MLB Betting

It’s important to note that Hayes also points out that Castro playing primarily second base is in the best-case scenario for the Twins. His versatility allows him to play anywhere on the diamond, so the Twins expect that they will use Castro to fill in for any injured position player. However, if the team is fully healthy, then Castro will get the majority of his at-bats at second base. That could be bad news for Brooks Lee and Edouard Julien, who are fighting to earn at-bats at second base as well. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli has also said, “As we sit here right now, we don’t have one player that I’m going to say, yeah, the guy is going to get 600 plate appearances over at second base.” That makes it hard to rely on any of the players in that competition other than Castro.

With Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) out for the season and Luis Gil (lat) out until June, there are some rumors that the Yankees will trade for a starting pitcher to help fill the gaps in their rotation. However, Morosi said the Yankees are unlikely to make a deal for Dylan Cease because the team is not in the position to add more salary to their roster, and they also don’t have the depth in their farm system to deal for a starter who has one year remaining on his deal. While things could change, Morosi believes the Yankees are more likely to sign a free agent like Kyle Gibson or Lance Lynn.

The Red Sox have already said that Bello will start the season on the injured list after his spring was delayed due to shoulder soreness. Cora added that Bello has progressed to facing hitters, but the Red Sox don’t want to rush his ramp-up process and risk a setback or major injury. The current plan for Bello is to pitch four innings in the opening series for Triple-A Worcester and then potentially be called up to the Red Sox for his next start. Given that the 25-year-old has breakout potential this season, he could be a great late-round pick in fantasy leagues with extra IL spots since he doesn’t seem likely to miss too much time. Quinn Priester or Richard Fitts will likely take his place in the rotation for one or two turns at the start of the season.

While alarm bells are certainly going off because Devers continues to have his spring debut pushed back, it’s important to note that he is still facing live pitching. This week, Devers will be taking live at-bats against Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler, and if he was dealing with an injury, it would be unlikely that the Red Sox would have him taking high-intensity at-bats. Cora himself suggested that Devers has been working on the mechanics of his swing, specifically against inside pitches, because his shoulder injury last year created bad habits. “He’s been on point as far as what he needs,” said Cora. “Last week, he felt like he wasn’t getting to pitches and all that. I get the whole thing in the big field. But two at-bats against big leaguers, he’s actually getting more bats in the backfield.” If you trust Cora and the Red Sox, then Devers could be a major draft value as his ADP continues to fall.

Supak was a second-round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft and has yet to reach the big leagues. The 28-year-old righty made 21 appearances (13 starts) last year between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa in Chicago’s system, finishing with a serviceable 4.54 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 72/16 K/BB ratio across 85 1/3 innings. He’s merely extra organizational depth at this stage of his career.

It doesn’t sound like a serious concern with a few weeks left in spring training, but the Pirates are taking a cautious approach here. Hayes is expected to be resume swinging a bat in the coming days and could be ready to return to game action later this week or early next week. Given the tremendous depth at the hot corner, Hayes doesn’t offer a ton of appeal for fantasy purposes entering 2025.

The clear frontrunner for hypothetical Grapefruit League MVP honors this spring, Soto’s third-inning blast off Cardinals ace Sonny Gray raised his OPS to a surreal 1.556 mark. We ran out of superlatives to describe the generational talents exploits years ago, but it’s not hyperbolic to speculate that he could be on the verge of something special in his Mets debut.

We’re not panicking yet, but Winn has gotten off to an ice-cold start at the dish this spring, batting .103 (3-for-29) through 10 Grapefruit League contests. It’s not what you want. The 22-year-old will open the year as St. Louis’ starting shortstop regardless of his performance at the dish, but they might reconsider him in the leadoff spot if his struggles persist into the regular season.

Barring an unexpected development, Torrens will open the regular season as New York’s starting catcher while Francisco Alvarez remains sidelined until late April recovering from a hamate fracture in his left hand. The 28-year-old journeyman isn’t going to make an impact for fantasy purposes in mixed leagues, but could be relevant for a couple weeks in much deeper NL-only formats.

Marte made his Grapefruit League debut after missing the first couple weeks of camp recovering from a right knee bone bruise. The 36-year-old veteran outfielder looked healthy motoring into second base on a second-inning double and told reporters afterwards that he’s feeling healthy heading into the regular season. The elite stolen base totals aren’t coming back at his advanced age, which limits his fantasy appeal to deeper mixed leagues as a late-round option.