MLB Player News

Kuhnel will hit waivers after the Astros called up their top prospect Joey Loperfido. The 29-year-old reliever made one appearance with Houston and allowed four earned runs in two innings of work.

Blanco is currently serving an automatic 10-game suspension for violating the league’s illegal foreign substance rules, but he’s in line for a tasty matchup in his return against the struggling Athletics. Fantasy managers should prepare to get him back in their lineups later this week.

The writing was seemingly on the wall after Hendricks was torched for eight runs (seven earned) over 4 2/3 innings on Friday against the Pirates. The soft-tossing 34-year-old righty has struggled mightily this season to a disastrous 10.57 ERA, 1.99 WHIP and 25/11 K/BB ratio across 30 2/3 innings (seven starts). He’ll presumably operate in mop-up duty until further notice with either Ben Brown or Hayden Wesneski likely moving into Chicago’s rotation until Jordan Wicks is ready to return from the injured list.

Alexander will make his Oakland debut following a seven-week stint on the injured list at the outset of the season recovering from a stress reaction in his left ribs. The 34-year-old southpaw figures to pitch in middle relief intially, but could find himself in the late-inning mix at some point.

Giants manager Bob Melvin has bumped a sizzling-hot Matos up to the heart of the order for the first time this season. The 22-year-old former top prospect has batted a sublime .385 (10-for-26) with two homers and a staggering 16 RBI in seven contests since returning to the majors back on May 12. He’s absolutely worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats, despite some lackluster underlying quality of contact metrics.

Conforto is expected to ramp up his running progression this week as he continues to recover from a right hamstring strain that sent him to the injured list back on May 12. The 31-year-old slugger, who was off to a really strong start this season, should be ready to return in late May or early June.

It’s an extremely encouraging development for fantasy managers as Hoerner is back at second base and batting sixth on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field following a six-game absence due to left hamstring tightness. The hope here is that he received enough time off to put the issue to bed completely.

No surprise here as Riley will miss his eighth straight contest due to an ongoing side issue after sitting out both contests of Monday’s doubleheader. There’s been zero indication that he’ll wind up requiring a trip to the injured list, despite the fact that he’s yet to resume swinging a bat. It’s a frustrating situation for fantasy managers, but it doesn’t sound like the Braves are going to make a roster move at this juncture. It’ll be Zack Short drawing another start at the keystone on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

Lewis will be re-evaluated later this week to determine where he’s at in his rehabilitation process from a severe right quad strain that he suffered back on Opening Day. The 24-year-old is getting close to starting a minor league rehab assignment and could return at some point next month, barring any setbacks.

Cole told reporters afterwards that he came out of facing hitters for the first time since landing on the injured list back in spring training without any issues. The 33-year-old fantasy ace added that he wouldn’t rule out a potential return at some point next month. He’ll presumably face hitters a couple more times before heading out for a handful of minor league rehab starts to build up his pitch count and stamina.

Myers provides Milwaukee’s overworked bullpen with some emergency length and could wind up replacing Joe Ross (back) in the starting rotation after he landed on the injured list. The 25-year-old righty holds a lackluster 5.29 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 17/9 K/BB ratio across 17 innings (four starts) this season in his big-league debut.