PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — Zach Davies has to compensate for his lack of velocity.“There are some guys who just go out there and throw, and that’s great and it works," San Diego's newly acquired pitcher said. "Unfortunately, I don’t have that. But there are ways to be successful other than throw hard and try to blow it by people, and that’s something I’ve had to focus on.”Davies, whose fastball averaged just under 89 mph last season, was acquired from Milwaukee in late November along with center fielder Trent Grisham for left-hander Eric Lauer, infielder Luis Urías and a player to be named.Davies examines video of other pitchers who rely on command and control, such as former Padre Jake Peavy, Tim Hudson and Kyle Hendricks.“Just kind of see how hitters react to it," Davies said. "There are differences in the way you sequence and the way you throw to guys, but you can kind of see the way hitters react in certain situations. And if you want to change your game plan, you know what works with other... [More]

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Jason Kipnis joined the Chicago Cubs this spring for a shot at the second base job. He also realizes the role he plays in helping develop 22-year-old prospect Nico Hoerner.“I think he’s a stud. He’s going to be one. He’s a young guy with a lot of talent and I don’t want to get in the way of him progressing in this game, or getting better,” Kipnis said at spring training this week.The two-time All-Star spent his entire nine-year career in Cleveland, amassing nearly 100 postseason at-bats, including the Indians run to the 2016 World Series when they lost in seven games to the Cubs.Kipnis, who signed a minor league deal Feb. 11 that included an invitation to major league spring training, said he remembers coming up himself as a top prospect just trying to make his way.“I’ve had good mentors, and bad ones. Ones that didn’t help at all and made it even harder. I just know that’s not how it should work,” said Kipnis, from Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.Kipnis, Hoerner,... [More]

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Maikel Franco has a new look to go along with a new attitude.Franco had short hair, rather than his usual shoulder-length dreadlocks, when he arrived at the Kansas City Royals’ spring training clubhouse.In fact, Royals catcher Salvador Pérez did not recognize him at first when Franco showed up in Miami to work out together."In general, I just want to be different this year,” Franco said. “A new year, a new team, a new experience. I’ve got a lot of reputation, but I’m just trying to be a new guy.”Franco was let go by the Philadelphia Phillies after hitting .234 with 17 home runs and 56 RBIs last season. The Royals signed him to a $2.95 million, one-year contract on Dec. 27 with a chance to earn another $1.05 million in performance bonuses.Franco is set to become the Royals’ everyday third baseman.Hunter Dozier, who started 99 games at third base for the Royals last year, will shift to right field. Cheslor Cuthbert, Chris Owings and Kelvin Gutierrez also started games... [More]

