonzalez being called up. That would have been the injuries to THREE outfielders including Heyward. Get your act together.
Oh dear.
Big game for the Padres tonight. We’ll see how Nick Pivetta handles the pressure with Logan Webb and the Giants in town.
Are we due for a classic Pivetta blow up?
So far it’s Webb not handling the pressure, 5-1 Pads after 4
Im not surprised, Pivetta has been real good.
Padres offense is real good.