MLB Player News

Drury made good in the first season of his two-year deal with the Angels, batting .262/.306/.497 with 26 homers and 83 RBI in 125 games. His defense at second is becoming more of an issue, and he finished up the year mostly as a first basemen and DH. It’s something they’ll have to factor in if they seek to contend in 2024. If they decided to rebuild, then there’s a good chance he’ll be shipped out.

The homer off Adrian Houser was Norby’s only hit in five at-bats, but it was quite the blast, traveling 418 feet to left-center. Norby is batting .244/.333/.423 in 90 plate appearances while mostly starting at first base in Christopher Morel’s absence. That he has 190 points of OPS on Graham Pauley bodes well for his chances of remaining in the lineup after Morel returns, which could happen early next month.

Alcantara gave up nine hits but only three hard-hit balls, which is kind of nuts. Really, though, this was the offense the Giants envisioned this season; they did a wonderful job of hitting flare singles and a couple of doubles in front of outfielders. If only their pitchers hadn’t given up nine runs, Buster Posey and Tony Vitello would be having quite the celebration. Alcantara, though, already had eight runs of support before giving up three runs in the fifth. He’ll take a 3.05 ERA into a tough start Wednesday against the Dodgers. Mixed leaguers might have better options next week.

Liam Hicks and Connor Norby homered off him. Even though Houser’s velocity is still up from his career norms, he’s sporting an 11 percent strikeout rate that is way down from his career average of 18 percent. His walk and groundball rates remain strong and he’s kind of unlucky to be 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA after five starts, but the Giants should be thinking about stretching out Blade Tidwell and shifting Houser to middle relief.

It’s funny to see the Marlins batting Edwards cleanup with his five career homers, but it doesn’t seem like a bad call with the way he’s consistently making harder contact this year. And while he does have just one homer so far, he already a career-high five barrels. His balls in play tonight were hit 106, 96, 94 and 93 mph.

Lee’s .275/.320/.407 line isn’t bad, but with two homers, 10 runs scored, 10 RBI and zero steals, he hasn’t been a fantasy factor thus far. For that to change, he’ll need to try the occasional steal and he’ll have to hope the rest of the Giants lineup gets more productive.

Taillon left down 4-0 before the Cubs offense let him off the hook. Three of the four runs came on a Will Smith homer in the second inning. Taillon struck out four and walked three. That he’s already given up seven homers in just 27 2/3 innings is most of the reason he has a 4.55 ERA. He’s due to make his next start Wednesday in San Diego.

Swanson’s triple should have been caught by Andy Pages, but it was a well-hit ball to the wall in left-center. His homer off Tanner Scott in the ninth went 413 feet to left. Although he’s mostly batting ninth at the moment, Swanson is tied for eighth in the majors with 21 RBI and tied for fifth with 22 runs scored.

It’s third career save for Martin. He had two in the second half of last year for the Orioles before getting cut on Sept. 2 anyway. Obviously, the ninth inning is wide open in Chicago right now, with the Cubs down arguably their top four short relievers and preferring to keep Ben Brown in more of a multi-inning role. Still, we wouldn’t recommend picking up Martin, who has a 6.21 ERA in 79 2/3 major league innings since debuting with the D-backs in 2019.

Looking the best he has all season, Sheehan struck out seven in three perfect innings to begin the night. His velocity dipped afterwards and the Cubs started making good contact against him, but they never could sustain a rally. Sheehan departed with a 4-0 lead in the seventh, only to watch Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen cough up the lead before Tanner Scott took the loss in the ninth. As a result, Sheehan remained 2-0 with a 4.78 ERA. He’ll get the Cardinals next week.

Dansby Swanson’s homer was the second allowed by Scott in 11 1/3 innings this season. He also gave one up to José Ramírez on Apr. 1 with the Dodgers already down in the game. Considering that those are the only two times he’s been scored upon this season, we’d still consider him the favorite for saves in the Dodger pen for now. However, since Scott has worked two days in a row, Alex Vesia could be the choice to close Saturday.