Pablo Lopez has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder, and it's not going to be a short-term injury. The Twins announced Wednesday night that Lopez is going to miss 8-12 weeks as a result of the injury, with the earliest he could even begin a throwing program being four weeks from now, with no updates on his status expected until then.

It's a big blow for Lopez, who was finally avoiding the slow starts that have become a recurring issue for him in recent years. The earliest we'll see him at this point is likely late July in a best-case scenario, with a late August return on the table. And it's a big blow for Fantasy players, who suddenly have an ace-shaped hole in their lineup. Here are some replacement options to look for on the waiver wire if you lost Lopez, beginning with the likeliest name to replace him in the Twins rotation:

Here's who else we're looking to add from Wednesday's action:  

• David Festa , SP, Twins (12%) – Festa was scratched from his scheduled start at Triple-A St. Paul Wednesday, a seeming sign that he'll be the replacement for Lopez, and he should get a long runway here. Festa had a 1.39 ERA and 26.8% strikeout rate in three starts back in April, but gave up a lot of hard contact and didn't finish five innings in any of his starts. So, he's certainly not a perfect pitcher by any means, and Rocco Baldelli's conservative approach to handling his young pitchers could continue to hold him back. But there's real upside, and he's seemingly about to get a long runway, making him a viable replacement for Lopez, if not a perfect one. 
• Eury Perez, Marlins (75%) – With Perez slated to make his return from Tommy John surgery Monday of next week, he should absolutely be 100% rostered at this point. That's not to say he's guaranteed to be dominant – just look at his teammate Sandy Alcantara or erstwhile Braves ace Spencer Strider 's struggles for proof – but you just don't find this kind of upside available on the wire. The last time we saw Perez on the mound, he was a 20-year-old wunderkind who struck out 29% of opposing batters en route to a 3.15 ERA. Even after missing all of last season, he has only just turned 22. He could struggle, but the stuff has looked great on his rehab assignment, and his new-look curveball has the potential to miss even more bats than his old one. Perez's age and stuff give him true ace potential, and he might represent your only real chance to actually replace Lopez. 
• Zebby Matthews, Twins (48%) – Matthews' spot in the Twins rotation seems a lot more secure now, too, though he has the same issue Festa does, as we saw Wednesday: He pitched well, limiting the Athletics to one run over five innings, but was pulled after just 77 pitches. He has failed to pitch into the sixth inning in three of his four starts to date, though with a 5.21 ERA, it's hard to fault Baldelli too much for that. But Matthews has shown some promise, striking out 25 batters to eight walks in 19 innings of work. The extra velocity has mostly stuck around, leading to more missed bats, and if he can just lock in a bit, there's real upside here. 
• Edward Cabrera , Marlins 31% – I've mostly been unwilling to buy in on Cabrera, but The Athletics' Eno Sarris had a note that piqued my interest Tuesday . He noted that Cabrera has lowered his arm slot, started throwing his sinker more than his four-seamer, and has had the best command of his career over the past five starts. It might be nothing. A hot streak from a notably mercurial starter. But Cabrera's always had high-level stuff, and if he can have even just normal bad control instead of some of the worst in the majors, the upside here is clear. You've gotta take some swings if you're going to have any hope of replacing Lopez, and Cabrera could be a big swing. He finished May with 28 strikeouts to eight walks in 27 innings while putting up a 2.00 ERA, so let's see what he can do moving forward. 
• Shane Bieber, Guardians (58%) – If you can be a little patient, Bieber is working his way back from his own elbow surgery and could carry some upside of his own. He's set to make a minor-league rehab start Friday at Double and seems like he's probably a few weeks away from returning to the majors himself. It's been a few years since Bieber was a Fantasy ace, but he gave us a tantalizing glimpse of that upside in two starts last season as he struck out 20 in his first 12 innings before blowing out his elbow. If he shows anything like that kind of upside in the minors, he's going to be a lot more rostered than this pretty soon.

Let's get to the rest of what you need to know about from Wednesday's action, and we'll start with some extended thoughts on one of the toughest pitchers in baseball to figure out right now:

Oh, Andrew Abbott, we'll never be able to figure you out, will we? 

