MLB Player News

Belt agreed to terms Friday on a five-year extension with the Giants, CSN Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic reports.

The financial details are not immediately available, but the deal is reportedly similar to the six-year, $75 million extension the team handed Brandon Crawford recently, although Belt's deal is expected to be slightly bigger. An average annual value of about $16 million per year starting in 2017, with a tweak to his current one-year deal for 2016 is expected. The Giants are locking up a promising young core, as Belt, who is about to turn 28, would have been a free agent following the 2017 season. San Francisco may be getting Belt at a bargain if it turns out that he has not yet peaked as a player, which is quite possible. Last year he slashed .280/.356/.478 with 18 home runs and nine steals in 137 games, and he is already getting on base at a .409 clip in the early going this year.

Cabrera was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI against the Yankees on Friday afternoon.

He's off to a solid start, hitting .385 with a homer and three RBI. And, with Justin Upton, Victor Martinez, and J.D. Martinez surrounding him in the lineup, it could be a very good year.

Soler is starting in left field and hitting sixth Friday against the Diamondbacks.

This should become a fairly regular occurrence with the news coming down Friday that Kyle Schwarber has a fully torn ACL and LCL and will miss the rest of the season. Soler had a really rough spring training, and if those struggles carry over into extended at-bats over the first couple months, the Cubs have other internal options they can go to, but his playing time should be pretty steady for now. Matt Szczur and Ben Zobrist could also see some starts in left field going forward, along with Javier Baez once he's healthy.

Turner is back in the lineup batting third in Friday's game against the Giants.

This will be Turner's fourth start in five games, a pace we can probably expect all year assuming he's healthy.

Choi is starting at first base and hitting seventh in Friday's game against the Rangers.

This is his first start of the year, and it comes in a favorable spot for the lefty hitter against righty A.J. Griffin. C.J. Cron figures to get most of the starts at first base this year for the Angels, but if Choi impresses, he could work his way into a part-time role.

Ruf will start taking fly balls in left field Saturday, Matt Gelb of The Philly Inquirer reports.

With the Phillies struggling to score runs, the decision has been made to have Ruf start practicing in left field. Current starter Cedric Hunter is just 1-for-8 to start the season, and the Philles need a spark after starting the year 0-4. This move could lead to more at-bats for the 29-year-old and potentially eligibility in the outfield.

Blackmon is back in the lineup for Friday's game against the Padres. He will play center field and bat leadoff against Colin Rea.

After getting the day off Wednesday in Arizona, Blackmon will draw back into the order Friday for the Rockies' home opener. Blackmon will look to shake off his slow start (1-for-9) against right-hander Rea. Last season, Blackmon hit 31 points points higher (.295) against right-handers than he did against lefties.

Brantley (shoulder) still has no timetable on when he'll head out on a rehab assignment and may not be back with the Indians until the end of April, MLB.com reports.

Brantley's headed to Triple-A Columbus this weekend to workout but will not get into any games. Brantley didn't suffer any setbacks this spring but did have some lingering soreness once he tried to ramp things up for the start of the regular season so expect the Indians to tread with some caution here as he works his way back from offseason surgery.

Harper went 1-for-3 with two walks and scored twice in Thursday's loss to the Marlins. His only hit was a solo shot in the seventh, the 99th homer of his career, MLB.com reports.

The 2015 MVP is off to a quick start through the first three games of 2016, hitting .300 (3-for-10) with two walks, two RBI, three runs, two home runs and a stolen base -- especially useful numbers for those in 5x5 formats. Harper's speed has declined since entering the league, but his power numbers have exploded, hitting career-high levels in 2015 when the 23-year-old smashed 42 home runs with a .649 slugging percentage. Owners can expect to see more of the same this season, as Harper aims to amass 100 RBI for the first time in his young career.

Pederson went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and two runs scored against the Giants on Thursday.

Four games into the season, we've seen a pretty familiar version of Pederson -- one who's off to a strong start and is showing his power bat, but has also struck out seven times in 16 at-bats. The enticing potential for a power-speed combo will keep him in fantasy lineups, but he's going to struggle with batting average again if he can't start making more contact.