Royals Place Jonathan India On IL With Shoulder Subluxation
The Royals announced that infielder Jonathan India has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 19th, due to a left shoulder subluxation. Infielder/outfielder Nick Loftin has been recalled as the corresponding move.
Per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, this is the same shoulder injury that India has battled in the past. On June 13th of 2025, he dove for a ground ball and clearly hurt himself, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. He suffered a subluxation at that time. He didn’t go on the IL for that shoulder but did occasionally miss time for the rest of the year.
India had a subpar season, though it doesn’t seem as though the shoulder injury explains the whole thing. He had a .249/.332/.336 line and 89 wRC+ through that June 13th game, followed by a .219/.315/.355 line and 89 wRC+ after it. He did have an IL stint in that latter section, but it was due to a left wrist sprain. He is out to a rough .167/.310/.313 start so far in 2026.
Whether it’s due to the injuries or not, the Royals surely hoped for more when they acquired India from the Reds ahead of the 2025 season. He slashed .253/.352/.412 with Cincinnati from 2021 to 2024, production which translated to a wRC+ of 108. After his rough 2025, he became a speculative non-tender candidate, but the Royals brought him back by signing him to an $8MM deal for this year.
So far, that investment hasn’t paid off. Ideally, India can get healthy and get back on track, though the next steps are unclear at this point. Per Rogers, India received an injection and will be seeing another doctor this week.
With India out of commission, the Royals will likely use some combination of Michael Massey and Loftin to cover second base. Massey started the season on the IL due to a calf strain and has hit .174/.208/.261 since coming back. That’s in a tiny sample of 24 plate appearances but he also hit .244/.268/.313 for a 57 wRC+ last year, so he hasn’t been in good form for quite a while. Loftin has 438 career plate appearances with a .220/.296/.323 line and 73 wRC+.
The Royals are out to a 7-15 start, tied with the Mets for the worst record in baseball. The team has a combined .218/.296/.339 batting line and 79 wRC+, which places them ahead of only the Reds among big league clubs. Though India has been struggling, it doesn’t appear that subtracting him from the lineup is likely to help matters.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Edwin Díaz To Undergo Surgery For Loose Bodies In Elbow
The Dodgers announced that right-hander Edwin Díaz has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow loose bodies. A subsequent announcement said that he will have surgery to address the issue and is expected to return in the second half of the season. Reportedly, he’ll miss about three months, which will put him in line for a return sometime around the All-Star break. Left-hander Jake Eder has been recalled to take Díaz’s spot on the active roster.
The status of Díaz has been a bit of a mystery for a while now, as he has struggled for the Dodgers while pitching with diminished velocity. His fastball has averaged 95.7 miles per hour so far this year, a notable drop from his 97.2 mph average last year. His results were fine through five outings but his sixth, on April 10th, was rough. He entered a 7-4 game in the ninth and surrendered three runs, allowing the Rangers to tie it up.
The Dodgers were able to walk that game off in the bottom of the ninth but Díaz became a question mark. He didn’t pitch in official game action for over a week after that, even though the Dodgers had some save situations. He was finally back on the mound last night but the results were again poor. He entered in the bottom of the eighth at Coors Field, with the Dodgers down 6-4. He faced four batters, allowing three hits and a walk, then was removed without recording an out.
On the one hand, it’s nice to have a diagnosis that explains his struggles, but any elbow issue for a pitcher is going to be worrisome. Losing him for three months is going to be a blow. He has been one of the best closers in recent history and was just signed to a huge contract in the offseason. The Dodgers gave him a three-year, $69MM deal to scoop him away from the Mets.
The Dodgers have won the past two World Series but their 2025 title came despite a shaky bullpen. Manager Dave Roberts relied more and more on his starters as the postseason went along and the Dodgers just barely held on, as they almost lost to the Jays on a few occasions, going into extra innings in Game Seven.
The Díaz signing was supposed to patch over one of the club’s few weak spots as they look for a three-peat. Though Díaz isn’t quite as ridiculously dominant as he was a few years ago, he still had a great 2025 season, tossing 66 1/3 innings with a 1.63 earned run average 38% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 48.4% ground ball rate.
The Dodgers generally approach injuries with a long view. Their team is strong enough that they can feel quite good about their chances of making the postseason. They can have their players, particularly the pitchers, take their time to ensure they are healthy for the postseason. Given the three-month timeline, they can take that approach with Díaz. Ideally, he will be back in time to shake off some rust down the stretch and be in peak form for October.
Time will tell how that goes. If Díaz experiences any kind of setback or struggles to get in form once he is healthy, it could potentially impact how the Dodgers approach the trade deadline, which is on August 3rd this year.
