Miami Marlins catcher Christian Bethancourt (illness) has been activated from the 10-day injured list on Wednesday. The 32-year-old will return to the field after missing the last week or so due to an illness. His return won't mean too much for fantasy managers as Bethancourt has struggled this season. He's hitless through 23 plate appearances, so fantasy managers can look elsewhere for help. Jhonny Pereda has been optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville to make room for Bethancourt on the active roster.

Miami Marlins catcher Christian Bethancourt (illness) has been placed on the 10-day injured list on Monday. It appears Bethancourt is dealing with some sort of illness and he'll be sidelined for at least a week or so. In a corresponding move, the Marlins have selected catcher Jhonny Pereda from Triple-A Jacksonville. He figures to split up the playing time behind the plate with Nick Fortes while Bethancourt is sidelined.

The Cleveland Guardians have agreed on a trade to send catcher Christian Bethancourt to the Miami Marlins. It's being reported that the Guardians will get cash considerations in exchange for Bethancourt. That's not too bad, considering the Guardians picked up Bethancourt off waivers last month. However, they no longer needed his services after signing catcher Austin Hedges on Sunday. Last season, Bethancourt slashed .225/.254/.381 with 11 homers and 33 RBI. At the moment, Bethancourt is expected to split time behind the plate with Nick Fortes. He won't be a fantasy relevant player in most fantasy formats.

The Cleveland Guardians claimed catcher Christian Bethancourt off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. Bo Naylor will be Cleveland's starting catcher moving forward, but Bethancourt represents a decent backup option for Cleveland. The 32-year-old hit just .225 (71-for-315) in 104 games for the Rays in 2023, but he also had a career-high-tying 11 home runs, 16 doubles, 33 RBI and 49 runs scored in 332 plate appearances before the Rays moved on. Bethancourt is also a decent defender behind the plate, giving the Guardians solid insurance at the position behind Naylor heading into the 2024 campaign.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt has been sent outright to Triple-A. Chances are Bethancourt will be unclaimed off waivers and wind up selecting free agency. Bethancourt started 89 games but eventually lost the starting job to Rene Pinto. He produced a .635 OPS on the season. Infielder Tristan Gray and outfielder Raimel Tapia were also placed on outright waivers.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt will start on the bench for the second game of the wild-card series on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers. Rene Pinto will do the catching for the second straight game and bat in the nine-hole against Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. Bethancourt has hit just .225/.254/.381 this year with 11 home runs, 33 RBI and 49 runs scored in 315 at-bats, and he began losing playing time to Pinto in the final month of the regular season in September. Pinto wasn't a whole lot better in 2023, batting .252/.267/.456 with six home runs and 16 RBI in 103 at-bats for the Rays. Fantasy managers playing DFS in the postseason should look elsewhere at the catcher position.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt is out of the starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Atlanta Braves. The 31-year-old will get a rest day here after starting in eight of the last 11 games. Bethancourt has been the clear favorite behind the plate over the last few weeks. Before that, Bethancourt was alternating starts with Francisco Mejia. On Saturday, Mejia will do the catching and bat ninth versus right-hander Spencer Strider.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt went 2-for-4 at the plate with a solo home run, a run scored and two strikeouts on Friday to help his team beat the Chicago White Sox by a score of 8-7. The 31-year-old catcher helped ignite a rally in the bottom of the ninth inning that eventually led to a walk-off home run by second baseman Brandon Lowe to keep the Rays undefeated at home this season. Bethancourt is hot right now, as he's riding a six-game hitting streak in which he's cleared the fences three times. Overall, he's gone 11-for-41 (.268) with three doubles, four home runs, seven RBI and nine runs scored in 12 games played. Bethancourt will continue to split time with Francisco Mejia, but his hot streak can't be ignored.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt isn't in the team's lineup on Monday to face the Los Angeles Angels and left-handed starter Tucker Davidson. The 30-year-old is hitting .238 this season with a .279 on-base percentage, seven home runs, and five stolen bases in 241 plate appearances. Instead, it'll be Francisco Mejia getting the start behind the plate and hitting sixth against the Angels. Mejia is batting .269 with a .287 on-base percentage and six home runs in 223 plate appearances this season. He's worth a look as a streaming option for fantasy managers in deeper leagues.

The Oakland Athletics have traded catcher/first baseman Christian Bethancourt to the Tampa Bay Rays for two prospects, outfielder Cal Stevenson and pitcher Christian Fernandez. Bethancourt will provide an offensive upgrade for the Rays at catcher while providing some positional flexibility. He is likely to continue getting adequate playing time and is an option at catcher in deeper leagues. Cal Stevenson could see some playing time in Oakland but hasn't shown enough in the minors to make him fantasy relevant. Christian Fernandez has shown some flash this year in single-A but has a long way to go before he's ready for the majors.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are ready to open the season in familiar fashion: with Mad Bum on the mound. Madison Bumgarner was tabbed by manager Torey Lovullo to make his second straight opening day start for the Diamondbacks on Thursday at San Diego. The 31-year-old four-time All-Star struggled last season — his first in Arizona — going 1-4 with a 6.48 ERA. He was 2-1 with a 6.35 ERA in three spring starts, including allowing six earned runs against Cincinnati on Friday. But Bumgarner, who signed a five-year, $85 million contract before last season, will still lead off a Diamondbacks rotation that includes Merrill Kelly, Caleb Smith, Taylor Widener and Luke Weaver. This will be the seventh opening day start in Bumgarner's career after doing so five times with San Francisco. The Yankees also are setting their rotation, announcing Sunday that Corey Kluber will follow ace Gerrit Cole against Toronto. Kluber, who signed a one-year, $11 million contract with New York, has thrown one inning in... [More]

