MLB Player News

Senzatela is a candidate for the final spot in the Rockies' rotation, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

Jon Gray, German Marquez, Tyler Anderson and Chad Bettis seem to be favorites for the top four spots in the rotation heading into spring. This leaves Senzatela, Jeff Hoffman and Kyle Freeland for the final spot. Senzatela has great minor-league numbers to his name to go with the fact that he actually won this same competition last spring, but there are a number of reasons to be wary of his as well. The 23-year-old righty faded significantly down the stretch and put up mediocre strikeout numbers at best, finishing with a modest 102 strikeouts over 134.2 big-league innings. His upside is relatively low especially given his struggles at Coors Field -- he had a 5.15 ERA and 1.27 WHIP over 78.2 home innings last season -- so he's relatively unattractive even if he does crack the Opening Day roster.

Flaherty will start the Cardinals' Grapefruit League opener Friday against the Marlins, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Teams typically lean heavily on their younger arms early on in the exhibition slate before veteran pitchers increase their workloads closer to the start of the season, so it's not surprising that the 22-year-old Flaherty will garner the first start of the spring rather than the Cardinals' more established options. Flaherty may receive a token shot to audition for spot in the big-league rotation this spring, but Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright look like safe bets to win back-end rotation roles. Flaherty, who posted a 2.74 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 85.1 innings with Triple-A Memphis in 2017 before garnering a late-season promotion to the majors, is thus likely to open the upcoming campaign in the minors, though he may rank first in line to enter the St. Louis rotation in the event of an injury.

Marquez is a favorite to land a rotation spot out of spring training, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

Heading into the spring, there are essentially seven pitchers vying for five rotation spots. Jon Gray, Chad Bettis and Tyler Anderson are the closest to being "sure things," but Marquez is arguably the next in line for a starting role. The 22-year-old posted a 4.39 ERA with an 8.2 K/9, and managed to be the only Colorado rookie still in the rotation by the end of 2017. Kyle Freeland, Jeff Hoffman and Antonio Senzatela are also set to compete for back-end rotation spots, but it will likely take major struggles or an injury to supplant Marquez from his standing in the starting pitching staff.

Anderson seems to be entrenched in the Rockies' rotation to start 2018, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

As things stand now, there appear to be seven pitchers vying for five spots in the rotation. Righties Jon Gray and Chad Bettis, as well as Anderson are expected to be staples of the starting staff to begin the season. The 28-year-old southpaw struggled a bit last year, but that was mostly due to a lofty 1.7 HR/9 and a decreased groundball-to-flyball ratio. That said, Anderson does bring some intrigue due to his increased velocity and strange ability to produce better numbers at Coors Field than on the road (4.14/5.44 home/road ERA last year). Injuries are the biggest red flag for him moving forward, but he seems to have a rotation spot secured heading into Cactus League play.

DeGrom left Mets camp Tuesday to be with his wife for the impending birth of the couple's second child, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

The right-hander is expected to rejoin the Mets on Saturday after taking a few days to spend time with family. Given deGrom's importance to the Mets' rotation, it's unlikely that manager Mickey Callaway was planning on using him extensively early in the Grapefruit League schedule, so leaving the team for a brief spell probably won't put the pitcher too far behind the rest of his rotation mates.

Cabrera was designated for assignment by the Braves on Monday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

To make room for the newly-acquired Peter Moylan, Atlanta opted to designate Cabrera for assignment. Cabrera had a rough showing at Triple-A Gwinnett in 2017, where he spent the bulk of last season. Over 24 games (26.1 innings) he posted a 7.86 ERA and 1.94 WHIP.

Smyly (elbow) is hopeful to return from the 60-day disabled list at some point in August, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports.

The Cubs inked Smyly to a two-year, $10 million contract this offseason with the understanding that the lefty would spend the first season of the deal rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent last July. The 28-year-old is apparently optimistic that he'll only need 13 months to fully recover from the procedure, but a firm return date likely won't be established until he advances further into his throwing program. Smyly indicated he's currently in the middle phase of that program, but there's no indication that he's especially close to facing hitters.

Guillon has not reported to spring camp due to difficulties with his visa, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

Guillon is the only Nationals player still not in camp, though manager Dave Martinez expects him to join the rest of the team within the next couple of days. Either way, Guillon is expected to serve as organizational pitching depth in 2018. He reached Triple-A for the first time in his professional career in 2017, though he struggled to a 5.20 ERA, 1.71 WHIP and 5.9 BB/9 across 53.2 innings there.

Musgrove skipped a scheduled bullpen session Sunday due to right shoulder discomfort, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Shoulder discomfort forced Musgrove to the disabled list for a 10-day stint last season. The righthander was acquired in the Gerrit Cole trade and is expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation. Tyler Glasnow and Steven Brault would likely vie for the fifth starter's spot if Musgrove is forced to the DL.

Nix was held out of Sunday's workout with what the Padres categorized as a "lower leg problem," Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The leg issue is viewed as a short-term concern for Nix, who is attending camp with the big club but not under serious consideration for an Opening Day roster spot. The 22-year-old logged a 4.67 ERA and 1.37 WHIP across 94.1 innings between High-A Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio last season.