MLB Player News

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman won't be restricted for Tuesday's doubleheader against the Rockies, barring a setback.

Freeman was expected to come off the 15-day disabled list Monday but the contest was postponed due to inclement weather. The 23-year-old has not played since April 6 due to a right oblique strain.

Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera returned to the starting lineup Monday at Chicago White Sox after missing his first start of the season Sunday with a left wrist contusion. Cabrera, who has yet to record a multi-hit game, is batting .150 (9 for 60) through 16 games.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard was back in action Sunday against the Cardinals after missing his last two games with a groin injury.

Howard drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the first and added a single in the fourth. He finished 1 for 3 with one RBI in a 7-3 victory. The 33-year-old is hitting.277/.300/.385 with a home run and six RBI in 65 at-bats.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo accounted for both his club's runs Sunday with a two-run home run.

Rizzo went 2 for 4 on the day to get his batting average over .200. His six home runs lead the club and he has a respectable .532 slugging percentage despite his difficulties in hitting for average so far.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who was held out Friday and Saturday with a groin injury, returned to the starting lineup Sunday night against the Cardinals.

Howard has gone 2 for 5 with five walks and an RBI in his career against St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook. The 33-year-old is hitting .274 with a home run and five RBI in 62 at-bats this season.

Reds first baseman Joey Votto homered and scored two runs as part of a 3 for 5 day Sunday against the Marlins.

The home run marked the first time Votto has homered in back-to-back games since September 2011. He now has three on the season and is hitting .328/.522/.516 and trails just teammate Shin-Soo Choo on the NL on-base percentage leaderboard.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum suggested the club's defensive struggles could result in a demotion for multiple players, including young first baseman Anthony Rizzo, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Rizzo made one of the Cubs' three errors in the field Saturday against Milwaukee. He is considered the Cubs' first baseman of the future, and some figured he would be up for good this season even with some early struggles. Sveum disagrees.

"I don’t think anything is invincible if you’re not performing," Sveum said. "That’s still the one main ingredient that has to happen to win baseball games. It’s not about what we think can happen three or four years from now."

Still, it's difficult to imagine the Cubs pulling the trigger on such a move. Rizzo hit .285 with 15 home runs in his first 87 games with the Cubs last season and has five home runs despite a .190 average early on this season. Most likely, Sveum is using the club's early struggles as a motivational tactic, but continued issues, either defensively and offensively, would be unadvisable for Rizzo.

Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is out of the lineup Sunday against Houston, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. 

Cabrera fell on his left wrist in the dugout before Saturday's game against Houston and was removed from the game for precautionary reasons after two at-bats. The official diagnosis is a "mild left wrist contusion" and he isn't expected to be out for long.

Barring any setbacks in the final game of his rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett Sunday, Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (oblique) is expected to rejoin the team for Monday's series opener at Colorado, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Freeman has played just five games this season and has been out since April 7 with a strained right oblique.

In his second outing with Gwinnett Saturday, Freeman went 5 for 5 with three singles and two doubles while also driving in two runs. He also played the entire game at first base and is scheduled do so again Sunday.

With Fernando Martinez coming off the disabled list and getting the start in left field Sunday against Cleveland, Astros outfielder Chris Carter got the game off. Carter is struggling at the dish and has gone just 1 for 19 (.053) over his last six contests. 

Carter, batting .219 overall on the year, has struck out 26 times in 17 games, though he does have four homers and nine RBI.