MLB Player News

Jackson went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week to clear a spot on Oakland’s 40-man roster. The 29-year-old righty was limited to just 19 relief appearances last year due to injury.

As is often the case, Lopez struggled to find the strike zone during Monday’s start, as he walked five and threw just 46-of-91 pitches in the zone. He also didn’t strike out a single hitter and generated just four swings and misses, so he wasn’t fooling hitters even when he did throw strikes. Yuck. Lopez will try and rebound Sunday against the Astros.

Elder gave up some hard contact, but he was able to limit the damage to five hits — just one for extra bases — and he issued only one walk. The 26-year-old was mostly unuseable in 2025 with a 5.30 ERA and 1.39 WHIP in 2026, but because of injuries, he’s got a spot in the Atlanta rotation for the foreseeable future. He’d be a very risky streamer at beest against Arizona over the weekend.

Vargas did most of his damage in the early stages of Monday’s eventual rout at loanDepot park, putting Chicago on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the third inning before walloping a grand slam down the left field line off Marlins starter Chris Paddack in the fourth. It was his first round-tripper of the season. He picked up an additional RBI with a sixth inning sacrifice fly to cap off one of the strongest performances of his career. The 26-year-old former top prospect remains a strong corner infield option for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues.

Hicks took White Sox starter Davis Martin out to right field in the fourth inning for his second long ball of the season. He also tacked on a run-scoring single in the eighth inning. The 26-year-old backstop was responsible for three of Miami’s four runs in the one-sided affair. He’ll continue splitting time with Agustín Ramírez behind the plate and figures to see the occasional start at DH and first base while Christopher Morel (oblique) is sideline for at least the next month.

Technically, it goes down as a save since Hicks came on to record the final out of the eighth inning with the potential tying run in the on-deck circle after Sean Newcomb loaded the bases with Chicago leading 9-4 at the time. The 29-year-old is highly unlikely to be pitching in a ton of high-leverage spots this season unless the White Sox are interested in boosting his hypothetical trade value.

Martin received a touchdown and a two-point conversion worth of run support from Chicago’s suddenly sizzling offense during his season debut. He gave a couple runs back in the fourth when Liam Hicks took him deep for a two-run shot, but he had enough of a cushion that he was able to cruise to a relatively easy win. He struck out six and only handed out a pair of free passes. He’ll square off against the Blue Jays on Sunday to close out a two-start week.

The fun part is that Paddack finally made his long-awaited Marlins debut more than a decade after being selected in the 2015 MLB Draft, having been traded to the Padres in the Fernando Rodney deal one year later. He fell behind early after giving up a run-scoring single to Miguel Vargas followed by a three-run blast from Austin Hays. Things went downhill even further when he coughed up a grand slam to Vargas in the fourth inning. The 30-year-old righty continues to be burned by the long ball after serving up 31 dingers between the Twins and Tigers last year. He’ll face a tough test his next time out with a road matchup against the Yankees on Sunday.

Remember a few weeks ago when it looked like Burns might open up in the minors? His 78 pitches tonight produced 15 whiffs. He averaged 98.3 mph with his fastball and maintained his velocity throughout. The Reds likely will employ quick hooks here from time to time, but Burns should be a strong fantasy starter, even if he lags behind in the wins department. He’ll face the Rangers on Sunday.

We thought it might be Graham Ashcraft tonight with Emilio Pagán and Tony Santillan nearly certain to be unavailable after working both Saturday and Sunday. Ashcraft did factor in, getting four outs in the seventh and eighth, but Phillips was called on to finish and did so successfully despite walking two batters. The Reds should have Pagán back closing on Tuesday.