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Pena also had a 361-foot flyout to go along with his 394-foot homer. Expectations were that he’d open up on the IL after suffering a finger injury in the WBC, but he made his case to start at shortstop on Opening Day tonight. If he was successful, that means the Astros will need to play Yordan Alvarez in left if they want to include both Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker in their initial lineup.

All of the runs came in the fifth, when he allowed three straight singles to open the inning and then got pulled. None of the singles were hard-hit. Through the first four innings, he’d allowed just one hard-hit ball and struck out more than two-thirds of the batters he faced, even though his velocity was down about two mph from last year. He’ll make his season debut as a pitcher Tuesday against the Guardians.

This came up completely out of nowhere. It looks like Jordan Romano or Drew Pomeranz will open the season as Los Angeles’ primary ninth-inning option with Yates on the shelf and Robert Stephenson (elbow) done for the year. No word yet regarding how much time Yates is expected to miss. This entire closing situation is a borderline stay-away for fantasy managers outside of extremely deep mixed leagues.

This always seemed like the most likely outcome after Lodolo didn’t seem to be brimming with optimism after playing catch on Tuesday at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The 28-year-old southpaw won’t require a lengthy absence at the outset of the regular season but he’ll need at least a handful of minor league rehab outings to build up his pitch count and stamina. Top pitching prospect Rhett Lowder, who will start on Sunday against the Red Sox to open the season, seems like the clearest beneficiary from Lodolo’s departure from Cincinnati’s rotation mix since he’ll have a much clearer path to consistent innings, which gives him some fantasy appeal as a streaming option in shallow mixed leagues.

Passan adds that the long-term contract agreement, which ostensibly buys out Crow-Armstrong’s four remaining arbitration-eligible seasons and two additional free agent years, could be worth up to $133 million through performance-based escalators. The 23-year-old center fielder blossomed into a legitimate fantasy star last season, cobbling together a magnificent 31-homer, 35-steal breakthrough campaign. He’ll be at the epicenter of Chicago’s long-term roster build and projects as a perennial early-round selection in fantasy drafts as he approaches his physical prime.

It was extremely encouraging to see Burns completely dialed in after a mostly forgettable spring that left fanatsy managers with more questions than answers. He generated 13 swinging strikes and topped out at 99.8 mph on his four-seam fastball, limiting Milwaukee’s formidable lineup to just four hits, including a solo homer from Jake Bauers. More importantly, he didn’t hand out a free pass in this one and got hit pitch count up to 68 (53 strikes). The 23-year-old top pitching prospect will kick off the season with an extremely favorable home matchup against the division-rival Pirates on Monday night.

Is it too late for the Yankees to change their minds? Domínguez, who was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last week, took Cubs starter Edward Cabrera deep in the fourth inning for his fourth round-tripper of the spring as part of another multi-hit performance. The 23-year-old top prospect wraps spring training hitting .347 (17-for-48) over 17 games. It’ll likely take an injury or otherwise unexpected development for Domínguez to get another shot with the Yankees this season.

It was extremely encouraging to see Cole wrap up spring training by averaging a sizzling 96.3 mph on his fastball, especially since it was a 91-degree afternoon in the Arizona desert. A solo homer by Alex Bregman accounted for all of the damage against him. The 35-year-old veteran fantasy ace will continue building up his pitch count and stamina on a minor league rehab assignment before making his return from Tommy John surgery at some point in late April or early May. He appears to have been undervalued in early-spring drafts based on how his stuff has looked in game action recently.

Abel also struck out four and walked one while allowing an average exit velocity of 81.2 mph. It was an overall strong performance for Abel, who figures to start against the Royals next week in his first MLB start of the season. If you can wait until Sunday to add Abel, that’s great, but he is a priority waiver target for many right now, so you may need to add him now and hold him until that first start. He has a great foundation with strong fastballs and could be a plus starter for the Twins this season.

Suárez allowed two runs in the first inning and then a two-run home run in the second before settling down and throwing two straight scoreless frames. The fifth inning included three singles and a home run before Suárez was removed from the game. The veteran had only six whiffs on the day, and his velocity was down two mph on his four-seam fastball. We know Suárez is behind schedule due to his time in the World Baseball Classic, so it was good to see him throw 69 pitches here, but he’s also clearly not fully ramped up for the season. We wouldn’t read too much into a spring training start, especially for a pitcher who we know is behind schedule, but we also likely wouldn’t use Suárez against the Astros in his first start.