MLB Player News

Yes, that David Fletcher. The former middle infielder is reinventing himself as a knuckleball pitcher in the Braves minor league system. All while making $6 million dollars this year. Fletcher’s first start was particularly impressive, especially against a loaded Baltimore Orioles Triple-A lineup. Fletcher struck out six batters, including Jackson Holliday, and walked just one. There is no way to know if the Braves will actually give Fletcher a chance to pitch at the big league level, but this is a fun experiment.

The Braves claimed Wisely off waivers from the Giants last September, DFA’d him and traded him to the Rays last month and now are getting him back with the 60-day IL giving them some extra 40-man roster maneuverability. The 26-year-old Wisely is a career .214/.265/.319 hitter in 466 major league plate appearances, most of which came with the Giants in 2023 and ’24. He’ll have a decent chance of claiming the last spot on the Braves’ bench.

Quintana, who went 11-7 with a 3.96 ERA in 24 starts for the Brewers last season, will be the third veteran starter added by the Rockies, joining Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano. All seem likely to join Kyle Freeland in the rotation, leaving just one spot for Chase Dollander, Ryan Feltner or Tanner Gordon.

He filed at $2.925 million. Detmers would probably be making two or three times this by now if he’d been drafted by a competent organization six years ago. The left-hander will be returning to the rotation this year after posting a 3.96 ERA in 63 2/3 innings out of the bullpen last season. He’s not going to be eligible for free agency until after the 2028 season.

The Braves filed at $2 million, so this is a case that seemingly could have been avoided. The 31-year-old Lee had a 3.29 ERA in 68 1/3 innings out of Atlanta’s pen last season. He’ll be eligible for arbitration two more times before he’ll reach six years of service time.

Crochet says he’s found a grip that works for him, potentially giving him another weapon to go along with his fastballs, cutter and slider. Crochet tried taking something off his changeup last year, with the velocity difference between the pitch and his fastball increasing from six mph in 2024 to nine mph last year. However, he ended up throwing the pitch just four percent of the time, even though he was quite successful when he used it.

Campbell is expected to do drills at second and third with infield coach José Flores, but there’s no plan for game work at either position. It’d probably take an injury to an outfielder to give him any chance of making the Red Sox out of spring training, but it will be interesting to see what happens if returns to 2024 form in Triple-A.

Burnes was saying the same at the end of last season, so he’s apparently made steady progress since. Burnes underwent Tommy John surgery in June, so a July return is fairly aggressive, though hardly unprecedented. The 31-year-old is entering the second season of a six-year, $210 million contract.

The Jays looked at other closing candidates since as Edwin Díaz and Robert Suarez over the winter after Hoffman’s struggles last year, but after they ultimately signed Tyler Rogers, there was really no doubt that Hoffman would retain the job. Hoffman finished his first season in Toronto with a 4.37 ERA and was 33-for-40 closing out games.

García’s surgery took place in August and was only to clean up scar tissue in his elbow, so it didn’t seem like Opening Day would be in doubt here. Still, bringing him along slowly isn’t a bad idea, as he’s totaled just 60 innings between the last two seasons.

It’s a little surprising to see Civale get $6 million after posting a 4.85 ERA in 102 innings last season, but the A’s need to pay a little extra to get pitchers to come to Sacramento. Civale’s strikeout rate has dropped three years running, from a peak of 24.1% in 2022 to 20.2% last year, and he’s still a big-time flyball pitcher. He projects pretty poorly with the A’s, but it also not like they have a bunch of quality alternatives.