MLB Player News

The Giants optioned Whisenhunt to Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.

Though Whisenhunt had shown improved velocity during spring training, he struggled with his command and control. Over four appearances (two starts) during Cactus League play, Whisenhunt was charged with 10 earned runs on eight hits and eight walks while striking out 14 batters over 9.1 innings. With Whisenhunt sent down and with Hayden Birdsong (forearm) set to begin the season on the injured list, Trevor McDonald and Carson Seymour would appear to be first in line to join the San Francisco rotation if a spot were to open up.

The Giants optioned Rodriguez to Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.

Rodriguez was competing to break camp as the backup to Patrick Bailey, but instead the 23-year-old catcher will begin the 2026 campaign at Triple-A. Rodriguez was acquired from the Yankees at the trade deadline last season in the deal that sent Camilo Doval to the Bronx.

Martinez announced Sunday via his personal Instagram account that he has retired from professional baseball.

Martinez had spent the previous three seasons pitching in the Mexican League, but prior to that, the 34-year-old righty enjoyed a productive nine-year run in the majors with the Cardinals. A two-time All-Star selection, Martinez retires with a lifetime 62-52 record and 31 saves to go with a 3.74 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 274 appearances (139 starts).

The Cardinals announced Wednesday that Liberatore will start the team's March 26 season opener against the Rays in St. Louis.

It will be Liberatore's first career Opening Day nod, and it comes against the team that selected him 16th overall in the 2018 Draft. After working mainly as reliever in 2024, Liberatore started all 29 games in which he appeared last regular season, posting an 8-12 record, 4.21 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 122:40 K:BB across 151.2 innings. He's been stellar this spring, with a 2.70 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 14:1 K:BB across 10 innings.

Hassell went 1-for-3 with a stolen base in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals.

Hassell showed off his defensive versatility, playing all three outfield spots over the course of the game. The 24-year-old will likely open the season as the Nationals' fourth outfielder behind James Wood, Dylan Crews and Jacob Young, and if Young's weak bat costs him playing time, Hassell would be the most likely beneficiary. He's far from a finished product, however, batting .286 (8-for-28) this spring with one double, two steals in four attempts and a sketchy 1:9 BB:K.

Irvin allowed three hits and a walk over five scoreless innings in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals. He struck out five.

The right-hander appears to be on the outside looking in for a spot in the Nationals' rotation, but Irvin isn't going down without a fight. He tossed 42 of 66 pitches for strikes against a young St. Louis lineup that featured top prospect JJ Wetherholt as well as Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker, lowering his spring ERA to 1.35 with a 15:4 K:BB over 13.1 innings. Irvin still has minor-league options remaining, so despite his strong camp he's likely to begin the year with Triple-A Rochester after Washington added Zack Littell, Miles Mikolas and Foster Griffin to the rotation mix this offseason.

Bichette went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, a home run and five RBI in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Marlins.

He took prospect Robby Snelling to school in the seventh inning, driving an 0-2 slider over the right-field fence when it caught too much of the plate. The homer was Bichette's first of the spring, and he appears to be rounding into form with Opening Day a little over a week away, batting .267 (8-for-30) on the spring with a 4:5 BB:K. His adjustment to third base also seems to be going well -- Bichette hasn't committed an error since his first Grapefruit League game Feb. 21, and he ably started a 5-4-3 double play March 12 against the Cardinals.

The Mariners optioned Hoppe to Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday.

After being acquired from the Red Sox in November, Hoppe was immediately added to the Mariners' 40-man roster heading into 2026. The 27-year-old righty has yet to make his big-league debut, but he could be a candidate to join the Mariners at some point later on in the season if he thrives with Tacoma. Hoppe split time between Triple-A Worcester and Double-A Portland in Boston's organization last season, logging a 4.55 ERA, 1.52 WHIP and 73:34 K:BB in 61.1 innings.

Sasaki gave up three runs on four hits and four walks while striking out five batters over 3.1 innings in a Cactus League outing against Kansas City on Tuesday.

Sasaki struck out two of the first three batters he faced and got through two frames without being scored upon. In the third, he fanned the first batter of the inning but then walked three straight before being pulled. Under spring training rules, Sasaki was allowed to return for the fourth and faced two batters (giving up one hit), before coming back out for the fifth and yielding a double to end his day for good. Overall, the right-hander threw just 38 of 71 pitches for strikes, and he's now walked a whopping nine batters over just 6.2 spring frames. Sasaki said after the game that the loss of command in the third inning was caused by him trying to work on his sinker, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, but his lack of control during the spring slate is somewhat alarming. Still, manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday that Sasaki "is going to be one of our starters" to begin the regular season, according to Ardaya, so it sounds like the Dodgers are going to at least give the Japanese hurler a chance to show that his results in Cactus League action aren't representative of the campaign that lies ahead of him.

Freeman was scratched from Wednesday's Cactus League lineup against the Reds due to lower-back tightness.

With Freeman idle for Wednesday's exhibition, Cole Carrigg will enter the lineup in center field and bat second, while leadoff man Jake McCarthy moves to left field. Freeman has an .840 OPS across 25 plate appearances this spring. Consider him day-to-day.