MLB Player News

Cabrera was scratched from the Mets' lineup for Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals after requiring a dental procedure, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

Cabrera isn't expected to require more than a day or two off while he presumably deals with some soreness in his mouth. Jose Reyes entered the lineup in place of Cabrera on Tuesday, manning second base and batting fifth.

Solano was reassigned to the minor leagues following Monday's game against the Athletics, J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles Daily News reports.

Solano went 9-for-32 with six RBI and three extra-base hits in 16 spring training games. Although he could find himself on the major-league squad in the near future following Justin Turner's broken wrist, he'll likely head to Triple-A Oklahoma City for now.

Blandino is still in consideration for winning the Reds' final bench spot, MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports. Blandino is hitting .387/.424/.484 in 33 big league plate appearances through Sunday in spring training.

Working against Blandino is that he has options remaining and Cliff Pennington and Phil Gosselin, his veteran competitors, do not. Blandino was a first-round draft pick back in 2014 but has taken a long time to develop, finally having a breakthrough of sorts at two levels last year. His upside right now appears to be as a utility infielder, and the long-term prospects don't seem great with Eugenio Suarez and Nick Senzel locked in on the left side of the infield.

Shaw was reassigned to minor-league camp Monday, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

While Shaw is one of the team's better prospects, he was always expected to open the season in the minors given the Giants' outfield depth ahead of him. The 24-year-old will return to Triple-A Sacramento to open the season, where he hit a respectable .289/.328/.530 with 18 homers in 88 games last season. If he continues to excel with the River Cats, look for Shaw to possibly make his major-league debut something later this summer.

Hiura was reassigned to minor-league camp Sunday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Hiura had an impressive performance this spring, as he went 11-for-28 (.393) with a home run and seven RBI over 17 games. It remains to be seen where Hiura will open the upcoming season, but he impressed at Low-A Wisconsin during the 2017 season. He slashed .333/.374/.476 and recorded 11 doubles over 27 games with Wisconsin.

Flores got the start in left field for Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals, going 3-for-4 with a double and a two-run home run.

The 26-year-old has never played a regular-season game in the outfield, but Flores is attempting to add more versatility to his resume as he prepares for a utility role in 2018. Wherever and whenever he plays, he should be a weapon against left-handed pitching: For his career, Flores has a .274/.318/.520 slash line against lefties but only a .255/.291/.392 line against righties.

Cabrera went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored in Friday's Grapefruit League game against the Orioles.

Hitting leadoff in this one, Cabrera went yard for the first time this spring, taking O's reliever Donnie Hart deep in the eighth inning. Mets manager Mickey Callaway hasn't tipped his hand yet with regard to who will hit at the top of the lineup, but the veteran infielder certainly didn't hurt his chances of winning the job with this performance.

Smith (quad) still has enough discomfort to prevent him from running and is unsure if he will be able to play in a game before the end of spring training, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.

He essentially has no chance to break camp in the big leagues, so look for him to spend the first month or two of the season knocking any rust off and working on improving his conditioning at Triple-A. Adrian Gonzalez will start at first base for the Mets against righties, while Wilmer Flores and Todd Frazier also serve as options there early in the season.

Goldschmidt went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored in Friday's 4-1 victory over the Dodgers in Cactus League play.

While spring numbers should be taken with a grain of salt for proven commodities like Goldschmidt, his .433 on-base percentage through 11 exhibitions certainly hasn't made fantasy owners regretting their early-round investment in the first baseman. With the humidor in effect at Chase Field in 2018, it's generally expected that Goldschmidt will sacrifice a few home runs from the career-high-tying 36 he smacked a season ago, but he still profiles as an elite commodity at his position even in the most pessimistic projection systems.

Rizzo is batting .333/.375/.593 through 27 Cactus League at-bats with two home runs, eight RBI and six runs scored.

Coming off of his second straight 32-home-run, 109-RBI season, Rizzo should again be viewed as one of the elite players in fantasy baseball this year. The 28-year-old has also been fairly durable, as he's played 155 or more games four times over the last five seasons. Rizzo should be an early-round pick who posts very strong returns in 2018.