MLB Player News

As will be the case with most of the cuts that will take place over the first week of March, there’s no surprises among the bunch and no actionable fantasy advice that can be offered. Still, it’s nice to see camps start to thin out as we creep closer to Opening Day.

Latz, 29, will work as an opener for the bullpen game against the Nats. The southpaw will likely only work an inning or two before giving way, so there’ll be no chance for a win Sunday.

Veneziano will likely just be an opener for the outing before giving way to a bulk relievers. The 27-year-old offers no fantasy appeal for that outing.

It was believed that Weathers was dealing with an arm injury, but that’s not the case. The left-hander seems unlikely to make his next scheduled start at this point, but those considering Weathers as a streamer Saturday against the Nationals should await further update.

Jake Mangum nearly made a terrific diving catch on the two-run double, but it went off his glove. Sánchez is 17-for-32 with three homers, four doubles and 11 RBI in his last 12 games, raising his OPS from .641 to .771. In spite of his struggles against lefties, he should be of some use in mixed leagues going forward.

Gibson has a 1.06 ERA through 17 innings, even though he’s struck out only nine batters. He actually had 23 strikeouts over 17 innings in Triple-A this year. A strong groundball pitcher, he doesn’t necessarily need to be a big strikeout guy to be effective. Still, he’s probably not someone who should factor into the mix for saves in Miami.

Bradley faced the minimum in the first, second and fourth innings, but he gave up four hits, including a three-run homer, in the fourth and then retired none of the three batters he faced in the fifth. He left with the bases loaded then, and Mason Montgomery had probably his worst outing of the year after taking over, allowing all three runners to score and also giving up three runs of his own. Bradley, who fanned 10 in an excellent outing against the Astros last time out, generated just three missed swings and two strikeouts today. It’s really the story of his career; he’s not bad, but he’s terribly inconsistent from start to start. He’ll face the Mets next weekend.

A tough day for the Rays, who used their top relievers for a second straight day and had nothing to show for it. This makes four appearances in five days for Fairbanks, so he’ll be down Sunday. Edwin Uceta might have a chance to close that one.

It’s the defense. Morel isn’t being platooned because he’s bad against righties — his career OPS is actually 75 points higher against right-handers than lefties — but the Rays put great value in defense and Morel just hasn’t ever found a position that’s really worked for him. He’s going to need to truly catch fire — or maybe get traded — to have much hope of everyday at-bats.

It’s just Jansen’s second three-hit game of the year, but it raised his average to .200. Fortunately, even a .200-hitting Jansen is a solid contributor, what with his plus defense, ample power and strong walk rate. He’s not slugging as much as usual this year, but then, the homers have always tended to come in bunches for him.

Walters will get the start with Lance McCullers Jr. having his start pushed back. The Astros will need to make a move to get Walters on the active roster, and that should be announced before Sunday’s series finale.