MLB Player News

Cabrera, sidelined since March 10 when he suffered a strained patellar tendon, will return to game action Sunday, SNY.TV reports.

Cabrera has made a faster than expected recovery, progressing from hitting soft toss and off a tee in the cages to live batting practice and then a minor-league game. He has a week until Opening Night to show he is fully healed. The goal over the next week for the Mets' new double-play combination of Cabrera and Neil Walker to get as many reps as they can to build up chemistry before the regular season starts.

Parmelee (arm) was reassigned to minor league camp Saturday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Parmelee had a shortened stint at the Yankees' major league camp after undergoing surgery to repair a broken arm in September. Still, he managed to get 29-at bats there this spring, although he had mixed results. Parmelee had three doubles and only struck out five times, but he otherwise struggled at the plate with a .172 batting average and .226 OBP. He'll head down to minor league camp to get more regular playing time.

Walker was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk on Saturday, Rich Dubroff of CSN Mid Atlantic reports.

Manager Buck Showalter was complimentary of Walker's spring training performance, but the roster needed to be trimmed down with Opening Day approaching. Walker belted four home runs and drove in 14 runs in his 42 spring training at-bats before being sent down. Dubroff reports that Walker will be the every day left fielder at Norfolk. That said, the Orioles will be trying to get by with an inexperienced Hyun-soo Kim and an injury prone Nolan Reimold in left this season, so Walker could be a prime candidate for a call-up if either of those players struggle or get injured.

Santana is 0-for-8 in his last two games since missing time with mild back discomfort.

He played in games Wednesday and Friday for the Indians, so all signs are pointing toward Santana being ready to go for Opening Day in just over a week. He's gone 12-for-42 with a homer and three RBI in 14 games this spring.

Flores will make his spring debut at first base Friday, and should serve as the team's backup there this season, in addition to his other duties, MLB.com's Anthony DiComo reports.

While the Mets clearly wanted to upgrade from Flores defensively at shortstop by acquiring Asdrubal Cabrera, Flores will get plenty of at-bats this season as the top backup at all of the non-catcher infield positions. Considering that Cabrera (knee) and David Wright (back) are currently banged up, Flores could get a handful of starts in the first couple weeks on the left side of the infield.

Cabrera (knee) will is set to play in a spring training game Sunday and the team believes that he'll be ready for Opening Day, ESPN New York's Adam Rubin reports.

Cabrera has been sidelined since March 10 when he suffered a strained patellar tendon, but he has been able to ramp up his baseball activity in recent days and should be ready to appear in a Grapefruit League game by the end of the weekend. He'll likely serve as a DH on Sunday before getting back into on-field work. Collins said that once Cabrera is healthy, the Mets will need to get him up to speed and comfortable with his double-play counterpart at second base, Neil Walker.

Colabello went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBI in Thursday's 16-1 win over the Tigers.

The three-bagger was Colabello's second of the spring. He's managed just one triple in 215 regular season games. With Edwin Encarnacion down with an oblique injury, Colabello has been seeing time as the designated hitter, but he figures to shift back to first base to split time with Justin Smoak once Encarnacion's ready. Colabello hit .321 last season, but that was with a .411 BABIP.

Votto hit his second home run of the spring in Monday's loss to San Diego. "He's doing a lot of good things," manager Bryan Price told MLB.com. "He's playing with a lot of energy. It's always fun to see him get to his power. He just looks good. He looks advanced for this time of spring."

While Votto has no other extra-base hits besides the two homers, he seems to be seeing the ball well as he typically does, posting an 8:6 BB:K over his first 13 spring games. Votto doesn't have to hit for a ton of power to be highly valuable in fantasy even at first base, but there's reason to think he could approach 30 homers again given the hard-hit rate from a season ago (13th among qualifiers).

Despite a strong spring, Walker appears headed for Triple-A, where he will log at-bats in left field, MASN Sports reports.

The move to left field was necessary after the Orioles signed Chris Davis to a long term deal. The Orioles also have a good prospect in Trey Mancini, who should serve as the primary first baseman at Triple-A. Walker's path to Baltimore is likely tied to the underperformance of current left field options Hyun-soo Kim and Nolan Reimold.

Manager Terry Collins said he hopes Cabrera (knee) is able to DH in a game by the end of the week, Matt Ehalt of The Record reports.

Cabrera is still in the process of rehabbing a strained patella tendon, and while he's yet to take live batting practice, he hit from indoor cages both Saturday and Sunday. The Mets are hoping to have Cabrera by Opening Day, and if he's able to DH by the weekend, that would certainly be a step in the right direction.