MLB Player News

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is looking for more consistency in his third season, according to ESPN.

Rizzo admitted last year was crazy, but he feels more comfortable now. After being traded twice already in his young career, Rizzo said it was nice to know where he was reporting this season. He stressed that he still has things to work on. "The biggest thing in going to the next level is consistency," Rizzo said. "I want to be consistent everyday."

Rizzo plans on making a slight alteration to his swing this spring. The goal is to keep his hands "quieter" at the plate. Rizzo hit .233/.323/.419 in 606 at-bats last year.

Reds manager Bryan Price announced Wednesday his projected batting order for when a right-handed pitcher is on the mound.

Price said Billy Hamilton will lead off, and he will be followed by Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Ryan Ludwick, Todd Frazier, Devin Mesoraco and Zack Cozart.

Price said he would likely switch Bruce and Ludwick in the lineup when a left-handed starter is on the hill. 

Price also reiterated he hasn't given much thought to batting Votto second.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo has expressed confidence he can improve his batting average from last season. The Cubs are showing the same confidence in the 24-year-old first baseman and feel he hasn't reached his full potential yet, according to CSN Chicago.

"His batting average (.233) was bad and certainly the aesthetics of the end of his year weren’t ideal," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. "But when a 23-year-old guy is playing great defense and has some power and patience, I think there’s a lot of potential there. He didn’t have the year he wanted, but I also think there’s some really nice silver linings that you can build on.

"He understands he’s not a finished product. He understands there’s things he can work on and he’s been really good at doing that. Hopefully, he’ll face some adversity from last year and bounce back really strong."

Mets infielder Wilmer Flores will be used in a full-time role, but it's unclear if that will be in the majors, according to the New York Daily News.

Flores is expected to play some shortstop during the spring, and could win that spot if he plays well. But if he isn't able to win that spot, Flores will likely begin the season in the minors. Manager Terry Collins said Flores is at the point in his career where he needs daily at-bats. "I think with what we have on the infield if he's not going to get a lot of playing time, he’s got to go play, at his age," Collins said. "The ceiling on his bat is too high. He’s got to get at-bats."

Collins added that if Flores' bat comes around, he could be a middle of the order hitter. Last season, Flores hit .211 in 95 at-bats. 

Mets infielder Wilmer Flores will see some time at shortstop this offseason, according to the Star-Ledger. 

Flores hasn't played the position since 2011, but the team is interested to see how he'll perform. Flores spent most of the winter working on his conditioning. Flores is confident in his abilities to pick up the position again. "I played for years," Flores said. "It’s not going to be a new position. I’m sure I can play."

Flores hit .211/.248/.295 in 95 at-bats last season.

Some have given up on Ryan Howard. Ryan Howard is certainly not one of them.

In fact, the Phillies first baseman is predicting a renaissance year. He not only stated that he wants to play in all 162 games, but said he could perform well against left-handers and slug 58 home runs, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

That would be some mean feat for Howard, who lost the second half of last season to knee surgery and peaked at 58 homers in 2006. The 10-year veteran batted .266 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI in 286 at-bats in 2013, but just .173 against southpaws.

Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said he isn't concerned about first baseman Paul Goldschmidt getting complacent following a breakout season in 2013, according to MLB.com.

"He's prepared and he's stayed extremely humble," Gibson said. "I don't think anything is going to go to anybody's head. As good as you think Goldy was, in his mind he thinks he could be so much better and he thinks his teammates could be so much better and we agree."

While there has been a lot of chatter this offseason about the Reds moving Joey Votto into the No. 2 spot in the lineup because of his high on-base percentage, manager Bryan Price told MLB Network Radio Wednesday it's unlikely they will move Votto in the lineup.

"I don’t think so," Price said of hitting Votto second. "He’s our best hitter. Our most productive hitter. He's worked hard to understand the strike zone."

The Braves and first baseman Freddie Freeman have agreed to an eight-year contract worth $135 million, MLB.com reports.

News of the two sides agreeing to an extension broke earlier Tuesday and the initial figures had the deal in the $100-million range, but the actual total ends up being a fair amount more than that. An eight-year deal keeps Freeman in Atlanta through 2021, when he'll be 32 years old.

Freeman has spent three seasons and change with the Braves, hitting .285/.358/.466 with 68 home runs and 280 RBI in 1,686 at-bats. He had his best statistical season in 2013, when he hit .319/.396/.501 with 23 home runs and 109 RBI in 551 at-bats.

The Braves extension with first baseman Freddie Freeman will be in the $100 million range, according to FoxSports.com.

Freeman was set to go to arbitration with the club, but avoided it by coming to a multi-year agreement. One source told FoxSports.com the deal could wind up being eight-years, $125 million. It was initially unclear whether the extension would buy out his remaining arbitration-eligible seasons, or if it would cover some of his free-agent years. If the deal is worth close to $100 million, it would surely buy out a few seasons of Freeman's free agency. Freeman is under team control through 2016.