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MLB NEWS WIRE
League upholds Profar suspension; Royals' Perez reaches major milestone

By MLB.com staff
04/06/2025

04/03 -- League largely upholds Profar suspension: MLB has upheld the suspension of Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar, but he was given credit for the six games he had already played in, making it effectively a 156-game suspension that will expire at the end of the post-season, so he will not be eligible for any post-season play as well.

As a result, Profar will not be paid the remainder of his 2026 salary per the CBA, as players under suspension for PED use don't receive their contracted pay.

Through six games, he holds a .785 OPS (110 OPS+), which is a little short of previous seasons, but still a solidly above-average bat even in a small sample. Utility player Eli White has been re-called from Triple-A Gwinnett to take his place on the roster, and is expected to get the bulk of the work against lefties with Mike Yastrzemski getting the strong-side of the platoon work.

An underrated aspect of this is that the Braves now have some roster flexibility early in the season, but GM Alex Anthopoulos demurred when asked about what they would do with the additional money that is now freed up.

"Honestly, we're going to move forward with the guys we have now," he said. "Later in the season? Sure, but we feel pretty good about where we're at with the roster even without Jurickson in there, all things considered."

The Braves have lost three of four since taking two straight against the Royals to begin the season, and still have some roster issues that lingered from the spring. Nacho Alvarez Jr has been a nice surprise at shortstop in place of the injured Ha-seong Kim, as he's gone 9-for-12 (.750) with a pair of homeruns, four walks, and no strikeouts through seventeen plate appearances (four starts).

04/04 -- Dodgers' Smith announces retirement: Dodgers fans received quite a scare when they awoke this morning and saw that Will Smith had decided to retire, but then exhaled deeply when it was their veteran left-handed reliever Will Smith, and not the multiple-time All-Star catcher.

The elder Smith, a three-time champion, 2019 All-Star, and veteran of six different major league teams announced his retirement via Twitter that would be effective at the end of the season. He signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers back in early February heading into his age-36 season.

Making the team as a longshot out of the spring, he has posted a 0.00 ERA so far. In addition, he has allowed four hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings of work, although he does have three strikeouts to his credit. Smith was injured most of the 2025 season, spending his entire season in Triple-A with Oklahoma City.

"As long as I'm on a big-league roster, I'm going to play through the season," he said. "Last season was a pretty big drain trying to come back from injuries, and spending a lot of time away from my family while in the minors. So I'm looking forward to the day I can watch games as a fan instead of in the dugout or bullpen."

04/05 -- Perez reaches 300-homerun mark: Having already surpassed the 1,000-RBI mark late last season, Royals catcher Salvador Perez reached another important milestone on Saturday, hitting his 300th homerun in front of the hometown fans as the Royals routed the Brewers 14-3.

However, while the fan has asked to remain anonymous, it was revealed that the fan is a Kansas City-area Brewers fan that caught the ball. He returned the ball; and Perez, along with the Royals' organization, presented the fan and his family with all kinds of swag, with signed jerseys, future game tickets, and even an undisclosed amount of cash, while Perez solely even offered a game-used, autographed set of catcher's equipment to help along the deal for the historic ball.

"He's what the game is really all about," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Perez. "There's a reason why he's so revered and admired around the league, and this kind of gesture just really puts all of that into perspective."

He's the eighth primary catcher to reach the 300-homerun mark, with six of them going into the Hall of Fame (Bench, Berra, Piazza, Pudge, Carter, Fisk). The only one of the group that didn't was Lance Parrish, an eight-time All-Star that was quickly eliminated from All-Star consideration with just nine votes in 2001; and the player in that group who will undoubtedly be compared to Perez, as they have similar career arcs and comparable numbers, especially when it comes to WAR.

But unlike Parrish, Perez has seemingly defied the aging curve for older catchers as he's continued to put up big numbers as he goes into his mid 30's, and he's not prohibitively expensive at this point with a $25 million total salary hit over this season and next. Since missing all of 2019 after elbow surgery, he has put up above-average numbers in five of the last six seasons, and appears well on his way to a sixth in seven in 2026.

Meanwhile, Parrish really fell off after hitting his age-30 season, putting up just two seasons of above-average offense, once in 1986 and again in 1990. He still made three All-Star squads and won a pair of Silver Sluggers, but clearly wasn't the same player that he was in the early 80's.

Sure, it's unlikely that Perez retains his 'primary catcher' status past this season, especially with Carter Jensen on the scene putting up big numbers of his own. But he appears primed to further add to a quickly-strengthening HOF case as he's off to the aforementioned hot start in '26, and the Royals have the look of a playoff contender once again this season.