MLB Player News

The interview took place sometime in the past two weeks. Prior to joining the Blue Jays, Hale was the third base coach with the Orioles in 2012 and served on the major league staff with the Red Sox from 2006-2011. He is the fifth known candidate for the job, joining Nationals third base coach Trent Jewett, bench coach Randy Knorr, Diamondbacks third base coach Matt Williams, and Padres executive Brad Ausmus.

The first base experiment has gone swimmingly for both San Diego and Castellanos during the early stages of camp. The 33-year-old veteran doesn’t offer a ton of fantasy appeal at this stage of his career but he makes sense as a platoon partner with righty-masher Gavin Sheets at the cold corner and could pry some at-bats away from Miguel Andujar at DH, especially if he gets off to a hot start at the dish.

It qualified as a major surprise when Imanaga accepted a qualifying offer from the Cubs at the outset of the offseason since he figured to have plenty of suitors on the open market. The 32-year-old southpaw has settled in as a consistent top-50 range starting pitcher for fantasy purposes, even if his velocity and strikeout rate are trending in the wrong direction.

Caglianone’s first spring round-tripper left his bat at 115.2 mph and traveled 460 feet. That’ll work. The 23-year-old former top prospects prodigious over-the-fence power potential remains undeniable and he should benefit tremendously from Kansas City’s decision to make Kauffman Stadium more hitter-friendly by altering their outfield dimensions. He doesn’t strike out a ton for a power-hitter and a few additional fly balls would make a huge difference. He’s poised to become one of the buzziest fantasy sleepers of the spring, largely because a realistic 30-homer floor in an everyday role tends to capture attention — especially if he continues scorching baseballs in the Cactus League and turning projection into something that feels increasingly tangible.

Estévez’s fastball velocity was down nearly three miles per-hour from last year, which would typically be cause for alarm. However, he went through a similar ramp-up process last spring. It’s a situation fantasy managers should continue monitoring closely, but we’re going to exercise caution before drawing any firm conclusions based on a single early-spring appearance. He’ll be a top-15 range closer in fantasy drafts this spring.

Wacha struck out three, issued three walks and needed 43 pitches (26 strikes) to navigate a pair of frames in his opening salvo of the spring. The 34-year-old veteran represents a low-ceiling fantasy option at this stage of his career, which limits his appeal to deeper mixed leagues.

Abbott is one of the more challenging pitchers to forecast since he doesn’t miss a ton of bats and vastly outperformed last year’s 3.55 xERA with a pristine 2.87 ERA across a career-high 166 1/3 innings over 29 starts. The 26-year-old southpaw is a top-50 range fantasy starter heading into 2026, even if there’s some pullback from a run prevention standpoint looming.

Goldschmidt’s homer came off Tyler Rogers. Now, Rogers isn’t nearly in midseason form yet with his velocity down by a couple of mph, but he allowed just one homer to right-hander during the regular season last year. Goldschmidt is 4-for-9 as he gets ready for his World Baseball Classic swansong. He’s likely to have a bit role this time after starting for Team USA in the previous two tournaments.

Warren seems to have tightened up his sweeper some; he threw the pitch today two mph harder than he did last year, even as his fastball velocity held steady. That has the potential to be a nice change for him, as it was his weakest pitch last season; the league hit .336 against it.

Jiménez’s chances of making the Jays seemed a lot better during that brief window after Anthony Santander went down and before Jesús Sánchez was acquired. He’s out of options and the closest thing the Jays would have to a utility infielder on the bench, but they can probably do without him, since Davis Schneider can play second, Addison Barger can play third and Ernie Clement can slide all around the infield. If the Jays put him Jiménez waivers, one imagines someone will take a shot. He’s just 24, and he has a .404 OBP in 94 career games in Triple-A. As a major leaguer, he’s come in at .207/.303/.332 in 242 plate appearances to date.

Marte took former Rockies southpaw Austin Gomber deep in the third inning for his first long ball of the spring. The switch-hitting 32-year-old was the subject of trade speculation throughout the offseason but the Diamondbacks opted against moving their franchise cornerstone. He remains the top option at second base for fantasy purposes and will be a late-second or early-third round pick in drafts this spring.