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MLB Player News

Rotoworld

  • BAL Center Fielder #18
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    Orioles signed OF Ramón Laureano to a one-year, $4 million contract with a $6.5 million club option for 2026.
    The deal is now official. Laureano heads to Baltimore as extra outfield depth behind starters Cedric Mullins, Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser. The 30-year-old is capable of filling in at all three spots, which makes him an invaluable bench option over someone like former top prospect Heston Kjerstad, who offers limited defensive appeal. He was non-tendered by the Braves earlier this offseason after batting .259/.311/.437 with 11 homers and eight steals across 309 plate appearances between Atlanta and Cleveland last season. He’s a non-factor for fantasy purposes at this stage of his career, but he has landed in an ideal spot with hitter-friendly Camden Yards giving him a shot at rebuilding his long-term value as a lefty-mashing platoon specialist.
  • TEX Right Fielder #53
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    Adolis García has had a healthy offseason and is working with Rangers hitting coaches to clean up his swing mechanics.
    García had eight weeks of rehab at the start of the offseason to hear his left patella tendon strain but “is in a great spot now,” said Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young. As a result, García was able to work out with his coaches at Globe Life Field to try and recapture his 2023 swing which allowed him to slash .245/.328/.508 with 39 home runs in 148 games. “I had a little bit of an extra movement in my swing. That’s what I worked with the team and hitting coaches to try to eliminate these movements in the swing… Last year, with the short offseason, there was less time to prepare... I feel better prepared. I’m ready to go, and it looks great.” While García shouldn’t be counted on to come near his 25 stolen bases from 2022 or his 39 home runs from 2023, he could go back to being a .240 hitter with 30 home run power in the middle of a stacked Rangers lineup, and that still makes him valuable in fantasy leagues.
  • BAL Catcher #99
    Orioles general manager Mike Elias said Gary Sánchez will “be a huge part of the team” in 2025.
    Sánchez will serve as the backup catcher to Adley Rutschman, but, as Elias noted, “He’s also a really good hitter for a catcher, especially against left-handed pitching.” While Sánchez’s career .214 average against lefties is not that impressive, his .787 OPS, .261 ISO, and 22.4 percent HR/FB ratio speak to his power production against them. As a result, the Orioles figure to get him regular playing time against left-handed pitchers with Elias saying “We’ll see him DHing some games if he’s not catching.” Considering Rutschman hit lefties extremely well last season, we’d expect most of Sánchez’s at-bats to come as a DH against lefties.
  • LAA Shortstop #7
    MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reported that Tim Anderson “took time off to retool his mechanics and clear his head.”
    Anderson slashed a combined .318/.347/.473 with 51 homers and 53 stolen bases in 374 games with the White Sox from 2019-22 before his production fell off a cliff in 2023. Anderson believes a lot of that has to do with a leg injury he suffered early that season. “I started creating bad habits with my swing,” Anderson said. “I had that injury to the leg, so once I came back, I lost the feel, I lost the touch, I lost a lot. Everything felt different. So, it caused me to start doing the wrong things and start creating that bad habit. I got caught up in that bad habit and that became a norm.” After Anderson was let go by the White Sox and then subsequently released by the Marlins, he “got in the lab and [has] been training to break that bad habit.” Considering Anderson was never a huge power producer but derived much of his success from plus contact, his profile should age more gracefully than most, and it’s entirely possible that revamped swing mechanics could push him back to being a solid batting average asset with 10+ steals if he can carve out playing time.
  • BAL Right Fielder #10
    The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that Dylan Carlson “is the likely odd man out if everyone stays healthy” in Baltimore’s outfield.
    After signing Ramón Laureano last week, the Orioles have six players competing for four spots in the outfield. Tyler O’Neill and Cedric Mullins seem like locks to start in left field and right field respectively. That leaves Colton Cowser and Laureano as a potential platoon in right field since Cowser bats left-handed and Laureano bats right-handed. That would mean Heston Kjerstad needs to hit well enough to win a backup first base or outfield job or he could also be at risk for demotion, and Carlson, who has minor-league options remaining, seems destined to start the season in Triple-A if everybody is healthy.
  • DET Third Baseman #17
    The Detroit Free Press’ Evan Petzold reports that Jace Jung and Matt Vierling “will be in the mix for the majority of playing time at third base” if the Tigers can’t sign Alex Bregman.
    The Tigers have steadfastly tried to bring Bregman to town, so they hope they can land the veteran in their lineup. If not, Petzold highlights a few ways the lineup could take shape. As Petzold notes, “Vierling fits best in right field but is a better defender than Jung at third base,” so he could leapfrog the young third base prospect if the Tigers want to prioritize defense. However, “if the Tigers want both Jung and Vierling in the lineup against right-handed pitchers, then Jung has to play third base and Vierling has to play right field, keeping Kerry Carpenter as the designated hitter to protect his health.” That seems like the most likely scenario for now; yet, Jung hit only .241/.362/.304 in his 94 big league plate appearances last year with a 31 percent strikeout rate, so Petzold noted that the Tigers could send Jung down, play Vierling as the everyday third baseman and leave right field open for Wenceel Pérez, who hit .242/.300/.383 with nine home runs and nine steals in 425 plate appearances last year in his MLB debut.
  • LAD Relief Pitcher #66
    Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts told MLB Network Radio’s Jim Bowden that Tanner Scott will receive the “brunt” of the club’s save opportunities to begin the season.
    The Dodgers have a plethora of quality options at their disposal in the late innings with Scott and Kirby Yates joining Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips, but it sounds like it’s the one southpaw of the bunch that’s going to be the primary closer. We’ll see if that’s how this situation ultimately shakes out, but in the meantime this news should provide a major boost to Scott’s fantasy value.
  • INT Relief Pitcher #30
    Austin Voth has signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
    The 32-year-old hurler was non-tendered by the Mariners in late November and didn’t find a deal to his liking on the open market, so he has decided to head overseas for the 2025 season. Voth did a nice job out of the M’s bullpen in 2024, registering a 3.69 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and a 61/18 K/BB ratio over 61 innings. What’s intriguing is that the plan is for him to work as a starter in Japan — perhaps with the idea of returning to the big leagues for the 2026 season in that same role if he has success there.
  • TEX Starting Pitcher #22
    Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers have had internal discussions about using Jon Gray as the team’s closer.
    The 33-year-old right-hander told reporters a few weeks ago that he would be open to the idea if it was something that the Rangers wanted to do, and now it sounds like they’re actually considering the idea after losing Kirby Yates, David Robertson and Jose Leclerc to free agency. If it isn’t Gray, it seems like right-hander Chris Martin would be the strongest candidate to begin the 2025 season in that role barring any additional acquisitions.
  • FA Second Baseman #8
    The Dodgers have reached an agreement on a contract to bring back free agent utilityman Enrique Hernandez.
    The 33-year-old announced the signing himself on his social media on Sunday afternoon, though it is still pending a physical. Hernandez hit just .229/.281/.373 with 12 homers, 42 RBI and zero stolen bases in 393 plate appearances with the Dodgers in 2024. Unless you’re streaming him against a left-hander in the deepest of leagues, he can be avoided for fantasy purposes once again in 2025.
  • NYM Relief Pitcher
    Mets signed RHP Andrew Carson to a minor league contract.
    The 24-year-old hurler bounced around during his collegiate career, but finished strong in his one season at the University of Tampa where he posted a 1.06 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and a 32/11 K/BB ratio over 34 innings. He’s an intriguing arm that throws in the upper nineties with his fastball and could be a quick riser through the minor league ranks.