MLB Player News

Two walks and three singles were enough to doom Lugo today. If the game had been played under spring training rules, perhaps Lugo would have come back out for the second and settled in just fine. As is, though, Puerto Rico figured it had little choice but to make the move, and the Royals were probably happy, given that Lugo had already thrown 25 pitches in the first. It was a rough day for Puerto Rico, but nothing changed about Lugo’s outlook in this one.

Fascinating is that Stewart has now hit cleanup ahead of Eugenio Suárez in back-to-back games. We figured it’d take at least a couple of months for that to happen, but he truly does seem like the best choice. He’s hit .357/.471/.667 this spring after crushing it in the minors and in his brief major league audition in September. He might well prove to the biggest bargain in this year’s drafts.

Abbott gave up a two-run homer in the second and then two more runs after being pulled in the fourth, which he would have been out of already if not for a Sal Stewart error. He came back out for the fifth and gave up one more run after a leadoff double, though he retired three straight afterwards. In all, it was a better night than the line suggests. Abbott ends the spring with a 12.74 ERA. He’s not someone we recommend, but that’s because he’s an extreme flyball pitcher with a middling strikeout rate in a tough ballpark for pitchers; it doesn’t have anything to do with the poor spring.

Pereira has been limited to seven games this spring by some oblique tightness, but he’s hit .285/.400/.619 in his 25 plate appearances. With Brooks Baldwin probably joining Kyle Teel on the IL to begin the year, Pereira seems assured a roster spot, though he still might behind Luisangel Acuña on the depth chart in center.

Montgomery is hitting .180/.212/.360 with 18 strikeouts in 52 plate appearances this spring. The White Sox certainly have to roll with him as a regular after his performance in the second half of last year, but it seems like a bad sign that manager Will Venable has him batting second regularly. The power production will be there, but the over/under for his OBP this year is right around .300.

“Things are going fine so far, but we still have a lot of time ahead of us,” Elias said. Westburg isn’t currently on the 60-day IL, but he might wind up there if the Orioles need his spot on the 40-man. As is, it looks like Coby Mayo will be Baltimore’s primary third baseman for at least the first 6-8 weeks.

The Cubs haven’t confirmed Carlson is on the team like they did Michael Conforto, but it still seems to be the likely outcome at this point. Carlson has hit .341/.460/.463 in 50 plate appearances this month. But then he hit .321/.500/.571 for the Orioles last spring and didn’t follow that with much of anything.

The Cubs have avoided rotation injuries this spring, so it looks like Rea will open up in middle relief. He ends the spring with a 3.10 ERA, even though he’s given up five homers (but just seven earned runs) in 20 1/3 innings.

Kirby was feeling it in the Arizona heat tonight, touching 99.7 mph and averaging 97.4 mph with his fastball. His spring average coming into this one was 96.3 mph, which was essentially a match for his mark of 96.2 mph last year. Kirby doesn’t necessarily need the extra velocity to be an excellent fantasy starter, but it sure wouldn’t hurt. Kirby is lined up to be slotted in between Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo in the rotation and to make his season debut Friday against the Guardians.

The move makes room for Ryan Borucki on the 40-man. Birdsong is set for Tommy John surgery and will likely be sidelined into the 2027 season.

McCoy will probably be the first person bumped from the Padres’ 40-man when they need another spot. Jacob, who has a 4.06 ERA in 51 innings as a major leaguer, had a chance of winning a bullpen spot, but he probably didn’t help his chances by playing for Team Italy. He’ll likely get a look soon enough anyway.