MLB Player News

Yoon won MVP honors of the Korean Baseball Organization in 2011 and played in the World Baseball Classic in 2009. Standing at six-feet and 180 pounds, he tops out at 93 mph on his fastball and also throws a changeup and a hard slider. The 25-year-old right-hander posted a 2.45 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 172 1/3 innings with the Kia Tigers this season. Boras plans to talk with him soon about the possibility of entering the posting system. If he chooses against posting, he would be a free agent following the 2012 season. Boras also represents 24-year-old left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who can post before next season and could be a free agent in 2014.

Hanifee’s departure at the conclusion of spring training means Enmanuel De Jesus and Brant Hurter secure the final two spots in Detroit’s season-opening bullpen. The 27-year-old righty made a career-high 54 relief appearances for the Tigers last year, finishing with a solid 3.00 ERA and 40/14 K/BB ratio across 60 innings of work.

Passan adds that the long-term contract agreement, which ostensibly buys out Crow-Armstrong’s four remaining arbitration-eligible seasons and two additional free agent years, could be worth up to $133 million through performance-based escalators. The 23-year-old center fielder blossomed into a legitimate fantasy star last season, cobbling together a magnificent 31-homer, 35-steal breakthrough campaign. He’ll be at the epicenter of Chicago’s long-term roster build and projects as a perennial early-round selection in fantasy drafts as he approaches his physical prime.

Sproat let it eat in his final appearance of the spring, averaging a crisp 96.3 mph on his sinker, while generating nine swinging strikes and allowing just four baserunners over five frames. The 25-year-old has taken advantage of his opportunity with the Brewers and will break camp in their starting rotation. He’ll kick off the regular season with an extremely tasty home matchup against the rebuilding White Sox on Sunday afternoon, making him a worthwhile streaming option for fantasy purposes, even in shallow mixed leagues.

It was extremely encouraging to see Burns completely dialed in after a mostly forgettable spring that left fanatsy managers with more questions than answers. He generated 13 swinging strikes and topped out at 99.8 mph on his four-seam fastball, limiting Milwaukee’s formidable lineup to just four hits, including a solo homer from Jake Bauers. More importantly, he didn’t hand out a free pass in this one and got hit pitch count up to 68 (53 strikes). The 23-year-old top pitching prospect will kick off the season with an extremely favorable home matchup against the division-rival Pirates on Monday night.

Hoskins will be officially added to Cleveland’s active roster prior to Thursday’s season-opener against the Mariners after making the club as a non-roster invitee this spring. The 33-year-old figures to see opportunities against left-handed pitching between first base and DH at the outset of the year.

Messick put together a strong performance this spring to break camp in Cleveland’s season-opening rotation and offers enough upside to warrant rostering in shallow mixed leagues as a low-risk flyer. The 25-year-old lefty doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he boasts outstanding control and posted a strong 2.72 ERA — 3.06 xERA — and 38/6 K/BB ratio across 39 2/3 innings over seven starts as a rookie last year. He’s in line to take the ball on Sunday against the Mariners for his season debut.

Not great. Soroka’s introduction to Chase Field couldn’t have gone much worse as he surrendered four runs in the opening frame, which included a two-run homer by Brayan Rocchio. He also coughed up an additional round-tripper to Daniel Schneemann a couple innings later. The -year-old righty will make his official Diamondbacks debut at home on Monday against the Tigers.

Pérez made a nice statement in his final spring contest shortly after being optioned to Triple-A Toledo. The ball was flying on a 91-degree afternoon in Arizona as both teams combined for a staggering 19 runs on 30 hits. Pérez did most of his damage in the late stages, taking Rockies relievers deep in the fifth and seventh innings to close out the spring.

There’s little point in extrapolating too much from Verlander’s final spring tune-up with temperatures in the low-90’s out in Arizona as he was knocked around for eight hits, including a pair of home runs. He struck out four and only issued one walk. The 43-year-old future Hall of Famer will make his season debut in a road tilt against the Diamondbacks on Monday before making his return to Comerica Park next week.