MLB Player News

Espinosa is not in the lineup against the Mariners, Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune reports.

This marks the second time in a week Espinosa will sit out. He has slumped badly to begin the season, hitting just .160 with a .511 OPS. Cliff Pennington will hit eighth and play second Wednesday.

Polanco is out of Wednesday's lineup against the A's.

This will be his fourth game off in the past 13 contests, and he is hitting just .176 with no home runs over that stretch. He will make way for Eduardo Escobar, who is hitting seventh and manning shortstop against righty Kendall Graveman.

Andrus went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI in Monday's 6-2 loss to the Astros.

With three two-hit games in his last five starts, Andrus is starting to heat up again, but it hasn't resulted in a permanent move up the lineup just yet. Though the slumping Nomar Mazara was dropped from the No. 3 spot in the order to the eighth, it was on-base machine Shin-Soo Choo who instead received the appointment to the upper third of the lineup. Andrus has drawn walks in back-to-back games, but since he still only has a 4.9 percent walk rate for the season, he may need to scale back his free-swinging ways before manager Jeff Banister is convinced the shortstop is worthy of a more prominent lineup spot.

Merrifield is out of the lineup Monday against the White Sox, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports.

Merrifield displaced the struggling Raul Mondesi as the Royals' primary second baseman in mid-April, but he's been unable to provide the team's hapless offense with much of a spark. The 28-year-old is slashing .229/.308/.457 since his promotion to the big club, but with no better alternatives seeming to be in sight, he should still have decent job security. Christian Colon will spell Merrifield at the keystone Monday, however.

Kemp was optioned to Triple-A Fresno on Monday.

Kemp was up with the Astros for a little less than a week while injuries to Jake Marisnick (concussion) and Teoscar Hernandez (knee) depleted the team's depth in the outfield. With Marisnick deemed ready to return from the 7-day disabled list, Kemp's services were no longer needed. The 25-year-old appeared in two games during his stay with the Astros, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Donaldson (shoulder) was activated from the DL on Monday and will return to action for Double-A Akron.

The Tribe's No. 12 prospect dislocated his non-throwing shoulder and suffered a minor tear in his labrum during a Cactus League game in early March. He'll begin his first full season at Double-A after slashing .274/.359/.405 with 60 RBI and 70 runs for High-A Lynchburg in 2016.

Kemp will be optioned to Triple-A Fresno on Monday, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Jake Marisnick is ready to come off the disabled list, so Kemp's brief stint in the majors will come to an end. Kemp appeared in two games for the big club and went 0-for-3 at the plate.

Motter is out of the lineup Sunday against the Indians, Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune reports.

Motter's pathway to everyday at-bats is a little more muddled now that Jean Segura is healthy, so he'll sit for a second consecutive game after striking out in a pinch-hitting role Saturday. It's likely that most of Motter's starting opportunities may come in the corner outfield now that Mitch Haniger (oblique) is on the disabled list, but he'll still have to fight Guillermo Heredia, Ben Gamel and Boog Powell for at-bats.

Altuve went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Athletics.

Altuve's eighth-inning homer, his third of the season, made the game interesting but the Astros didn't have the comeback bats working Saturday. After sitting out a couple of games due to a shoulder injury, Altuve is back to full strength, hitting third in Houston's order.

Torres (shoulder) was activated from the DL on Friday.

He was slashing .237/.341/.342 with zero home runs and one steal (on three attempts) in 38 at-bats with Double-A Trenton before landing on the DL with mild rotator cuff tendinitis. Torres remains one of the top prospects in the game, and has an outside shot of forcing his way to the majors before September, but he will need to heat up in a hurry to accomplish that lofty feat.