The Arizona Diamondbacks are ready to open the season in familiar fashion: with Mad Bum on the mound. Madison Bumgarner was tabbed by manager Torey Lovullo to make his second straight opening day start for the Diamondbacks on Thursday at San Diego. The 31-year-old four-time All-Star struggled last season — his first in Arizona — going 1-4 with a 6.48 ERA. He was 2-1 with a 6.35 ERA in three spring starts, including allowing six earned runs against Cincinnati on Friday. But Bumgarner, who signed a five-year, $85 million contract before last season, will still lead off a Diamondbacks rotation that includes Merrill Kelly, Caleb Smith, Taylor Widener and Luke Weaver. This will be the seventh opening day start in Bumgarner's career after doing so five times with San Francisco. The Yankees also are setting their rotation, announcing Sunday that Corey Kluber will follow ace Gerrit Cole against Toronto. Kluber, who signed a one-year, $11 million contract with New York, has thrown one inning in... [More]

Shohei Ohtani had general managers scrambling this winter with his jump to the major leagues.They weren't alone. For folks who write the code that tracks stats for fantasy baseball websites, Ohtani's two-way talents have caused quite a conundrum.At CBS fantasy baseball headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Eric Chylinski and his team nearly ran their markers dry filling whiteboards with formulas and ideas about the Japanese star. As director of marketing and fantasy product, Chylinski was among those charged with solving the Shohei Ohtani dilemma."We've never had one player cause such a shift in our workflow," Chylinski said.With his ace-level arsenal and prodigious power, Ohtani has the tools to become an unprecedented fantasy baseball star — but only if the game can adapt to accommodate him. The quandary faced by Chylinski and others: How does a game predicated on separating hitters from pitchers account for a player who can do both?Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in early... [More]

Shohei Ohtani had general managers scrambling this winter with his jump to the major leagues.They weren't alone. For folks who write the code that tracks stats for fantasy baseball websites, Ohtani's two-way talents have caused quite a conundrum.At for CBS fantasy baseball headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Eric Chylinski and his team nearly ran their markers dry filling whiteboards with formulas and ideas about the Japanese star. As director of marketing and fantasy product, Chylinski was among those charged with solving the Shohei Ohtani dilemma."We've never had one player cause such a shift in our workflow," Chylinski said.With his ace-level arsenal and prodigious power, Ohtani has the tools to become an unprecedented fantasy baseball star — but only if the game can adapt to accommodate him. The quandary faced by Chylinski and others: How does a game predicated on separating hitters from pitchers account for a player who can do both?Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in... [More]

Neil Walker became the latest free agent to take a big pay cut as opening day approaches, joining the New York Yankees on Monday with a one-year deal for $4 million.The veteran infielder made $17.2 million last season while playing for the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers. He can earn $1 million in performance bonuses this year.The 32-year-old Walker hit .265 with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs last season, then became a free agent. He will likely start at second base, giving prospects Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar more time to mature in the minor leagues."It's certainly a crazy offseason, but more than anything my hope was that I'd land somewhere that's going to be competitive and have a chance to win," Walker said. "I'm happy to be here, happy to be on a contending team."Starting pitcher Lance Lynn got right to work with Minnesota after finalizing his $12 million, one-year deal. He turned down a $17.4 million offer to stay with St. Louis, and looked for a richer contract in free agency.Lynn... [More]

C Christian Bethancourt, who was sent to Triple-A El Paso, will continue to try to pitch, manager Andy Green said."We're happy about that decision on his part," Green said. "We're glad he feels the same way we do about it."Bethancourt was waived over the weekend but went unclaimed."Hopefully, he'll get plenty of opportunities" on the mound, Green said. For the Padres, Bethancourt made four relief appearances, giving up nine runs, six earned.

C/RHP Christian Bethancourt was to speak with general manager A.J. Prefer about his role moving forward. The Padres would like Bethancourt to devote himself to pithing full-time, and he has been learning a split-finger pitch. If he decides he would rather catch? "I think an opportunity would be provided to him, but not guaranteed to him consistent playing time," manager Andy Green said. Rocky Gale is the starting catcher at El Paso. "We feel pretty good about what Rocky does from a receiving perspective, a game-calling perspective, throwing, all those things. We like him a lot at Triple-A," Green said.

C/RHP Christian Bethancourt cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A El Paso. "We thought looking at him as a pitcher, the best way for him to develop was to get consistent innings under his best, which was proving difficult up here," manager Andy Green said. "Learning to pitch in the major leagues is borderline impossible." Bethancourt, who began a conversion to the mound last year, gave up six hits and nine runs (six earned) in four appearances covering 3 2/3 innings this season. He walked eight and struck out two. He also was 1-for-7 at the plate. "Our desire as an organization is to see him on the mound," Green said. "The ball is in his court. We see him as a pitcher long term."

RHP Christian Bethancourt relieved RHP Jhoylys Chacin in the fourth inning and uncorked a pair of wild pitches, leading to two runs for the Dodgers. Bethancourt, who also performs as a catcher and outfielder, allowed three runs on three hits with two walks in 1 1/3 innings. He sustained some cuts on his leg after a collision at the plate, but manager Andy Green said Bethancourt was fine.

C/RHP Christian Bethancourt made the Padres' Opening Day roster as the eighth and final relief pitcher.Bethancourt, 25, will be one of the most unique players in the majors this season. He will catch, he will play outfield, and he will pinch hit in addition to his main role as a relief pitcher.Last season, Bethancourt caught 41 games (35 starts), played in 12 (seven starts) as an outfielder and appeared in one game as a second baseman. He batted .228 with six homers and 25 RBIs.