MLB Player News

Uribe opened the season as the Brewers’ closer, but wound up posting a troublesome 6.91 ERA and 1.88 WHIP over 14 1/3 innings. He was also a major player in Tuesday’s scuffle with Jose Siri and the Rays, resulting in a six-game suspension that he’s appealing. He’ll try to get back on track at Triple-A.

Abel was one of the premier pitching prospects in baseball just two years ago, but wound up stalling out in the upper minors, and has yet to reach the big leagues. The 23-year-old was added to Philadelphia’s 40-man roster during the offseason and figures to reach the majors at some point this season if injuries strike the rotation.

Brown allowed two hits and walked none. We don’t want to read too much into 8 1/3 innings, but Brown has done a terrific job of keeping the ball out of the air so far. That was a strength of his when he debuted, but his groundball rate, while still good, has since decreased. It he can get back to being exceptional there, the sky is the limit.

Megill seemed to be bound for Triple-A at the beginning of the spring, but the injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea opened the door for him, and at this point, he really ought to be penciled into the rotation, given his obvious improvement over the last year. Either Paul Blackburn or Griffin Canning can head to the bullpen for a spell.

He’s 3-for-21 through nine games. Dubón is probably the Astros’ preferred choice to start at second base with Jose Altuve moving to left, but it’d make sense to give Brendan Rodgers a shot first. It seems abundantly clear what Dubón can do at this point; his versatility and ability to hit lefties make him a solid part-timer, but he’s come in at just .252/.284/.352 lifetime against righties.

Giolito can’t seem to catch a break. The 30-year-old former impact fantasy contributor was pulled from his spring debut — his first start since undergoing elbow surgery last March — on Tuesday after just one inning due to left hamstring tightness. He’ll undergo additional testing to determine the severity of the issue and determine how much time he’s going to miss, if any. There should be an additional update on his status later this week. There’s a chance he won’t be ready for Opening Day following this latest setback. His absence would open the door for either Quinn Priester or Richard Fitts to break camp in the rotation.

Robertson will open the season as extra relief depth in the minors after making nine appearances last year between the Blue Jays and Cardinals.

Cartaya was shipped to Minnesota back in early January by the Dodgers after his stock tanked last year in the upper minors when he struggled to a pedestrian .686 OPS between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. The 23-year-old is a reclamation project for the Twins after being a consensus top-25 prospect in the game just two years ago.

Story is no stranger to lingering physical issues, but it sounds like the decision to sit out Tuesday’s spring contest after experiencing back tightness while taking ground balls was merely for precautionary reasons. There isn’t reason for major concern unless the minor back issue persists beyond the next couple days.

Bassitt started to ramp it up some today; his velocity had been down about three mph from last year in his earlier outings, but it was closer to one mph in his one. He didn’t give up a single hard-hit ball, and he struck out four. His spring ERA stands at 1.86.

Hoffman was lifted after 20 pitches, so it seems the Blue Jays don’t want him extending himself at all this spring. We’re not sure what happened on the homer; Statcast called it a 91.4 mph fastball, which would have been 3.6 mph slower than any other fastball he threw today. Whatever it was, it didn’t have much of anything on it and got what it deserved.