I've struggled to get a good sense of how good Abbott is for basically his entire career, but he has looked like he is starting to put it all together this season. He entered play Wednesday with a 1.51 ERA, and while that's obviously unsustainable – he's not the second coming of Bob Gibson – this is the best he's ever pitched. He has matched the elite quality of contact prevention from last season with the best strikeout rate of his career, leading to a 3.05 expected ERA, nearly a full run better than last season. And that's been enough for me to go from skeptical to mostly bought-in. 

So, of course, he finally stumbled Wednesday against the Brewers. He made it through six innings, but he allowed a season-high five runs along the way, thanks in large part to a pair of homers in the fifth and sixth innings, his first game allowing multiple homers since last August. Given my long-running skepticism, am I out on Abbott again all of a sudden?

Not so fast. 

For one thing, despite the line, Abbott actually pitched quite well Wednesday. He struck out seven and generated 13 swinging strikes on 100 pitches while pounding the zone, and when he did give up contact, it generally wasn't particularly loud – of the 19 balls in play against him, just five were hit harder than 95 mph. Which is to say, despite the disappointing performance, Abbott mostly continued to do what he's been doing all along. His 36% CSW (Called-plus Swinging strike rate) was excellent, he generated a bunch of chases, and one of the two homers was on his cutter, a pitch he almost never throws (it was just the second ball in play against the pitch all season). Hardly a reason to be concerned.

Now, I'm not saying Abbott is an ace or anything. When I say I'm "mostly bought in," I mean that I think Abbott is a top-40-ish starting pitcher, someone I want in my lineup more often than not, but not someone I expect to carry my rotation. Because, for all he does well, he's still a flyball pitcher in Cincinnati, and that can get dangerous in a hurry. If his strikeout rate – fueled by decent, but not exactly outlier swing-and-miss rates across his five pitches – regresses back to last year's levels, things could get ugly here, since he remains a mostly mediocre control pitcher.

But we're going on nearly 200 innings across the past two seasons of Abbott posted exceptional quality of contact allowed metrics – among pitchers who have thrown at least 2,500 pitches since the start of last season, Abbott ranks 14th out of 108 in expected wOBA on contact – so I don't think that's just a fluke. He'll allow the random homer, but he generally produces weakly hit fly balls with little chance of becoming hits, which helps keep his BABIP abnormally low. 

He's a pitcher who defies convention in a lot of ways, and 15 years ago, during the height of the FIP-driven pitching analysis revolution, he probably would have been dismissed as a fluke. But we know he does a great job of consistently limiting damage on contact, and if his strikeout rate remains in the high-20s – it was 26% in 2023, collapsed to 19.5% last season, and is up to 28.2% to date in 2025 – he's going to remain a very good pitcher. Even after Wednesday, I believe that's what he is, despite my past skepticism. 

Nick Pivetta,Padres @SF: 6 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – Pivetta has a 4.63 ERA since the start of May, but that's kind of misleading – he had three straight quality starts entering this one, and it and would have been four if they didn't bring him out for the seventh in this one. Including Wednesday, he has allowed more than three runs just twice in 12 tries. There probably isn't much to actually be worried about here. 

Matthew Boyd, Cubs @WAS: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – Now that I've learned to stop worrying and love Andrew Abbott, Boyd might be the pitcher I'm most confused by right now. Part of that is probably because his track record makes Pivetta look like a model of excellence and consistency and just generally fulfilled expectations. But Boyd continues to pitch extremely well, and while it felt like he was getting away with something early in the season, it's hard to make that case right now when he has 40 strikeouts to just three walks in 35.1 innings since the start of May. He's backed up by a generally excellent team, though he has probably benefited from a pretty easy schedule lately. Okay, he's probably not a 3.00 ERA pitcher. But a mid-3.00s ERA pitcher is plenty useful, and I think Boyd can probably be that. 

Mick Abel, Phillies @TOR: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – The results were good from a run prevention perspective, but this was a much less exciting performance from Abel than his MLB debut a few weeks ago. He had just five swinging strikes to go with the two strikeouts, and his velocity was down 2+ mph on basically all of his pitches, which is all pretty worrisome. Abel has talent, to be sure, but he never quite put it all together in the minors. It looked like he might have after that debut, but this showing makes me much less enthusiastic about adding him. It's fine to take the shot, but I'm skeptical that Abel is going to be a must-start pitcher the rest of the way, certainly. 

