MLB Player News

Olivarez fortifies Kansas City’s left-handed relief depth heading into spring training after spending last year in the Giants’ minor-league system. The 25-year-old southpaw was a somewhat notable prospect with the Rockies a couple years ago when he was added to their 40-man roster, but has yet to ascend to the big leagues. He compiled a pedestrian 5.84 ERA and 46/43 K/BB ratio across 37 innings over 34 appearances in the upper minors last year. He’s a low-risk depth addition and will likely open up at Triple-A Omaha next season.

Working with a 4-2 lead, Fairbanks walked two and gave up an RBI double to Shohei Ohtani with one out. He then intentionally walked Freddie Freeman after a 3-0 count and departed with a trainer. If he’s going to miss some time, the Marlins probably won’t pick a sole closer right away. Calvin Faucher, Tyler Phillips and Anthony Bender would all be candidates for saves.

Ballesteros unloaded the bases with a grand slam off Randy Vasquez to give the Cubs a 5-3 lead in the third. The 22-year-old rookie didn’t pick up another hit, but if your one hit is a grand slam, you’re doing ok. Ballesteros has been outstanding with the stick to open 2026, and he’s homered five times, driven in 16 runs and forged an OPS of 1.144. He also caught for the second time this year, something fantasy managers should be paying close attention to for 2027.

Mason Miller: Human? We’re surprised to. For the first time this season, Miller allowed earned runs, and he did it in a non-save situation, so it’s a double bummer for fantasy managers. He threw only two four-seam fastballs in this one, and they were both over 101 mph so it appears this was just a case of baseball being a really hard game and an ERA of 0.00 basically impossible. It’s hard to be too concerned — or concerned at all — based on one clunker.

Boyd’s second start back from the injured list was an ineffective one. The southpaw allowed eight hits, issued a pair of walks, and struck out four despite generating only six swings-and-misses over 91 pitches. That pushes his ERA to 7.00 on the season, which is less than desirable. He’ll try and lower that number — it’s hard to raise it much when it gets this high, at least — against the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

Vásquez was due for some regression — he came into this start with an unsustainable 1.88 ERA over his 28 2/3 innings — and it came relatively quickly for the right-hander. That being said, if not for a grand slam by Moisés Ballesteros, this would have looked like a much more effective outing. Lots of things look better with/without grand slams, however. The 27-year-old walked three, struck out four and allowed nine hard-hit balls before exiting. He’ll look to get back on track versus the White Sox on Sunday.

LeMahieu’s first Instagram post in six years wasn’t a retirement announcement, but one imagines that if the 37-year-old had any interest in returning, it would have happened this spring. The two-time batting champ and three-time All-Star is making $15 million this season in what was the final year of a six-year, $90 million contract with the Yankees.

Fried allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five while improving to 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA on the season. He’s 23-6 in his first year and a month as a Yankee. Boston’s Garrett Crochet, at 21-8, is the only other pitcher with at least 19 wins since the beginning of 2025. Fried will face the Orioles this weekend.

Bednar was very lucky it was Joc Pederson at the plate when Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted a grounder to second with one on and no outs. The slow-footed Pederson was originally called safe with Bednar covering on the late throw, but after a very long replay, the call was reversed. Chisholm later committed what could have been his second error of the inning if not for the reversal, allowing Josh Smith to reach. Alejandro Osuna singled in a run afterwards, but Ezequiel Duran then grounded out to end the game. The save was Bednar’s eighth in nine tries.