Instead of surgery, Phillies reliever Mike Adams will receive a cortisone injection at some point later this week to hopefully strengthen a frayed labrum.

Matt Adams, who can come off the disabled list beginning Friday, started a Minor League rehab assignment on Monday, further indication that he should be ready to return to the Cardinals on or just after that earliest date of eligibility.

Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos has been besieged by setbacks since he had arthroscopic elbow surgery in October to remove bone chips. But Latos appears to have finally cleared all the hurdles. Barring another unforeseen issue, Latos should be ready to make his 2014 season debut for the Reds on Saturday vs. the Brewers at Miller Park.

Now that you’ve seen the weekly American League and National League updates on your All-Star Game MLB.com Ballot Sponsored by Experian, it’s time to ask the candidates themselves what they think of the voting.

Second baseman Neil Walker underwent a successful appendectomy Monday night and was placed on the 15-day disabled list after he was a late scratch to the lineup.

Carlos Gonzalez had a small mass removed from his left index finger on Tuesday during an operation in Cleveland. More about his recovery and rehab will be known after a biopsy is performed on the mass.

A set of Major League stars will tour Japan and play a five-game series against a group of stars from Nippon Professional Baseball this November. The series, dubbed All-Star Series 2014, will be the 36th time that a team of big leaguers has toured Japan.

Every lineup, every day, as they are made public by the clubs.

Rookie outfielder George Springer was out of the Astros’ lineup with right knee soreness for the second straight game on Tuesday.

Bob Welch, a former Cy Young Award winner and the last Major League pitcher to win at least 25 games in a season, died Monday night of a heart attack at the age of 57.

A consensus appears to be forming about Mike Trout and Yasiel Puig, who does his electric work a freeway drive away from Trout’s house at Dodger Stadium. As total players, taking every aspect of the game into account, Southern California’s dazzling young stars are in a class of their own.

Throughout the season, the MLBPipeline.com staff will name Pipeline Prospects of the Week — one hitter and one pitcher who excelled over the previous seven days. To qualify for selection, a player must rank among their organization’s Top 20 Prospects, as listed on our Prospect Watch.

A lot of eyes will be on Safeco Field on Tuesday night when Yankees rookie sensation Masahiro Tanaka faces off against his former Japanese teammate, Mariners All-Star right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma.

Every lineup, every day, as they are made public by the clubs.

Hall of Fame right-hander Dazzy Vance didn’t record his first double-digit strikeout game until he was a couple of months beyond his 31st birthday, but he would make up for lost time in a rather eye-popping manner. Felix Hernandez is still three years shy of Vance’s age when he recorded his first double-digit K game back in 1922, but thanks to all of the ways that baseball can align and link, the two do happen to intersect.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is always changing. It reflects the growth of the game, as well as the international nature of the modern game. Here are 10 things about the Hall and Cooperstown that you may not know but probably should.

Already this season, which is only about 40-percent complete, 10 different position players have been thrust into pitching duty. So what gives? Why are so many teams getting caught in that awkward, oddly entertaining spot in which they need a position player to tame bats rather than swing them?