MLB Player News

In an interview with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune, Shildt said, “I’m not going to give you an absolute answer because depending on the day, depending on the matchups, it could be anybody based on who is available.” In the interview, Shildt specifically mentioned Robert Suarez, Yuki Matsui, and Wandy Peralta, but it appears that he values going with matchups instead of designating a lock-down closer. This is definitely a battle to monitor this spring.

It was a relatively quiet night for the Reds offense. Despite scoring five runs, four of them were unearned thanks to an error by Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki. Candelario chipped in later with an RBI single. After hitting .189 in April, he hit .247 with three home runs in 24 games in May. Candelario has had a wRC+ of at least 117 in two of the previous three seasons. Look for him to get hot with the bat again soon.

The save was Neris’ seventh of the season. No one is going to confuse Neris with a shutdown closer. Even with the two strikeouts and no walks on Saturday, he has a SO:BB of 18:15 in 21 innings this season. Neris’ ERA is 3.00 but his xFIP is 5.10. He’s valuable in fantasy as long as he’s getting saves for the Cubs, but he’s shaky and that could catch up to him sooner rather than later.

Swanson’s two-run home run in the eighth inning was the difference in the Cubs’ 7-5 victory over the Reds. It was his fifth home run of the season. Swanson is due to improve at the plate at some point as his .208 batting average is the worst of his career and his .131 ISO is his worst since his first full MLB campaign in 2017.

Suzuki’s home run was his sixth of the season and second in the last three games. He seems to be completely over the oblique injury he dealt with earlier this season. Suzuki is 12-for-37 (.324) with two home runs and seven RBI over his last nine games.

Greene gave up three hits, walked five and struck out five. He had won two of his previous three starts and hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in his last six starts. Greene only allowed three hits but one of them was a grand slam off the bat of Seiya Suzuki. His ERA is up to 3.44 on the season now. He’ll get another chance against the Cubs at home next week.

Steele gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out five. He seemed to be turning a corner with seven shutout innings in his last start, but this was a setback for Steele. Even though most of the runs were unearned, he’s now allowed at least five runs in four of his last five starts. Steele has completed six innings in only two of his seven starts this year. His ERA was mostly spared in this one and now sits at 4.10 for the season, but when you add it all up this isn’t a recipe for winning games right now. The 28-year-old left-hander will look to improve against the Reds on the road next week.

It’s still not clear exactly what happened here, but Young was pulled in the middle of an inning after noticing that his hand was swollen around his knuckles after he made an errant throw from the outfield. He’s considered day-to-day for the time being, but it’s a situation that bears monitoring.

Phillies’ skipper Rob Thomson told reporters that Suárez is still dealing with some swelling in his thumb but that the team feels fortunate to have dodged any serious injuries. He’s slated to take the mound against the Mets next weekend in London, but it’s still unclear whether or not he’ll be able to take the hill. Fantasy managers should be sure to have a contingency plan in place for next week in the event that Suárez isn’t ready in time.

The 24-year-old southpaw was hit hard again in Saturday’s loss to the Mariners — giving up five runs over 3 2/3 innings — and that was apparently the last straw. Detmers has posted a miserable 6.14 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and a 70/27 K/BB ratio over 63 innings through 12 starts on the season. He’ll work to refine his craft at the Triple-A level before hopefully rejoining the Angels’ rotation later in the season. No word yet on what the Angels plan to do to fill that void in their rotation.

The 28-year-old infielder exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Mariners and is now free to explore the open market. He was swinging a hot bat at Triple-A Tacoma, slashing .290/.367/.485 with seven homers and 29 RBI in 191 plate appearances.