MLB Player News

Shaw is nursing an oblique injury but is considered day-to-day, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports.

Oblique issues can be worrisome, but this one at least appears to be minor. Still, any sort of setback for Shaw is not ideal since he is competing to be the Cubs' Opening Day third baseman. The team could hold its top prospect out of early spring training games to ensure he's 100 percent healthy before he joins the battle for the starting job at the hot corner.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Friday that Stratton (knee) still needs to show he can go through running and pitchers' fielding practice before he can be considered part of the competition for a bullpen spot, Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Stratton suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his left knee last August, but his recovery has come along well and he just has a couple boxes left to check. The righty held a 3.58 ERA and 33:7 K:BB across 37.2 frames last season before getting hurt and is in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday that May is a possibility to open the season in the bullpen, Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reports.

May is among the competitors for the final spot in the Dodgers' rotation. However, he cannot be optioned to the minor leagues, so he should be part of the Opening Day roster in some capacity. The 27-year-old missed all of 2024 and made a total of just 20 starts from 2021-23 due to injuries. May's absence in 2024 was due to his continued recovery from UCL and flexor surgery and later an esophageal tear, but he is healthy at the start of camp.

Nimmo said Friday that his left foot has started feeling normal again within the past month and he's running at about 90 percent of his top speed, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.

Nimmo dealt with plantar fasciitis in his left foot for much of the 2024 season and revealed in January that it was still bothering him. However, his foot now feels back to normal following a variety of remedies, including physical therapy, shock therapy, strengthening and a PRP injection. He also found new cleats that he believes will help. There's certainly a risk that the plantar fasciitis will crop up again, but for now Nimmo is in a good spot. He plans to play in spring games by early March, which is a normal schedule for him.

The Phillies plan to give Realmuto fewer starts at catcher this season in order to preserve his body, Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.

Manager Rob Thomson has already spoken to Realmuto about the plan and the two are on the same page. While there is no target number of games for Realmuto to handle behind the plate, he said Thursday that his body "feels as good right now as it ever has" and he believes he can start 120-plus games at catcher, if needed. The Phillies are expected to give Realmuto some starts at designated hitter and first base to keep his bat in the lineup while reducing some wear and tear on him, and they've even floated the possibility of using him in left field on occasion. Slated to turn 34 in March, Realmuto was limited to 99 games in 2024 due to knee surgery, and while he remained productive at the plate, he swiped just two bags after racking up 37 steals on 43 attempts over the prior two seasons. Realmuto blamed the knee for his lack of aggressiveness on the bases, saying he "wasn't able to be as explosive," but he feels like he's "in a good spot" now.

Agnos has an outside shot of winning a spot in the big-league bullpen this spring, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

The Rockies have no shortage of high-end relief pitching prospects, with Seth Halvorsen and Jaden Hill impressing in the big leagues late last season, but Agnos is right up there with them from a stuff standpoint. He boasts a four-seam fastball that can reach the upper-90s, a low-90s cutter, a slider and a splitter, and he saved 44 games in the minors over the past two seasons. The 24-year-old righty logged a 1.95 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 33 strikeouts in 27.2 innings at Double-A Hartford last year. Halvorsen is the Rockies reliever drawing the most attention in early fantasy drafts, but there is a path for Agnos to be the team's closer by the end of 2025.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday that Smith is "a little behind" due to an ankle issue, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

Smith has been running on an anti-gravity treadmill, but it's not clear when he might be ready to play in Cactus League contests. He has a tighter window to get ready than most other players this spring since the Dodgers have a March 18-19 series versus the Cubs in Tokyo, but there doesn't seem to be any worry at this point that Smith might be unavailable for those games.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Friday that the team plans to use a five-man rotation until Shohei Ohtani (shoulder/elbow) is ready to pitch, which would seemingly leave Gonsolin in a competition for one remaining spot, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

Manager Dave Roberts recently suggested that Ohtani could be ready to make his season debut on the mound sometime in May, though there's no concrete timeline yet. The Dodgers will shift to a six-man rotation at that point, but until then they will use a traditional five-man setup. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki are locked into four of the spots, which leaves Gonsolin, Dustin May, Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, Ben Casparius and perhaps others competing for the final slot. Roberts said Friday that Gonsolin and May will be considered for the bullpen if they don't make the rotation.

McGreevy added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

McGreevy has a shot at winning one of the last spots in the Cardinals rotation in camp and he's taking the opportunity very seriously, saying he tried to trim as much body fat as he could while putting on the 15 pounds of muscle. "He looks good [this spring training]," said manager Oliver Marmol. "He put on some weight and had a really good offseason, and I'm excited to see what's coming out of that arm." The 24-year-old righty logged 150 innings at Triple-A and 23 innings in the majors last season. He registered an elite 62.5 percent groundball rate and 2.3 percent walk rate in the majors, leading to a 0.78 WHIP. McGreevy sits in the low-90s with his fastball, but he has a plus slider and his command might be double-plus. Andre Pallante and Steven Matz may have a leg up on him for the final two spots in the rotation, but McGreevy is arguably the most appealing of the three from a fantasy perspective.

Giants manager Bob Melvin said Friday that Luciano will be used as a corner outfielder this spring, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.

It's not clear whether Luciano has been permanently moved from middle infield, but the Giants have been mulling a shift to the outfield for him for a while. Luciano admitted to being "totally lost" at the plate last season, when he managed just a .562 OPS and 34.6 percent strikeout rate in 27 games with the big club. The hope is that a move to a less taxing defensive position will help unlock his offensive potential. Luciano is likely to begin the 2025 season at Triple-A Sacramento.