Much of my work with RotoWire is spent on player news, scouring Twitter and other outlets for all the latest happenings around baseball. It means I constantly have my finger on the pulse of what's going on, from the small news items to the large ones and everything in between.

I thought it would be fun to rehash some of the more recent developments and determine whether it's Notable for fantasy or just Noise.

Note: This is not a comprehensive list. If you are curious about something that isn't covered below, feel free to leave a question in the comment section or hit me up on Twitter and I'll do my best to answer.

Hurston Waldrep: Destined for Minors?

Notable or Noise: Noise

Hurston Waldrep broke through in the final two months of last season for the Braves, collecting a 2.88 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 55:22 K:BB over 56.1 innings, covering nine starts and one long relief appearance. Evidently, those numbers were not good enough to lock him into a rotation spot heading into 2026.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com was pretty emphatic in noting that Waldrep is currently on the outside looking in for a rotation spot, writing that, "if he becomes a lasting part of the rotation within the season's first month to six weeks, then something disastrous will have already happened." On paper, he's not wrong. Atlanta has Chris Sale and Spencer Strider cemented into its rotation, and Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow), Reynaldo Lopez (shoulder) and Grant Holmes (elbow) are expected to be in there as long as they bounce back from injury. There's also Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz and non-roster invitee Martin Perez (shoulder). It also seems likely that the Braves will add another starter before Opening Day.

Out of the above group, only Strider, Schwellenbach and Waldrep can be optioned to the minors without going through waivers. As long as they're healthy, Strider and Schwellenbach aren't going to the minors. That leaves Waldrep as a likely victim of the Braves wanting to retain as much rotation depth as possible.

I will concede that the circumstances don't favor Waldrep being part of the Opening Day rotation. However, I'm listing this as "noise" because I still think he's likely to make 20-plus starts in 2026 with the big club. Lopez made just one start last season before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery, while Holmes didn't pitch over the final two months after being diagnosed with a tear in his right elbow UCL. The Braves are saying all the right things about the rehab for both players, but the chances of them holding up physically aren't good. Additionally, both Lopez and Holmes have bullpen experience, so a move to relief or a stash on the injured list is possible if they don't look ready or their stuff doesn't measure up to what it was pre-injury. Schwellenbach is also coming back from a small fracture in his elbow, and while I have more confidence in his health, it's no slam dunk.

I do remain a bit skeptical of Waldrep's ability to carry over his late-season breakout. He has one fantastic pitch in his splitter, an offering he threw more than any other in 2025 and which produced a 45.4 percent whiff rate. The splitter is a notoriously difficult to command, however, and I'm not sure he has much else to fall back on. Waldrep had a 9.6 percent walk rate for the Braves last season, which is acceptable, but that was after he had a 12.3 percent walk rate and 4.42 ERA at Triple-A Gwinnett. If you're a believer in Waldrep's skills, don't let the threat of him not being in the Opening Day rotation scare you off from drafting him. I'll still be out, though, unless he really falls in drafts.

Spencer Steer: Utility Player?

Notable or Noise: Noise

Eugenio Suarez fell into the Reds' laps, agreeing to a one-year, $15 million contract this past weekend. Suarez is far from a perfect player, but it was a no-brainer for the Reds to reunite with the veteran infielder even if he's not a perfect fit for their roster.

Per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, Ke'Bryan Hayes will remain the team's everyday third baseman. Suarez hasn't made a start at a position anywhere other than third base since 2021, when he started 32 games at shortstop for the Reds. He did, however, get into three games at first base last season, and the plan is to give him some reps there but play him mostly in the designated hitter slot. Sal Stewart will fill a similar role to Suarez but is expected to get most of his playing time at first base.

Where does that leave Spencer Steer? According to Sheldon, Steer "will play some in the outfield and have a utility role." Steer's versatility is one of his strengths, as he's made starts at five different positions at the big-league level. He's coming off a Gold Glove finalist season at first base, but in 2024 he spent most of his time in left field, and that's the position that represents his clearest path to playing time. Steer's biggest competition for reps in left field are JJ Bleday and Will Benson. Bleday was inked to a modest one-year, $1.4 million contract earlier in the offseason after being non-tendered by the Athletics, while Benson has a career wRC+ of 93 and a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. Neither Bleday nor Benson rate well defensively, either.

