MLB Player News

Stefanic hit free agency over the weekend once Toronto’s playoff run came to a close. The 29-year-old infielder spent a couple weeks with the Blue Jays in May, going 4-for-22 at the dish. He’ll likely wind up settling for a minor league contract somewhere else this offseason.

Rodriguez battled some command issues in this one, handing out three free passes, while notching a pair of strikeouts. He threw just 24 of 43 pitches for strikes. The 32-year-old lefty will get the ball for Venezuela at some point during pool play after Red Sox southpaw Ranger Suárez toes the rubber during Friday’s World Baseball Classic opener against Netherlands.

Griffin threw 15 of 29 pitches for strikes and worked around three baserunners to spin a pair of shutout frames. The 30-year-old lefty is penciled into a spot in Washington’s rotation after spending the last three seasons pitching overseas in Japan. He offers minimal appeal for fantasy purposes based on his career track record and will go undrafted in most leagues this spring.

It’s an extremely rare intra-divisional trade between longtime rivals. Callihan ascended to the big leagues early last season before suffering a gruesome fractured left forearm on a sliding collision with the left-field wall in just his fourth big-league game. He batted .303/.410/.528 with four homers and six steals in 24 games at the Triple-A level prior to his major-league debut. The 25-year-old’s defensive versatility gives him some appeal for the Pirates in a reserve role.

Nicolas fortifies Cincinnati’s middle relief depth in exchange for Callihan, a utility specialist coming off a major injury without a spot on the club’s big-league roster heading into the regular season. The hard-throwing 27-year-old righty is consistently in the upper-90’s with his fastball and has struck out 22 percent of the batters he’s faced in the big leagues since 2023. He posted a pedestrian 4.74 ERA — 4.14 xERA — 1.37 WHIP and 34/18 K/BB ratio across 38 innings over 31 appearances for the Pirates last year.

Astros general manager Dana Brown told reporters Peña was removed from Wednesday’s exhibition game in the Dominican Republic for precautionary reasons after fielding a ground ball that took a bad hop and struck a fingertip. There should be a definitive update on his availability for the impending international showcase at some point prior to the Dominican Republic kicking off the tournament on Friday evening against Nicaragua.

Murray remains, at least theoretically, a two-sport question mark. Forst reiterated Wednesday that while Murray is firmly established as an elite NFL quarterback, the organization would be open to a return to baseball should he ever choose to revisit that path. The 28-year-old former ninth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft is poised to hit free agency when the NFL league year opens next week following seven seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, and the Athletics still hold his baseball rights. The expectation is that Murray continues his football career — logical trajectory and financial considerations both point that direction. He wouldn’t be the first elite athlete to pivot mid-career — and history suggests the idea feels impossible right up until it happens. It wouldn’t be unprecedented — just completely unexpected.

Pages could have played for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, but he decided against it. Both of his hits today were crushed; the homer was projected at 430 feet, and his double in the third was a 109-mph liner.

Glasnow managed two scoreless innings before giving up two singles and a walk in the third. The Dodgers were still up 2-1 when he left, but Jacob Frost allowed both inherited runners to score after entering with two outs. Glasnow’s velocity today was a little better than his 2025 average, but the command wasn’t quite there yet. He threw first-pitch strikes to just five of the 13 batters he faced.

Sheehan got through his first inning easy enough, retiring three in a row after a leadoff single. In the next inning, though, he retired just one of the five batters he faced, giving up two singles and two walks. The ERA would have been far worse if Carlos Duran hadn’t induced a double play ball from Joey Ortiz immediately after taking over. With Blake Snell and Gavin Stone both IL bound and Roki Sasaki off to a bad start, it’s really hard to imagine Sheehan not getting a spot in the Dodgers rotation. Today didn’t help his case, though.

Smith took advantage of a 78-mph curve from Vitor Takahashi in the third and a 79-mph slider from Hugo Kanabushi in the fifth in a rare spring power outburst. It’s as many homers as he had in 61 official spring games since the beginning of 2023. Smith is slated to serve as the Rangers’ primary second baseman this season after spending the last two years getting regular time despite having no position all to himself. He hit .251/.335/.366 with 10 homers and 12 steals in 563 plate appearances last season.