For now, they will have to proceed without their big offseason bullpen investment. Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen could be candidates for picking up some save opportunities now. Scott is back in good form so far this year after a rough 2025. Vesia has picked up a few scattered saves over the years and has started 2026 with ten scoreless appearances. Treinen has past closing experience but isn’t out to a great start this year, with a 4.05 ERA thus far.
Alden González of ESPN reported that he would undergo surgery and be out about three months. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic first reported that some kind of procedure would take place. Jack Harris of the California Post first reported that the Dodgers would expect him to be back from that procedure during this season. Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Mariners Place Brendan Donovan On IL, Select Will Wilson
The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Will Wilson. He will take the active roster spot of infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left groin muscle strain, retroactive to April 18th. To open a 40-man spot, infielder/outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Donovan was removed from Friday’s game due to a left hip issue. He didn’t play on Saturday or Sunday. He had previously dealt with a right groin issue earlier in the season. Per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Donovan believed it was possible that his earlier groin discomfort may have been related to the sports hernia surgery he underwent back in October.
That surgery didn’t prevent Donovan from being one of the hottest trade chips of the winter. Several clubs were interested and Seattle eventually landed him in a three-team trade that saw them send out infielder Ben Williamson, prospects Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tai Peete, as well as a competitive balance round B pick.
Donovan was a particularly good fit for the Mariners roster because of his defensive versatility. Coming into this year, it wasn’t clear what would happen at second or third base, with Cole Young and Colt Emerson possible solutions at those positions. Young has taken over at second and has been playing well so far. Emerson, despite signing a long contract extension, has been in the minors. That has left Donovan to cover third and he has a strong .304/.437/.518 line when he has been able to take the field.
It’s not clear how long the Mariners expect Donovan to be out but they’ll have to proceed without him for more than a week, at least. They could have called up Emerson but have decided not to, at least for now. He is playing well for Tacoma but is still only 20 years old and only has 24 games at Triple-A under his belt, so it seems they have decided to keep him there.
Leo Rivas has picked up the past two starts at third base with Donovan out. He has a rough .143/.295/.184 line on the year but a better .217/.348/.278 slash for his career. A switch-hitter, he has been far better against righties, with a .221/.372/.305 line in that split compared to a .210/.304/.235 line versus lefties.
Wilson, 27, is a right-handed bat but hasn’t had strong splits throughout his career. In much of his minor league career, he’s actually been better against righties, so he’s not an ideal platoon bat for Rivas. He might just be more of a general depth infielder off the bench. He has plenty of minor league experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base, and some limited outfield experience as well.
His major league track record is still fairly small. He got into 31 games with the Guardians last year and slashed .192/.267/.244. His upper level minor league work hasn’t been much better, though his Triple-A line of .250/.333/.430 since the start of 2025 isn’t bad. He has options and could be sent back down to Tacoma once Donovan and/or Patrick Wisdom come off the IL.
As for Mastrobuoni, he started the season on the 10-day IL with a right calf strain. He began a minor league rehab assignment on April 8th and played as recently as the 18th. His current status is unclear but he must have suffered some sort of setback, since he’s now ineligible for reinstatement until late May.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Rays Select Trevor Martin
The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Trevor Martin. He’ll take the active roster spot of fellow righty Mason Englert, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right forearm tightness. To open a 40-man spot, righty Michael Grove has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Martin, 25, was a third-round pick of the Rays in 2022. Tampa used him as a starter in his first professional seasons but converted him to a reliever last year. From the start of 2025 to the present, he has thrown 62 2/3 innings, split between Double-A and Triple-A, having allowed 2.73 earned runs per nine. His 9.5% walk rate is a bit high but his 25.2% strikeout rate is a few ticks above average. He averages about 95 miles per hour on his fastball, per Statcast, while also featuring a cutter, splitter, slider and changeup.
That stat line includes 9 1/3 scoreless innings to start this year. He has worked around a 14.6% walk rate in the early going but putting up zeroes has seemingly attracted the attention of the front office. Martin gets the call for the first time and will make his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Though Martin has done his part, the injury situation has played a role as well. Tampa lost Edwin Uceta and Steven Wilson to injuries in spring training. Since then, Garrett Cleavinger and now Englert have hit the IL as well. Manuel Rodríguez is still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times relays that Englert and manager Kevin Cash don’t consider his injury to be serious, so perhaps he will be back relatively quickly. Martin has a full slate of options and could be shuffled between Triple-A and the majors as those guys get healthy or when fresh arms are needed.