Mike Burrows, SP, Pirates () – 5.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K  – When Burrows was promoted instead of Bubba Chandler , I think most Fantasy players were probably rooting against him. And he looked extremely shaky in his first two starts, which seemed to make the chances of a Chandler promotion increase. Not so much after this one. Burrows isn't on Chandler's level as a prospect, but he projects to be a viable big-leaguer in his own right, and he gave a hint of how it could come together in this one, with excellent control and enough bat-missing to get through the lineup a couple of times. He's not a must-add pitcher, but Burrows isn't totally uninteresting. Let's see if he can follow this one up with another good start. 

Justin Martinez, RP, Diamondbacks – He blew a multi-inning save chance in this one and looked extremely shaky in doing so, allowing one run on four walks. However, he also recorded four of his five outs via the strikeout and got the win, and still looks pretty good in his return from a shoulder injury. I'm holding. 

Randy Rodriguez, RP, Giants – The Giants tried to get Ryan Walker a save Wednesday, but he allowed two hits while recording one out before being pulled for Rodriguez, who got the final two outs. Camilo Doval had pitched two of the previous three games, so I'm assuming he just wasn't available. Doval is the closer here, but he has looked a little shaky lately, while Rodriguez has arguably been the most dominant reliever in baseball this season, striking out 40% of opposing batters and sporting an absurd 0.68 ERA. In deeper leagues, he might be worth a speculative add. He'll help in ratios even if he isn't closing.

The Reds placed Hunter Greene on the IL with a groin strain. It's the second time he has dealt with this injury, and while the previous one resulted in basically a minimum stay on the IL, you have to think they'll be more cautious with him this time around.

Logan Gilbert (elbow) threw 60 pitches in his second rehab outing Wednesday, allowing two runs over three innings at Triple-A Tacoma. He will likely need one more rehab start before being activated. 

J.T. Realmuto left Wednesday's game after being hit by a foul ball in the groin area. Hope he's okay. 

Carlos Correa was scratched Wednesday with back tightness, with Brooks Lee taking over for him. 

Mark Vientos' hamstring strain is a low-grade one and he'll be shut down for 10-14 days before trying to return. In shallower leagues, I think Vientos is droppable with how bad he's been this season. 

Sean Manaea will pitch for High-A Brooklyn on Friday night in his first rehab appearance. He'll likely need at least four starts before he's promoted. 

Tommy Edman has missed the past two games due to an ankle tweak. 

Michael Kopech faced hitters for the first time in a live BP session as he continues to work his way back from a shoulder injury. He could factor into the ninth inning for the Dodgers once healthy. 

Jordan Westburg will play Wednesday and Thursday at Triple-A Norfolk and then determine the next steps – which would likely be a return to the majors, perhaps as soon as this weekend. 

Kyle Tucker missed his second game in a row due to a jammed right ring finger, but he is still expected to avoid the IL. 

Kerry Carpenter was scratched from Wednesday's lineup with right hamstring tightness.

Jasson Dominguez was out of the lineup yet again Wednesday as he continues to deal with swelling in his left thumb. He was available off the bench if needed and should be back in the lineup in the next few days.  

The Yankees will decide what the next step for Giancarlo Stanton is in the next 24 hours. He's recovering from issues in both elbows but has been able to play in some simulated games at the team's complex, so a rehab stint seems like the logical next step. 

Tyle O'Neill (shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A this weekend. He could be back next week. 

Jorge Soler was pulled from Wednesday's game due to groin tightness. Manager Ron Washington told reporters he hopes Soler will be fine for Friday's game against Seattle. 

Kutter Crawford was pulled from his rehab assignment due to right wrist inflammation. He has been working his way back from a knee injury dating back to last season. 

Max Muncy was recalled from Triple-A. The Athletics' version of Max Muncy, to be clear. He hit just .176 in 21 games earlier in the season but had a .901 OPS in Triple-A after his demotion. 

Alek Manoa (Tommy John rehab) could throw a live batting practice session next week. 

Ben Lively had Tommy John surgery with a right flexor tendon repair and will be out 12-14 months.

The Giants DFA'd Lamonte Wade after he hit just .167/.275/.271 this season. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge was promoted to Triple-A in recent days, and I wonder if the Giants want to see him hit well for a couple of weeks before possibly turning to him as the answer at first base. That's certainly the long-term goal, at least.