Steer is coming off an underwhelming offensive season himself, having slashed .238/.312/.411 with 21 home runs over 146 regular-season contests. It needs added context, however. Steer's right shoulder began bothering him late in the 2024 season, and he slashed an ugly .165/.268/.294 that September. He was then slow-played during spring training, getting only seven plate appearances, and it was a surprise when he was included on the Opening Day roster. In hindsight, the Reds probably should have put Steer on the injured list, as he slashed just .174/.248/.272 in April.

After that dreadful April, however, Steer looked much more like himself the rest of the way, slashing .252/.326/.441 with 19 homers and a wRC+ of 110 in 122 games. We can't be certain Steer's shoulder issue is totally behind him. He never had surgery, and his arm strength went from the 78th percentile in 2024 to the sixth percentile in 2025. Perhaps Cincinnati wants to limit Steer's outfield reps in order to protect the shoulder. There's also the fact that the Reds' lineup leans heavily right-handed, so putting Bleday or Benson in left field would create more balance.

Ultimately, I chose "noise" here because I think Steer will find his way into the lineup most days. There's enough uncertainty at other positions and Steer has enough versatility that manager Terry Francona shouldn't have trouble making it happen. And while Steer's quality of contact has always been mediocre, his swing is geared perfectly for Great American Ball Park. He's been a flyball-heavy, pull-heavy hitter his whole career and in 2025 set new highs in flyball rate (30.3 percent), pull rate (45.4 percent) and air-pull rate (25.8 percent). If my fellow drafters are scared off by a potential playing time dip and let him fall in drafts, I'll be all over him.

Edgar Quero: Works on Swing at Driveline

Notable or Noise: Notable

Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com published an article last week about Edgar Quero's trip to Driveline in late January. I'd recommend reading the entire piece, as it's a great representation of what players and teams are looking for in the modern game and how they go about trying to improve. For Quero, he sought out Driveline's hitting program in hopes of increasing his bat speed and improving his launch angle.

Quero had a successful rookie season with the White Sox, particularly when you consider he was a 22-year-old catcher. He finished with a .268/.333/.356 batting line with five home runs and a 32:71 BB:K over 403 plate appearances. Quero struck out at just a 17.6 percent clip and sported a healthy 46.3 percent hard-hit rate and 90.4 mph average exit velocity.

The switch hitter saw room for improvement, however. His 67.5 mph bat speed sticks out like a sore thumb, ranking 217th out of 226 batted-ball qualifiers. He also had a launch angle of just 6.8 degrees, a groundball rate of 49.3 percent and a pull-air rate of only 7.8 percent. Quero's squared-up rate of 34.4 percent ranked in the 95th percentile, helping to allow him to overcome his other pedestrian metrics, but clearly there were some targeted areas he could work on.

It was determined during his assessment at Driveline that Quero's lower-body explosiveness — which is the leading indicator of potential bat speed — was well below the major-league average. Additionally, Quero's point of contact was 8.5 inches deeper than the major-league average, which is good for avoiding strikeouts but bad for his ability to pull flyballs. His launch angle on pitches he pulled as a lefty hitter was negative-8.5 degrees, which means he pounded everything straight into the dirt.

Gonzalez notes in his article that Driveline's preference is for players to begin working with them at the beginning of the offseason so that they have time to implement recommended changes. Quero, though, didn't go to Driveline until three weeks before spring training. Seemingly, that decreases the likelihood of Quero's swing changes sticking and making a major impact, at least initially. Still, the fact that he sought ways to attack his weaknesses is an encouraging development and gives him a chance to raise his ceiling as a hitter.

The White Sox have a young, two-headed monster at catcher between Kyle Teel and Quero. Teel seems to be slightly ahead of Quero in the pecking order, and between the left-handed-hitting Teel's .290/.388/.448 batting line versus righties and the switch-hitting Quero's .357/.394/.457 line against lefties in 2025, it makes for an easy platoon situation. Quero won't be relegated to playing just against southpaws, though. He saw nearly one-third of his starts last season at DH and should be employed in that slot often again in 2026. I get the trepidation in drafting a catcher who isn't at the top of a depth chart, but I expect the playing time for Quero to be there. I especially like him in NFBC DCs, viewing him as a perfect third catcher target.