As for Grove, he underwent shoulder surgery while with the Dodgers last year and missed the entire campaign. He was bumped off the roster at the end of the season and became a free agent. The Rays signed him last week and immediately placed him on the 15-day IL. His exact timeline isn’t clear but this transfer suggests the Rays don’t expect him to be back in the majors soon. He won’t be eligible for reinstatement until June.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Astros Select Braden Shewmake
The Astros announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Braden Shewmake. He’ll take the active roster spot of infielder Nick Allen, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to back spasms, retroactive to April 19th. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Cristian Javier has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Shewmake, 28, was just acquired from the Yankees yesterday. The Yanks had outrighted him off their 40-man roster in February, so he wasn’t immediately added to Houston’s roster at the time of the trade. It seemed possible at the time of the deal that Shewmake was acquired to replace Allen as the club’s bench infielder and that has indeed come to pass.
The players have similar profiles as glove-first guys with light bats. Shewmake has a .118/.127/.191 batting line in 71 big league plate appearances. His .241/.305/.384 line at Triple-A is better but still not good, translating to a 78 wRC+, indicating he has been 22% below average at that level. But he has other attributes. Over his 303 Triple-A games, he has stolen 52 bases, while getting caught only four times. He has extensive shortstop experience, with plenty of time at second and third base as well.
The Astros came into the season with an infield logjam but shortstop Jeremy Peña is now on the IL, which has alleviated that. Carlos Correa has moved from third base to shortstop, which has allowed Isaac Paredes to take over at the hot corner. The Astros can use Shewmake as a late-game defensive replacement or bounce him around when they want to give guys days off, which is how Allen was being used. When Peña and/or Allen get healthy, Shewmake is out of options and may not be able to hang onto his roster spot.
Javier was initially placed on the 15-day IL due to a shoulder strain a little over a week ago. This transfer means he is ineligible for reinstatement until early June. Just yesterday, general manager Dana Brown said he expected Javier and Hunter Brown to return from their respective shoulder strains in late May to early June.
Today’s transaction closes off the possibility of Javier being back in the majors in late May, but if he is healthy by then, he could go out on a minor league rehab assignment. Such assignments come with a 30-day maximum for pitchers.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast
On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.
The 2026 season is a few weeks in. Do you have a question about a hot or cold start in the early going? The upcoming trade deadline? Next winter’s potential labor showdown? If you have a question on those topics or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.
Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.
In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Brewers Acquire Junior Fernández
The Diamondbacks have traded right-hander Junior Fernández to the Brewers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. It’s unclear what Arizona gets in return, but since they signed Fernández to a minor league deal in the offseason, it was probably just a nominal amount of cash.
Fernández, 29, has long had intriguing stuff. He tossed 54 big league innings from 2019 to 2022. His 5.17 earned run average in that time wasn’t especially impressive but both his four-seamer and sinker averaged over 98 miles per hour in his most recent season. He also featured a slider and changeup in the upper 90s. Like a lot of power arms, control has been an issue. Fernández has walked 13.9% of the batters he has faced in the majors so far.
For the past few years, he’s been stuck in the minors and also spent 2024 in Japan. He’s still flashing the big velo but also the lack of control. He signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks this winter and was in camp with them last month. He faced 22 batters and walked three of them without striking anyone out. At the end of camp, the Triple-A Reno Aces put him on the development list, so he hasn’t pitched in any official minor league games yet this year.
The Brewers have a good reputation when it comes to getting good results out of pitchers, so perhaps they see some way to make it all work for Fernández. The skills are there but he hasn’t been able to fully utilize them yet. If he eventually gets up to the majors, he is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
Richard Fitts Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery
Cardinals right-hander Richard Fitts has undergone season-ending surgery to address the lat strain that recently landed him on the minor league injured list. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom gave the news to Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
It’s an unfortunate development for Fitts for a few reasons. Fitts made 15 big league appearances with the Red Sox over the previous two seasons. He was traded to the Cardinals as part of the Sonny Gray trade. Going from a contender to a rebuilding club isn’t necessarily great news, depending on one’s perspective, but it gave Fitts a decent path to carve out some big league playing time this year. Now that won’t happen.
It’s also unfortunate because Fitts was in the minors when he got injured. He had a chance to earn a rotation spot at the start of the season but was optioned in mid-March. The Cards instead went with a rotation of Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Dustin May, Kyle Leahy and Andre Pallante. Fitts made three Triple-A starts before suffering his injury.
Since he was injured in the minors, he isn’t currently collecting big league pay or service time. The Cardinals could recall him and put him on the 60-day injured list at some point. That would allow them to open up a 40-man spot, but they would have to be willing to give Fitts major league pay and restart his service clock. He came into 2026 with 164 days of service time, just eight days below the one-year mark.
For the Cardinals, they will have a bit less rotation depth going forward. As mentioned, they are rebuilding, so that’s not as concerning as it would be for some other clubs. Still, part of the appeal of a rebuilding year is giving unproven guys a chance to flourish. Fitts was one of a handful of potential rotation building blocks but the Cards are losing out on the chance to throw him out there against major league hitters.