GOODYEAR, Arizona (AP) — Cleveland Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco felt discomfort in his right leg during a spring training workout this week and is undergoing imaging tests. Carrasco, who made an inspiring comeback last season after being diagnosed with leukemia, is getting an MRI. The Indians said he will not work out Thursday and the team plans to provide an update on his status Friday.If Carrasco is out for any period, it will put further strain on Cleveland's pitching depth. Right-hander Mike Clevinger recently underwent knee surgery and will be out until mid-April.The 32-year-old Carrasco revealed last June that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. He received treatments and battled back, making his return as a reliever on Sept. 1. He and the Indians are hoping he can again pitch in their starting rotation this season.Carrasco recently said his health was good and he was excited about the upcoming season.After he returned last season, Carrasco made 11 relief appearances in September, posting a 6.60 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 15 innings.Carrasco's comeback moved his players and fans across baseball. He received an emotional salute at the All-Star Game in Cleveland. Following the season he received the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to a player who demonstrates a deep commitment to community.___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Jason Kipnis joined the Chicago Cubs this spring for a shot at the second base job. He also realizes the role he plays in helping develop 22-year-old prospect Nico Hoerner.“I think he’s a stud. He’s going to be one. He’s a young guy with a lot of talent and I don’t want to get in the way of him progressing in this game, or getting better,” Kipnis said at spring training this week.The two-time All-Star spent his entire nine-year career in Cleveland, amassing nearly 100 postseason at-bats, including the Indians run to the 2016 World Series when they lost in seven games to the Cubs.Kipnis, who signed a $1 million minor league deal Feb. 11 as a non-roster invitee to camp, said he remembers coming up himself as a top prospect just trying to make his way.“I’ve had good mentors, and bad ones. Ones that didn’t help at all and made it even harder. I just know that’s not how it should work,” said Kipnis, from Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.Kipnis, Hoerner, Daniel Descalso... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates' Pablo Reyes was suspended 80 games on Wednesday under the major league drug program following a positive test for the performance-enhancing drug Boldenone.He became the second player in three days suspended for Boldenone, which is sold under the brand name Equipose and is used commonly on horses. Houston pitcher Francis Martes was suspended for the 2020 season on Monday following a positive test for Boldenone, his second violation of the major league drug program.Reyes, a 26-year-old outfielder and infielder, made his major league debut in September 2018 and hit .293 with three homers and seven RBIs in 63 plate appearances.He hit .203 with two homers and 19 RBIs in 157 plate appearances for the Pirates last year and batted .286 with 10 homers and 30 RBIs in 191 plate appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis. He was on the Pirates' 40-man roster before he was designated for assignment on Jan. 9 to clear a roster spot when outfielder Guillermo Heredia was signed. Reyes was sent outright to Indianapolis on Jan. 16.Reyes did not have a statement, the players' association said.Three players have been suspended this year under the big league program. Colorado pitcher Justin Lawrence was suspended for 80 games following a positive test for the performance-enhancing substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT). Lawrence has yet to make his big league debut.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi expects catcher J.T. Realmuto to be back in spring training Thursday and does not believe there will be any fallout from his arbitration hearing in Arizona. Realmuto, eligible for free agency after this season, asked for a raise from $6.05 million to $12.4 million and was offered $10 million.“I think he has the right attitude. And I think he understands that it’s a business," Girardi said. "I always worry about players when they go to the hearing because one side is arguing everything great about the player and the other side is trying to keep it down. If it gets to that, I’ll sit down and talk to him." Realmuto and the Phillies may try to negotiate a long-term contract. “I think he’s a smart enough man and he understands that this is one year and then I’m a free agent," Girardi added. "I’m not going to let this get in the way of my playing and I need to have a really good year.”PROSPECT BACK ON MOUNDSpencer Howard, the top-rated... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Houston infielder Aledmys Díaz, Miami first baseman Jesús Aguilar and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Brian Goodwin all won their salary arbitration cases Wednesday, cutting the teams' advantage to 6-4 in decisions this year with three cases remaining.Díaz was awarded $2.6 million by arbitrators Mark Burstein, Stephen Raymond, Gary Kendellen rather than the $2 million offered by the Astros, which matched Díaz's salary last year.Aguilar was given a raise from $637,500 to $2,575,000 instead of the Marlins' figure of $2,325,000 in a decision by Jeanne Charles, Steven Wolf and Edna Francis.Goodwin received a raise from $585,500 to $2.2 million rather than the team's $1.85 million offer. That case was decided by Dan Brent, Melinda Gordon and Elizabeth Neumeier.Acquired by Houston from Toronto in November 2018, Díaz hit .271 for the AL champions with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 247 plate appearances over 69 games. He was 0 for 9 with a walk in the postseason.Goodwin hit .262 last... [More]

