MLB Player News

Rodon gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out eight. That Rodon was able to complete five innings and strike out eight batters were positives, but if fantasy managers weren’t concerned about him before this start, they certainly are now. Rodon has allowed at least five runs in each of his last three starts and seen his ERA rise from 2.93 to 4.42. Rodon isn’t a big time strikeout pitcher like he was in his pre-Yankees career. His strikeout percentage is 23 percent this year compared to his 33 percent strikeout percentage with the Giants in 2022. Rodon had a 3.17 xFIP in 2021 with the White Sox and 2.91 xFIP in 2022 before his disaster 5.30 xFIP in his first year with the Yankees last year. His 4.34 xFIP this year is an improvement, but was also a sign that his ERA wasn’t going to remain below 3.00. This version of Rodon is also easier to hit as his 0.88 HR/9 in 2021 and 0.61 HR/9 in 2022 have turned into a 2.10 HR/9 in 2023 and a 1.54 HR/9 this year with the Yankees. There’s no way around the fact that Rodon’s $162 million pact with New York has become one of the biggest bust signings in the franchise’s long free agent history. The 31-year-old left-hander is set to face the Reds at home next week, but fantasy managers have to think about sending him to the bench if he wasn’t there already.

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.

Canning extended his scoreless streak to 5 1/3 frames while generating 11 swinging strikes in his second Grapefruit League outing. The 28-year-old righty is poised to open the year in New York’s starting rotation following injuries to Sean Manaea (oblique) and Frankie Montas (lat). There’s some sneaky fantasy appeal here, especially in deeper mixed leagues, if New York’s pitching apparatus can unlock some of his potential.

Gray served up six hits, including homers to Luis Torrens and Juan Soto. The 35-year-old veteran has somehow coughed up five homers already through two spring outings so far. There’s zero reason for concern since he’s healthy for the first time in several years at this early stage of the year. He’s a top-35 range starting pitcher from a fantasy standpoint this spring.

The Cubs indicated Sunday that Gage Workman and Vidal Bruján had made the roster for the Japan series, but they weren’t willing to say the same for Shaw. If it was still up in the air as of this morning, Shaw’s nice game could have made the difference. He’s now 4-for-14 with three RBI since returning from an oblique strain that sidelined him at the beginning of the spring. The Cubs leave Tuesday, so we’ll know then whether Shaw will be on the travel roster. Even if he’s not, he still could be at third base on domestic Opening Day.

A pair of second-inning homers accounted for all of the runs. Imanaga’s stuff isn’t quite there yet, but it’s going to count next time anyway, as his next outing will come against the Dodgers in the regular-season opener in Japan. He averaged just 89.1 mph with his fastball today, down from 91.7 mph last season. Those capable of doing so might want to have him benched for next week’s series.