MLB Player News

Deichmann was removed from the Cubs’ 40-man roster back in April after getting into 14 games last year for Chicago, hitting .133/.161/.133 with one RBI in 31 plate appearances. The 27-year-old outfielder hit just .214/.271/.335 with seven home runs and eight stolen bases across 282 plate appearances this season for Triple-A Iowa.

He’s continued to play catch after biceps inflammation sprung up in early February, but the fact that we’re now almost in March and Hader doesn’t really seem to be progressing is ominous. Fantasy managers that draft Hader — and at this point we’d continue to break tier ties against Hader — should consider pursuing Bryan Abreu as a contingency plan later in their drafts.

He’ll likely be managed with a lot of DH time this season, but it’s a good sign to see Alvarez ready to go before we get too deep into spring training. Our last update on him was that he was completely pain free, so fantasy managers shouldn’t have any reservations about drafting him early based on what we currently know. He’s still coming at a slight discount after last year’s 48-game injury-plagued debacle of a season.

“I can’t open a bottle,” Stanton said. “I can’t open a bag of chips … a bag of anything. That’s the way it is.” He plans to continue to play through the pain. Obviously, as he’s played just 582 of 1,032 Yankees regular season games since 2019, fantasy managers know what they are getting into at this point. Stanton will almost certainly continue to miss plenty of time this year, even though he has said he wants to play a full season.

“We don’t know what’s going on, so we’ll have more in the upcoming days,” manager Alex Cora said. Rodgers had looked to be a candidate to open the year on the big league roster if Romy Gonzalez’s shoulder injury proved too difficult to overcome. If the injury is serious, it will likely push Andruw Monasterio into a better chance to make the team in a bench role.

He’ll be guaranteed $3 million with a chance to earn up to $10 million more in incentives, according to Ken Rosenthal. Scherzer could have kept waiting and seeing if other organizations had needs, but he’ll stick with the team that he helped get to the World Series last year, even though that club would seem to have little need for him at the moment. We imagine he’ll start off on the IL and wait for something to open up, but that’s to be determined. Given that he had a 5.19 ERA and his strikeout rate has been down considerably the last two years, it’s unclear whether he’d deserve a spot over Shane Bieber and Cody Ponce if all of Toronto’s starters are healthy for any length of time.

Grichuk provides New York with another lefty-mashing platoon outfield option to spell Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham. His arrival seems to further indicate that the Yankees would prefer to have Jasson Domínguez playing everyday at Triple-A instead of languishing on the bench. The 34-year-old veteran is coming off an underwhelming year split between the Royals and Diamondbacks where he batted .228/.273/.401 with nine homers in 113 games. He makes sense as a bench option with the Yankees but can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters he anticipates Schlittler being in the club’s season-opening rotation but added that he likely won’t be built up completely from a pitch count and stamina perspective. The 25-year-old will continue ramping up his throwing program after missing time earlier this spring with back inflammation.

Lombard drew the start at the hot corner for Wednesday’s Florida nightcap and put on an impressive display with a phenomenal barehanded play early in the contest before smacking a 108.8 mph double a couple frames later. The 20-year-old former first-round pick will open the year in the upper minors and could potentially arrive at Yankee Stadium before the regular season comes to a close.

There are debuts, and then there are statements. Weathers’ first start in Pinstripes felt like the latter. The 26-year-old southpaw averaged a sizzling 98.5 mph on his four-seam fastball and topped out at a career-high 99.8 mph, a noticeable jump that immediately turns heads. Acquired from the Marlins last month, he offers short-term fantasy intrigue as he’s slated to open the year in New York’s rotation while Gerrit Cole (elbow) and Carlos Rodón (elbow) are sidelined. Injuries have limited him to just 24 starts over the past two seasons, so durability remains the looming variable. The velocity spike changes the calculus, re-affirming that Weathers is the type of late-round arm that can dramatically impact a fantasy roster if his health cooperates.

Poche fortifies Detroit’s left-handed relief depth at Triple-A Toledo heading into the year. The 32-year-old southpaw made 14 appearances between the Mets and Nationals last year, posting a bloated 12.54 ERA – 5.82 xERA – and 11/14 K/BB ratio across 9 1/3 innings of work. He’s made 239 career appearances in the big leagues dating back to 2019. He’s a low-risk emergency option for the Tigers.