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Mike Fiers is scheduled to start a split-squad game for Oakland on Sunday in his first game action since revealing the Houston Astros' cheating scheme.It had not been determined Wednesday whether Fiers' spring training debut would come in the home game versus San Francisco or against Arizona in Scottsdale.Fiers went 15-4 last season, including the second no-hitter of his career, as the A's earned an AL wild-card spot.In a story published by The Athletic in November, Fiers said the Astros had stolen signs using a camera in center field during their run to the 2017 World Series championship. Fiers played on that team.The ensuing scandal resulted in three managers losing their jobs, a fine and other penalties, and has become the talk of Major League Baseball. Many players have harshly spoken about the Astros, saying they should be stripped of their title.There has been debate among fans and others whether Fiers did the right thing in his role as a whistleblower. Commissioner... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — As spring training approached and he remained unsigned, Brock Holt got antsy."I thought free agency was going to be a fun thing to go through, but it wasn't. Pretty stressful," Holt said Wednesday after finalizing a one-year deal with Milwaukee. “I don't think I dealt with it that well. My wife over the last couple weeks is like, `Hey, you need to get a job and get out of here.' So I think she's finally excited I'm out of the house and not stressing about it.”Holt's deal includes a team option for 2021. The 31-year-old left-handed batter had spent his first eight major league seasons with the Boston Red Sox and was an All-Star in 2015.Holt hit a career-high .297 last year with three homers and 31 RBIs in 295 plate appearances while playing every position except pitcher, catcher and center field. “Ï told him that you don't know where you're going to play, you just know that we'll find a spot for you to play," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He comes with a great reputation... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates' Pablo Reyes was suspended 80 games on Wednesday under the major league drug program following a positive test for the performance-enhancing drug Boldenone.He became the second player in three days suspended for Boldenone, which is sold under the brand name Equipose and is used commonly on horses. Houston pitcher Francis Martes was suspended for the 2020 season on Monday following a positive test for Boldenone, his second violation of the major league drug program.Reyes, a 26-year-old outfielder and infielder, made his major league debut in September 2018 and hit .293 with three homers and seven RBIs in 63 plate appearances.He hit .203 with two homers and 19 RBIs in 157 plate appearances for the Pirates last year and batted .286 with 10 homers and 30 RBIs in 191 plate appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis. He was on the Pirates' 40-man roster before he was designated for assignment on Jan. 9 to clear a roster spot when outfielder Guillermo Heredia was signed. Reyes was sent outright to Indianapolis.Reyes did not have a statement, the players' association said.Three players have been suspended this year under the big league program. Colorado pitcher Justin Lawrence was suspended for 80 games following a positive test for the performance-enhancing substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT). Lawrence has yet to make his big league debut.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

PHOENIX (AP) — Houston infielder Aledmys Díaz, Miami first baseman Jesús Aguilar and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Brian Goodwin all won their salary arbitration cases Wednesday, cutting the teams' advantage to 6-4 in decisions this year with three cases remaining.Díaz was awarded $2.6 million by arbitrators Mark Burstein, Stephen Raymond, Gary Kendellen rather than the $2 million offered by the Astros, which matched Díaz's salary last year.Aguilar was given a raise from $637,500 to $2,575,000 instead of the Marlins' figure of $2,325,000 in a decision by Jeanne Charles, Steven Wolf and Edna Francis.Goodwin received a raise from $585,500 to $2.2 million rather than the team's $1.85 million offer. That case was decided by Dan Brent, Melinda Gordon and Elizabeth Neumeier.Acquired by Houston from Toronto in November 2018, Díaz hit .271 for the AL champions with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 247 plate appearances over 69 games. He was 0 for 9 with a walk in the postseason.Goodwin hit .262 last... [More]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — As Justin Verlander approaches his 37th birthday, Houston's ace evolves to maintain the skills that allowed him to win his second Cy Young Award last season, eight years after he won the first one. Verlander, who will turn 37 on Thursday, talked about aging this week as he prepares for his 16th MLB season. “The end goal is just to continue to adapt and try to be successful and fight this age thing,” he said. “You can't just keep doing the same stuff. Your body changes as you get older and you need to adapt and do things a little bit differently to try stay on top of your game.”Verlander was able to do that last season when he led the majors with 21 wins and his 2.58 ERA ranked second in the American League. He won the AL Cy Young Award for the first time since 2011, when he also was MVP.Verlander led the majors with 223 innings, his most since 2012, and his 34 starts tied for the most in the league. he became just the sixth pitcher to throw three no-hitters.... [More]

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Mike Fiers is scheduled to start a split-squad game for Oakland on Sunday in his first game action since revealing the Houston Astros' cheating scheme.It had not been determined Wednesday whether Fiers' spring training debut would come in the home game versus San Francisco or against Arizona in Scottsdale.Fiers went 15-4 last season, including the second no-hitter of his career, as the A's earned an AL wild-card spot.In a story published by The Athletic in November, Fiers said the Astros had stolen signs using a camera in center field during their run to the 2017 World Series championship. Fiers played on that team.The ensuing scandal resulted in three managers losing their jobs, a fine and other penalties, and has become the talk of Major League Baseball. Many players have harshly spoken about the Astros, saying they should be stripped of their title.There has been debate among fans and others whether Fiers did the right thing in his role as a whistleblower. Commissioner... [More]

