MLB Player News

Carpenter will play for Team USA in this year's WBC, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.

Carpenter, who's slated to move to first base this coming season, is coming off a 2016 campaign during which he slashed .271/.380/.505 with 36 doubles, six triples, 21 homers and 68 RBI. He'll be a part of a loaded Team USA roster that includes Nolan Arenado, Brandon Crawford, Paul Goldschmidt, Daniel Murphy and Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton will play for Team USA in the WBC, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

He'll join the Orioles' Adam Jones and the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen in the starting outfield for Team USA, while his Marlins teammates Christian Yelich and A.J. Ellis will also be on the bench for the squad. Stanton is coming off the worst season of his career, as various injuries limited him to 119 games with a career-low .240 batting average and .815 OPS, and his inability to stay off the DL has so far prevented the 27-year-old from becoming the fantasy superstar his elite power would suggest he could be.

McCutchen is on the USA roster for the World Baseball Classic, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

He will be joined in the outfield by Adam Jones, Christian Yelich, and Giancarlo Stanton. After the Pirates announced he will move to the corner outfield in 2017, it will be interesting to see where manager Jim Leyland plays McCutchen during the WBC.

The Cubs are working with Jimenez to be a bit more patient and use all fields at the plate, CSN Chicago reports.

Jimenez, who had a brilliant 2016 season and is considered the Cubs' top prospect, is just 20 years old and still a few years away from the majors, but the organization considers him advanced for his age. "He is someone who doesn't swing and miss much for (his age)," said Jason McLeod, the Cubs' Senior Vice President of Player Development and Amateur Scouting. "Just tremendous strength to drive balls to the middle of the field, probably makes a little too much contact early in counts. I think that's where we are with him and his development path right now, just understanding what pitchers are trying to do to him. (It's) understanding that he can hit balls 420 feet to right field as well as hitting them 480 to left field."

McCutchen will play right field for the Pirates in 2017.

The Pirates are switching up their outfield alignment, with Starling Marte moving to center field and Gregory Polanco taking over in left. McCutchen had his worst defensive season in 2016 and at 30 years old, he is likely better suited at the corner outfield spot.

After hitting 10 homers with a .333 on-base percentage in 285 plate appearances last season, Dickerson is the favorite to start in left field on Opening Day.

If you extrapolate Dickerson's numbers over the course of a whole season, you could be looking at a poor man's Kole Calhoun (18-20 homers with solid on-base totals) for leagues that use on-base percentage instead of batting average. Dickerson also showed no ill effects from playing half his games at Petco Park. In fact, he was a better hitter at home (.294 and 25.8 PA/HR) than on the road (.229 and 31.2 PA/HR).

Cespedes has been working hard in the offseason to strengthen his lower body and avoid a repeat of the quad injury that limited him in the second half of 2016, The NY Post reports. "I've really been concentrating on my legs so I can work from the ground up,'' Cespedes said earlier this week. "I am the only one who knew how much pain I was in [last season]. I was trying to mask it, trying to play through it and do as much as I could to help the team. After the games I was icing to try to be on the field as much as I could.''

The Mets made a $110 million commitment to Cespedes this offseason, and the 31-year-old has responded in kind by reporting early to the team's spring training complex and fully participating in the regimen that strength and conditioning coach Mike Barwis has laid out for him. Cespedes has posted back-to-back campaigns with more than 30 home runs and a batting average of .280 or better, and after bouncing through four organizations in his first four MLB seasons, he's found a home in New York. A career year in 2017 could be in the offing now that his maturity level seems to have caught up to his physical tools.

Blackmon and the Rockies avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $7.3 million contract Friday, Jon Heyman of Today's Knuckleball reports.

Blackmon will receive more than double his salary from 2016 in his second year of arbitration eligibility. Blackmon's production in the stolen-base department took a hit last year, but he made up for that by posting career bests with 29 home runs, 82 RBI, 11 runs, and a .933 OPS while batting almost exclusively leadoff. He figures to occupy the same spot in the batting order again this year while serving as the Rockies' everyday center fielder.

Ozuna avoided arbitration with the Marlins on Friday with a $3.5 million deal, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports.

Ozuna bounced back from a difficult 2015 season with a .266/.321/.452 line with 23 home runs and a first career All-Star berth in 2016. That'll get him a decent salary for his first round of arbitration.

Harper signed a one-year, $13.625 million deal with the Nationals on Friday, avoiding arbitration, FanRag Sports' Jon Heyman reports.

This is Harper's second to last season before he hits free agency after the 2018 campaign. He received a healthy bump in pay from the $5 million he earned in 2016. While he is coming off a bit of a down year that was dragged down by injuries, Harper will still cost a premium as a late first-round pick in most drafts this season.