MLB Player News

Santana is 0-for-8 in his last two games since missing time with mild back discomfort.

He played in games Wednesday and Friday for the Indians, so all signs are pointing toward Santana being ready to go for Opening Day in just over a week. He's gone 12-for-42 with a homer and three RBI in 14 games this spring.

Flores will make his spring debut at first base Friday, and should serve as the team's backup there this season, in addition to his other duties, MLB.com's Anthony DiComo reports.

While the Mets clearly wanted to upgrade from Flores defensively at shortstop by acquiring Asdrubal Cabrera, Flores will get plenty of at-bats this season as the top backup at all of the non-catcher infield positions. Considering that Cabrera (knee) and David Wright (back) are currently banged up, Flores could get a handful of starts in the first couple weeks on the left side of the infield.

Cabrera (knee) will is set to play in a spring training game Sunday and the team believes that he'll be ready for Opening Day, ESPN New York's Adam Rubin reports.

Cabrera has been sidelined since March 10 when he suffered a strained patellar tendon, but he has been able to ramp up his baseball activity in recent days and should be ready to appear in a Grapefruit League game by the end of the weekend. He'll likely serve as a DH on Sunday before getting back into on-field work. Collins said that once Cabrera is healthy, the Mets will need to get him up to speed and comfortable with his double-play counterpart at second base, Neil Walker.

Colabello went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBI in Thursday's 16-1 win over the Tigers.

The three-bagger was Colabello's second of the spring. He's managed just one triple in 215 regular season games. With Edwin Encarnacion down with an oblique injury, Colabello has been seeing time as the designated hitter, but he figures to shift back to first base to split time with Justin Smoak once Encarnacion's ready. Colabello hit .321 last season, but that was with a .411 BABIP.

Votto hit his second home run of the spring in Monday's loss to San Diego. "He's doing a lot of good things," manager Bryan Price told MLB.com. "He's playing with a lot of energy. It's always fun to see him get to his power. He just looks good. He looks advanced for this time of spring."

While Votto has no other extra-base hits besides the two homers, he seems to be seeing the ball well as he typically does, posting an 8:6 BB:K over his first 13 spring games. Votto doesn't have to hit for a ton of power to be highly valuable in fantasy even at first base, but there's reason to think he could approach 30 homers again given the hard-hit rate from a season ago (13th among qualifiers).

Despite a strong spring, Walker appears headed for Triple-A, where he will log at-bats in left field, MASN Sports reports.

The move to left field was necessary after the Orioles signed Chris Davis to a long term deal. The Orioles also have a good prospect in Trey Mancini, who should serve as the primary first baseman at Triple-A. Walker's path to Baltimore is likely tied to the underperformance of current left field options Hyun-soo Kim and Nolan Reimold.

Manager Terry Collins said he hopes Cabrera (knee) is able to DH in a game by the end of the week, Matt Ehalt of The Record reports.

Cabrera is still in the process of rehabbing a strained patella tendon, and while he's yet to take live batting practice, he hit from indoor cages both Saturday and Sunday. The Mets are hoping to have Cabrera by Opening Day, and if he's able to DH by the weekend, that would certainly be a step in the right direction.

Singleton is running out of time to earn the Astros' starting first base job, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chroncile reports.

Singleton is just 6-for-40 (.150) this spring with 15 strikeouts and only three walks. Tyler White (.344) and A.J. Reed (.258) have out-performed the 24-year-old, but Singleton may still win the job anyway due to his $10 million guaranteed contract. With a little over two weeks remaining in spring training, this position battle figure to come down to the wire.

Santana was scratched from Sunday's lineup due to mild discomfort in his back, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Manager Terry Francona stated that the injury isn't thought to be serious, meaning the respite is merely a precautionary measure to ensure Santana is ready for Opening Day. In 12 games this spring, Santana has put together a formidable .353/.421/.588 slash line, one homer, three RBI, six runs, and four walks versus one strikeout in 34 at-bats.

Cabrera (knee) hit from the indoor cages Saturday and Sunday, and there's still a belief that he'll be available for Opening Day, Marc Carig of Newsday reports.

Cabrera mainly hit from the tee and off soft toss, as he works his way back from a strained patella tendon. With two weeks until Opening Day, he'll need to progress to full batting practice and then game action, likely by next weekend, to be ready for April 3.