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Expecting another big season from their high-octane offense, the Minnesota Twins hope to pitch well enough to win a second straight AL Central title.Minnesota set a major-league record with 307 homers and was eighth with a 4.18 ERA last year."We had a pretty darn good pitching staff last year statistically speaking,” said right-hander Jake Odorizzi, who went 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA in 30 starts. “You didn’t hear anything about it because we had such a historic offense. As with any staff, I think we’re fine with it. We don’t need the notoriety. This isn’t the Nationals’ pitching staff, the guys that have tremendous staffs that always get talked about.”Minnesota was second in runs with 939 and batting average at .274. The ERA was fifth among AL teams.“I think we’re just going to try and build off what we did last year,” the 29-year-old Odorizzi said. “If we get talked about a little more this year, great. If not, as long as we win, we’re a happy group.”Minnesota signing... [More]

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Shin-Soo Choo wants to enjoy baseball even more this season, all of those times in the clubhouse and on the field while still at the top of the Texas Rangers lineup."I don't know what's going to happen at the end of the year," said Choo, the 37-year-old leadoff hitter going into the final season of his $130 million, seven-year contract.Choo has genuine confidence that he can play at a high level for another couple of years, or more, after 2020. There is just no way to know if he will be re-signed by the Rangers, maybe go to another team or decide it's time to be at home full-time with his wife and three growing children. Those are all questions he said are too early to consider. “I still love this game," Choo said. "I'm still lucky to play major league level, and then it's very special, major league uniform, wearing my number on it, my name on it on the back. That's very special, very lucky. I still feel that way, so we'll see.”His oldest kid is a 14-year-old son... [More]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees star Giancarlo Stanton imagined having the advantage the Houston Astros gained in their scam."If knew what was coming in '17, I probably would have hit 80-plus home runs," he said Wednesday.Stanton agreed with teammate Aaron Judge that the Astros should be stripped of their 2017 World Series title and that they kept on cheating during the 2019 season.Major League Baseball concluded the Astros used a video camera to steal catchers' signs in 2017, including during the postseason, and in 2018. "They did their investigation and it was clear-cut that they cheated that year, which means it should be taken away," Stanton said. "If you cheat in another way during the season, you can't even be in the playoffs. It's pretty much the same difference."Houston owner Jim Crane said at a news conference last week he wasn't sure how much of an advantage the sign stealing was for his team.Houston beat the Yankees in a seven-game AL Championship Series in 2017, winning... [More]

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Marcus Semien stayed with his batting cage routine from the start of last season, and it paid off with career numbers for the Oakland Athletics’ slugging shortstop.Semien posted career-best numbers with 33 home runs, 92 RBIs, a .285 batting average and 187 hits. All from almost exclusively the leadoff spot in 2019, from where he helped lead the A’s to their second straight AL wild-card game.“In years past I felt like I was searching a little bit, trying to find something that felt right,” Semien said Wednesday at spring training. “And I stuck with something the whole year. I did in my lower half. It was more in my legs with my swing and just learned a lot about my swing.”Semien, at 29 years old now in his sixth season with the A’s, said his home runs were a byproduct of being ahead in the count more often and swinging at strikes. He hit 22 of his home runs from July to September.Semien was as reliable as any A’s player in the A’s 97-win 2019 campaign. He played all 162... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Christian Yelich was driven last year by a desire to improve on the performance that earned him the NL MVP award in 2018.He won his second straight NL batting title and finished second to the Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger in the MVP vote, his season cut short when he fouled a pitch from Miami's Elieser Hernández off his right kneecap on Sept. 10, breaking it."There will be no lack of motivation," Yelich said.He is likely to have less protection in the batting order following the departures of Jesús Aguilar, Yasmani Grandal, Mike Moustakas, Travis Shaw and Eric Thames."It's hard to stay disciplined every day," Yelich said. "You really have to bear down and focus, but I feel like if you do that, you make good decisions, and walks help the team, too. That's just how I've done it, it's what I did last season, especially toward the end there, and it's what I'm gong to work on again this year."The 28-year-old hit .329 with 44 homers, 97 RBIs and an 1.100 OPS in 130 games... [More]

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles claimed infielder Andrew Velazquez on waivers from the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday. Velazquez, a 25-year-old from the Bronx, has hit .152 in 28 games with Tampa Bay and Cleveland and joins a crowded competion for an infield spot with Baltimore. Last season, he hit .087 (2 for 23) in 15 games with the Rays and Indians. He's played six positions in the major leagues. To make room for Velazquez on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated infielder Richard Urena, who had been claimed on waivers from Toronto on January 10, for assignment. Baltimore has 68 players on its spring training roster. NOTE: 1B Chris Davis was sent home on Wednesday due to illness. __More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports