MLB Player News

When asked about former Mets teammate Ruben Tejada, Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes shook his head and said "something is wrong," per Newsday.

Reyes revealed that during his final season with the Mets he tried to pass the torch to Tejada to become his replacement. Reyes landed in Miami in the offseason, and Tejada was destined to be his permanent replacement. Now entering spring training, Wilmer Flores is viewed as the favorite to win the starting job at shortstop for the Mets.

"Every time I talk to him I try to give him some advice," Reyes said. "What can I do? I try to push him to do stuff. I don't know if he gets it or not...He had the opportunity to be the everyday shortstop for a long time there in New York. You have to work, man. When you're younger, you think you have everything there for you. But if you do something wrong, it's going to go away. Quick.

"When I was there, I always give a lot of advice to him. We were always together. My last year there, every time I talk to him: 'This is going to be your position for a long time. Don't let it go away.' See what happened now? It's 2015 and he doesn't have a position to play. When they talk about who is going to play every day, they don't talk about Tejada. They talk about Flores."

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is working on his swing, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Howard has spent time working with Charlie Manuel during camp. Manuel was brought in as spring training hitting instructor. Manager Ryan Sandberg has noticed the change in Howard's approach already. "As far as making some adjustments there, to really zone in to something that can really be productive for him and a little bit more consistent," Sandberg said. "I think there has been a little tweaking going on there."

Howard apparently has looked different at the plate. His stance has been described as "looser" and his hands are much lower when he starts his swing. 

The 35-year-old hit .223/.310/.380 over 569 at-bats last year. 

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said Wednesday he has been impressed with veteran first baseman Ryan Howard following the team's first two full-squad workouts, per MLB.com.

"Ryno looks like, his body looks like right now, he's going to allow himself to be more productive," Sandberg said. "Just running the bases he looks better, a much better chance of scoring from second base. Much better getting to the cutoff spots playing first base. There should be more range there with the way that he looks from the waist down."

Howard has declined to talk to reporters since arriving for camp Monday. Some feel he could be playing with a chip on his shoulder after an interesting offseason, which included settling a nasty legal battle with his family, dealing with trade rumors and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. saying the Phillies would be better off without him.

"He doesn't act like he has a chip on his shoulder," Sandberg said. "He acts like he's a teammate here and he's a veteran guy helping the young players. So I like the attitude and the fact that he's getting after it and doing extra work with Charlie [Manuel], but with [Larry] Bowa in the mornings and sometimes afterwards on the defensive side of things. That'll go a long way with getting the most out of Ryno, really getting back to the ability and where he needs to be on the field."

Reds manager Bryan Price gave reporters positive reviews of first baseman Joey Votto through Cincinnati's first couple of workouts in Arizona, per MLB.com.

"He looks good," Price said. "The only thing he missed that the healthier players had the advantage of doing was really being able to immediately engage in baseball activity. He had to spend the first two-thirds of his offseason really focused on his continued rehab and strengthening. He hasn't had as much baseball activity as some of the guys who finished the year healthier.

"I'm really pleased with how he's moving around, how he looked in the cage, how he looked at first base. He was throwing the ball well, looked spry. I was happy to see that for sure."

Votto struggled with a left quadriceps injury in 2014 and did not play again after July 5. He hit .255/.390/.409 over 220 at-bats last season.

Reds first baseman Joey Votto fired back at some recent comments made about the team's lack of leadership in 2014, according to MLB.com.

Votto gathered a group of local beat writers, and said the criticisms lobbed by former Reds pitcher Mat Latos were off-base. Votto didn't directly address Latos, but the pitcher brought the issue to the public recently. "The thing that upsets me the most is the people that are talking about leadership and talking about our clubhouse are not in our clubhouse," Votto said. 

Votto went on to say that he believes the only reason there were negative stories about the team's leadership is due to their poor 2014 season. 

The 31-year-old Votto struggled with injuries last year, hitting .255/.390/.409 over 220 at-bats. 

It hasn't been a secret the Phillies have tried this offseason to trade first baseman Ryan Howard. Although unsuccessful in their attempts to trade the veteran slugger, it appears Howard will be the team's starting first baseman, barring any injuries or spring training moves.

Despite facing some criticism from Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., manager Ryne Sandberg believes Howard can help the team in 2015, per MLB.com.

"It's a new season, a fresh year for him," Sandberg said. "I had a good talk with him about working on his complete game, defensively, running and getting all that in, and I think that will help him with his whole game as well as his offense. It's not about working on one thing and being one dimensional, it's about working on his whole game. And so with the way that he looks, it should be a good camp for him."

Sandberg added he doesn't believe the speculation about Howard's future will affect the veteran first baseman.

"He's a professional and like everyone," Sandberg said. "He's in camp to get ready for a season, get in the best shape possible and get ready to go to help us win. Whatever else happens is on the business side of things and there's nothing you can do about that."

Although Mets infielder Wilmer Flores is viewed as the favorite to win the starting job at shortstop, he is taking nothing for granted.

"I'm just here like the years before, fighting for a job," he said, per NJ.com. "I got nothing secure so I'm just fighting for it.

"Everybody has their own opinion about every guy and about every player. Just wait until I play, until I play the season. We'll see how it goes. I'm ready to take this job and I'm ready to fight."

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. apologized to first baseman Ryan Howard for his offseason comments, according to philly.com.

Early in the offseason, Amaro told reporters that the team would be better off without Howard moving forward. Once camp started, however, Amaro reversed course. "Frankly, I apologized for those comments that I made that were public," Amaro said. "And I think he appreciated that." 

Amaro went out of his way to stress that Howard has always been a positive force with the club, and has never been a distraction. "This is a guy who’s always been a very positive person," he said." Great teammate. Good person for the younger players to be around."

The 35-year-old Howard hit .223/.310/.380 over 569 at-bats last year. He's set to make $25 million in 2015. 

Reds first baseman Joey Votto arrived two days early for spring training and spoke with reporters about whether he's expecting to be fully cleared without limitations.

“I haven’t gone through the evaluation process with the strength staff and the [physical therapy] staff and the doctor and obviously, the baseball people," Votto said, via MLB.com. "If I get a couple of days under my belt and get the evals done, I think we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at. As far as how I feel now, I feel good.”

Votto suffered a distal strain of his left quadriceps a year ago that forced him to miss 100 games. In 2014, Votto hit .255 with six home runs, 16 doubles and 23 RBI in 62 games.

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said Wednesday he expects Ryan Howard to be the team's starting first baseman in 2015, per The News Journal.

"I'll tell you one thing, he can get on the field and work at first base with Larry Bowa and he can get his running as good as it can be and he can work with Charlie Manuel and Steve Henderson and all of the hitting guys we have in camp to see where he can really get his stroke," Sandberg said. "If he can help us win games by being a bat like he has been in the past that would help us out."

In mid-January, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Howard will have to earn the starting job in spring training, but also hinted Howard is the favorite to start at first base.

"I think that if Ryan's with us, and he's likely to be with us in spring training, I think Ryan's got to prove to us that he's ready to play every day at first base for us," Amaro said. "I mean I'm kind of looking forward to him being ready and healthy and contributing. Right now, there's nobody really that can unseat him."