MLB Player News

With less than 20 games left in the season, there’s a distinct possibility that Joyce could be out for the remainder of the year. The hard-throwing right-hander didn’t exactly run with the closer job after the Angels cleared out the back end of their bullpen at the trade deadline. He picked up four saves. Joyce had a 2.08 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings.

Garcia Jr. has a sore throat and a fever, so the Nationals did the responsible thing and sent him home. The 24-year-old should be back in the lineup next week.

This was Gore’s first appearance of the spring, and it was a good one. The 26-year-old southpaw allowed two hits and a walk, but was able to get the punchouts to keep Miami off the board. Gore has shown the ability to miss bats, but just hasn’t shown enough consistency to be trusted as a fantasy arm. It shouldn’t shock anyone if Gore had a breakout campaign in 2025, but obviously there are no guarantees.

Weathers struck out four in the outing. The 25-year-old southpaw is expected to be a part of the Miami rotation, and he’s hoping that 20-pounds of weight loss will help him remain healthy in the 2025 campaign. Fantasy managers should take a wait-and-see approach before investing.

No word yet as to why Garcia Jr. was removed from the lineup. Darren Baker is starting at second in Garcia Jr’s place. There should be an update on his status soon.

Lawrence was awful in 2024 with a 6.49 ERA and 1.78 WHIP while forging an ugly 45/33 K/BB over his 59 2/3 innings. Teams could have interest in Lawrence because of his previous success and hope he can rebound away from Coors Field, but it’ll all but assuredly be in a low-leverage role.

Steer received a cortisone shot in his shoulder, and Reds manager Terry Francona told reporters that the team would take as much time as necessary before bringing him back on the field. if Steer does open the year on the IL it likely won’t be a long stint, but it’s something fantasy managers have to consider before using a draft pick on the 27-year-old.

Encarnacion-Strand needs a big spring or maybe a Spencer Steer IL stint in order to make the Reds, but he’s off to a nice start with two homers in his first 12 at-bats. We’d argue that the ability is there for him to be a top-10 fantasy first baseman if the Reds start him and stick with him. They probably will at some point, but maybe not right away.

Singer was down 1-1.5 mph from last year today, and he wound up getting just one missed swing on the 42 pitches he threw. He was better in his spring debut, when he struck out four against the Dodgers. It just wasn’t quite there today.

Cease already has his arm strength; he topped out at 98.9 mph with his fastball and 90.1 mph with his slider today. He struck out two, and the only damage came on a Christian Encarnacion-Strand home run.

Montes, 20, has now homered twice in his limited Cactus League action. The massive left-handed hitter offers huge power potential in his left-handed bat, but it’s not likely we see the outfielder in the majors until 2026 at the earliest. He’s still someone who has to be monitored in every possible keeper league.