MLB Player News

Murphy heads to free agency after missing all of last season with a back injury. The 34-year-old catcher figures to have some appeal in a reserve role as emergency catching depth, but he’s probably going to have to settle for a minor league contract if he wants to continue putting on his catcher’s gear.

Springer hasn’t had a great season after finding the Fountain of Youth in 2025. He’s slashing just .215/.309/.374 on the season with seven home runs, 19 RBI, and four steals. He has two home runs in his last five games while going 6-for-17 with a 2/7 K/BB ratio. However, rather than this being a sign of a breakthrough, we’d rather use this as an opportunity to see if you can trade Springer to a manager who thinks a turnaround is coming.

Báez put together an unbelievable fireworks display on the doorstep of the majors and leads the entire International League with 23 round-trippers through 62 games. He’s also chipped in 12 stolen bases, just for good measure. The 22-year-old top prospect has some serious contact concerns that threaten to cap his realistic power ceiling once he reaches the highest level, but there’s no denying his potential as an impactful power/speed combo fantasy contributor right away. He’s at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in fantasy formats on the chance that the Cardinals give him an opportunity in the near future.

That was Duran’s 12th home run and 37th RBI of the season in what has been a rough year for the 29-year-old. Duran is hitting just .214/.270/.398 on the season and has gone 10-for-51 (1.96) with a 19/0 K/BB ratio since June 1st. The 12 home runs and 11 steals make it tough to drop him in most fantasy leagues, but he’s not somebody you need to hold onto in really shallow formats.

Tolle struck out six and walked two on the day, but two of his four hits allowed were solo home runs. The left-hander threw 69 percent of his pitches for strikes while posting an 11 percent swinging strike rate and 29 percent CSW. His typically dominant four-seamer had just a nine percent swinging strike rate against right-handed hitters on the day, but his secondary pitches were solid enough to keep this game from getting away from him. That makes this a modestly confidence-inducing start heading into a good matchup against a banged-up Mariners offense in Seattle on Sunday.

Abel threw 44 of 61 pitches for strikes in his second rehab start at the Triple-A level. The 24-year-old has looked outstanding in those outings and figures to only need one additional tune-up before returning to Minnesota’s rotation. He’s worth stashing in any fantasy leagues where he wound up hitting the waiver wire.

In his second start back from the injured list, Cease allowed four hits and walked four while striking out seven. He posted 16 whiffs on the day with a 15 percent swinging strike rate, but he threw only 61 percent of his pitches for strikes. He really struggled to land both his curve and changeup for strikes, but, luckily, he threw enough strikes with his four-seam fastball, and his slider missed more than enough bats. He gets a tougher test against the Cubs next week, but he’s obviously somebody you’re keeping in your lineups.

With Clayton Beeter having thrown on back-to-back days, Varland was called on to protect a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Tuesday. He allowed a solo home run to Lane Thomas but no other damage and picked up his sixth save of the season. Varland came into today with an 8.53 ERA in his last eight games, so we still expect Beeter to get the majority of save opportunities in this bullpen going forward.

Teel was close to making it back from a hamstring strain that he suffered during the World Baseball Classic before suffering an LCL sprain last month that knocked him out for a couple weeks. He’ll likely remain in the minors through the rest of the week, but has a chance to make it back to Chicago before the end of June for his long-overdue season debut.

Mead roped a three-run home run off Daniel Lynch in the seventh inning with the score tied at three. It was Mead’s 11th home run of the season and 34th RBI. He has cooled a bit of late since becoming a full-time player, going just 10-for-46 (.217) since June 1st with three home runs and nine RBI. That being said, he’s still hitting the ball hard, and a 9/4 K/BB ratio in two weeks of game action is pretty solid. We’d expect another strong stretch to be coming his way.