MLB Player News

Cruz went unclaimed on waivers and is now free to pursue another opportunity on the open market. It’s unclear whether there will be any interest in the 43-year-old slugger after posting a lackluster .681 OPS with five homers across 49 games this season for the Padres. If this is the end, it’s been a truly remarkable career. However, it would be fascinating to see him land with a contender in a bench role to pursue a World Series title.

Castellanos was designated for assignment earlier in the week and went unclaimed. He’s now free once more to explore the open market. The 34-year-old slashed just .191/.221/.339 with four homers and 20 RBI in 122 plate appearances with the Padres and seems to have lost the ability to mash left-handed pitching, which used to be his calling card. He can be had for the league minimum if any teams are interested.

The 26-year-old outfielder had been designated for assignment on Thursday and passed through waivers unclaimed. He’s now free to peddle his wares on the open market. Thomas has hit .253/.304/.307 with two homers and 12 RBI in 185 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this season.

Mead has settled in as the Nationals’ regular third baseman and has been hitting third in the lineup over the past few weeks. He’ll get a breather in this one though with Jorbit Vivas starting in his place at the hot corner and batting sixth against Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks on Friday evening in Arizona.

Chapman started with a grand slam off Edward Cabrera in the fourth inning, knocking a hanging curve just barely into the left-center nets at Wrigley for a 382-foot blast. He added a three-run shot off Ethan Roberts in the sixth, denting a sign in left field to keep it from heading out on to Waveland at 432 feet. His other RBI came on a sacrifice fly. This is an MLB-best RBI total for this season so far, topping Luke Raley’s seven against the White Sox on May 8. Chapman is starting to heat up (obviously), with a .309/.381/.564 line and three homers over his last 15 games. He’s still trying to recover from a frigid late April-early May stretch where he went hitless for seven games, but his .241 season average is now in line with what we’d generally expect from him going forward.

Adames absolutely clobbered a homer against Edward Cabrera in the first inning, sending a four-seamer 427 feet, out of Wrigley Field entirely. He added a second off Hoby Milner that landed about halfway up the bleachers in San Francisco’s seven-run sixth inning. Adames is now hitting .311/.362/.588 over his last 30 games with eight homers, enough to push his seasonal line to .250/.296/.460. He’s walking much less than usual, but otherwise this is about what you’d have expected from him through the first few months of the season.

He also added three walks. Suzuki’s doubles have evaporated this year -- he has just five in 182 at-bats -- but he’s still hitting homers at his 2025 pace and fantasy managers who aren’t in slugging percentage leagues probably don’t mind if he wants to focus exclusively on the long ball.

Yikes. Cabrera’s velocity was well up from where it was all season and he managed a 31 percent whiff rate, but he allowed eight hard-hit balls, including four off his difference-making change-up. His ERA is now 4.99. Cabrera doesn’t exactly look trustworthy for the moment, and either way you probably have some pause about risking Coors Field with him next week, but nothing under the hood looks dramatically rough.

Ray needed 97 pitches to get through five due to his command struggles -- he only had nine called strikes all game -- but luckily the Giants poured on enough runs that the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt when he was removed. Ray figures to be usable against the Nationals next week, though they have been feistier than preseason expectations might have had you believe.

Vargas feels like he got run over by a truck after a nasty collision with Max Muncy at first base during Thursday’s game, but fortunately all tests came back negative for any serious injuries. He’ll get a day or two off to heal, but it sounds like the 34-year-old infielder will be able to avoid a trip to the injured list.

It’s a rare day off for Larnach with an opposing right-hander on the hill. Ryan Kreidler will start in his place in left field and will bat eighth for the Twins against Royals’ right-hander Michael Wacha on Friday night in Minneapolis.