Their season-opening quintet are still healthy, so the Cards can ride with those guys for now. Hunter Dobbins is on the injured list but has begun a rehab assignment and is essentially ready to go when needed. Like Fitts, Tekoah Roby and Cooper Hjerpe are on the 40-man roster but injured in the minors. Both underwent Tommy John surgery last year, Roby in July and Hjerpe in April. Brycen Mautz is on the 40-man and making Triple-A starts. Tink Hence is also on the 40-man and in Triple-A but he’s been pitching in relief so far this year. Prospect Quinn Mathews is making Triple-A starts but doesn’t have a roster spot yet. Bruce Zimmermann is a non-roster starter with some big league experience who is currently in Triple-A as well.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images
Tigers Recall Hao-Yu Lee For MLB Debut
The Tigers announced that infielder Zach McKinstry has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 16th, with left hip/abdominal inflammation. Infielder Hao-Yu Lee has been recalled and is in the starting lineup. He is playing third base and batting eighth and will make his major league debut in the process.
Lee, now 23, was signed out of Taiwan by the Phillies in 2021 as an international amateur. The Tigers acquired him in the 2023 deadline deal which sent right-hander Michael Lorenzen to Philadelphia.
The book on Lee can be summed up in the old phrase “jack of all trades, master of none.” He spent last year at the Triple-A level and took 579 plate appearances. His 11.2% walk rate and 20.9% strikeout rate were both a bit better than average. He hit 14 home runs and slashed .243/.342/.406 for a wRC+ of 106, indicating he was six percent better than league average offensively. He stole 22 bases. He has experience at second base, third base and shortstop but hasn’t played short since 2023.
The Tigers gave him a 40-man roster spot in November, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America ranked him the club’s #6 prospect coming into the season. His 2026 campaign has been off to a slow start. A strained left oblique prevented him from representing his country in the World Baseball Classic. He began the season on the minor league injured list and has since played in nine games on the farm with a .194/.231/.278 line.
Though he appears to be shaking off some rust, it’s possible the Tigers decided to call him up for his right-handed bat. As pointed out by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit is facing a bunch of lefties in the next little bit. That includes Ranger Suárez of the Red Sox tonight and then Garrett Crochet on Sunday. Lee had a big .299/.395/.523 slash line against lefties last year, so he could be an asset in a platoon role, combining with lefty Colt Keith to cover the hot corner.
The Tigers have also been utilizing McKinstry as their second baseman when Framber Valdez starts, since Valdez is a ground ball pitcher. Normal second baseman Gleyber Torres, who isn’t especially adept in the field, usually slides into the designated hitter spot on those days. If the Tigers feel Lee is a better defender than Torres, he could also pick up some time there. That would leave third base to Keith and Kevin McGonigle, with McGonigle and Javier Báez also sharing shortstop duties. Lee has a full slate of options, so he could be sent back down to the minors when McKinstry heals up, or if the Tigers enter a less lefty-heavy portion of the schedule.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Astros Transfer Josh Hader To 60-Day IL
The Astros announced that they have selected right-hander Peter Lambert, a move that was reported yesterday. To open an active roster spot, they have optioned right-hander Christian Roa to Triple-A Sugar Land. In a corresponding 40-man move, left-hander Josh Hader has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Hader began the season on the 15-day injured list due to biceps tendinitis, an issue that prevented him from pitching in spring training. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he can be reinstated from the IL in late May.
Up until this transfer, his timing wasn’t exactly clear. Earlier this week, he faced live hitters in batting practice for the first time. He told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that this essentially places him at the beginning of a normal spring training ramp-up. At some point, he will start a minor league rehab assignment, which will effectively replace the spring training games he missed.
Given that timeline, it was possible to imagine him potentially being ready by the middle of May. Pitchers normally ramp up for about six weeks in spring but relievers tend to be ready quicker because they don’t need to be stretched out. This move means the Astros will play things safer than that. Rehab assignments for pitchers can last 30 days, so Hader could start one in a week or so if he’s feeling good, and that could line up with his eligibility for activation.
Hader’s injury is just one of many for the Astros. They currently have 13 players on the IL, including 10 pitchers. Some of those are due to issues going back to last year but Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai and Cody Bolton have hit the IL in the past few weeks. That has put more pressure on the arms who are still on the roster. Ideally, Bryan Abreu would have stepped up and replaced Hader in the closer’s role, since he has been so good in recent seasons. Unfortunately, he has allowed nine earned runs through 6 1/3 innings this year.
Thanks in part to those challenges on the pitching staff, the Astros are out to a rough 8-12 start. They will need to keep things afloat in the near term while their injured pitchers get healthy and back in the mix, though they can’t count on Hader proving anything until more than a month into the future.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images