MLB Player News

Cron is not in the lineup Saturday against Kansas City, 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City reports.

Cron sat against left-hander Danny Duffy on Friday, and he'll remain out of the lineup Saturday, even with righty Nate Karns on the mound for Kansas City. Albert Pujols will get the nod at first base, while Mike Trout serves as the DH.

Calhoun will drop down to fifth in the order for Saturday's game against the Royals.

Saturday marks the first time this season that Calhoun isn't batting second in the Angels' order. That said, it's possible that manager Mike Scioscia wanted to shake things up in the lineup after the Angels were held to seven combined runs over their last three games. Calhoun and the Angels will be facing right-hander Nathan Karns on Saturday.

Carter is slotted in the third spot as the designated hitter for Saturday's matinee against the Cardinals, Brandon Kuty of The Star-Ledger reports.

Carter receives the spot start in place of an ailing Matt Holliday (back). The 30-year-old slugger is hitting .176/.250/.294 to begin the season, stats he will need to improve upon if he wants to see more playing time.

Freeman went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and a run scored in Friday's win over the Padres.

Through nine games this season, Freeman's slashing a robust .361/.425/.722 with three homers, although all three have been solo shots. Once Ender Inciarte and Dansby Swanson begin reaching base more often ahead of him, or manager Brian Snitker shakes up his batting order to get some more OBP at the top, expect Freeman to start racking up more RBI.

Joseph went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in a 3-2 loss to the Nationals on Friday.

The homer, Joseph's first of the season, came off a 95 mph fastball from Stephen Strasburg. The young slugger is off to a slow start with just four hits and 10 strikeouts in his first nine games. He has some time to get things going, but could be pushed for his job this summer if Rhys Hoskins keeps hitting at Triple-A and Joseph has not found his rhythm in the majors.

Gurriel is out of the lineup Friday against the A's.

Marwin Gonzalez will get an opportunity at first base against right-hander Kendall Graveman. Gurriel got off to a bit of a rocky start this season, going 2-for-21 in his first six games, but he's picked it up with six hits in his last three games (five singles). He remains the primary first baseman for Houston.

Cron is not in the lineup Friday against the Royals, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports.

Cron has become part of a platoon with Jeffry Marte in the early going, so the former will head to the bench with southpaw Danny Duffy toeing the rubber for Kansas City. Look for Cron to resume his normal role in the lineup Saturday when right-hander Nathan Karns takes the hill.

Cron came off the bench Thursday, going 0-for-1 in his only plate appearance against the Rangers.

It appeared that a strict platoon was developing at first base with Cron and Jeffry Marte. However, manager Mike Scioscia benched the lefty against the right-handed Yu Darvish on Thursday. The 27-year-old Cron is batting .304 (7-for-23) in seven games this season, so the benching is a bit puzzling. He was still worth rostering for his power on the strong side of a first base platoon, but after Thursday's lineup construction, it is unclear what Scioscia has in mind regarding playing time, making it hard to roster either first baseman for the time being.

Bell is not in the starting lineup Friday against the Cubs, Adam Berry of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Bell is batting .143 in 28 at-bats. He's seeing more pitches per plate appearance (4.23) than he did as a rookie (4.06), but he could lose playing time in the short term if he doesn't find his stroke. The Pirates often remove him in favor of a late-inning defensive replacement at first base. Despite starting eight games, the 24-year-old has completed only three. John Jaso will get the nod at first base Friday at Wrigley Field.

Flores got the start at first base and went 2-for-7 with a solo home run, his second blast of the season, and a second run scored in Thursday's extra-inning win over the Marlins.

He shifted over to third base once Wei-Yin Chen was off the mound for Miami and Lucas Duda entered the game, but manager Terry Collins' decision to keep Jose Reyes on the bench might have prolonged the 16-inning marathon as Flores went 0-for-5 once Chen was out of the game, including grounding into an inning-ending double play in the ninth. The 25-year-old's primary value to the Mets remains as a lefty-killer, but if Reyes' early-season struggles continue Flores could see more action against right-handed pitching, giving him more run and RBI opportunities at the expense of his batting average.