Mining the News (8/26/26)

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Note: Any noted rostership rates come from the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship, the same rates we use on the FanGraphs Player Rater. For reference, these leagues are 12-team Roto leagues with 30-man rosters (2 C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P) and weekly add/drops. This rate can be compared to other rostership rates found in this article.

American League

Angels

• Ryan Johnson is throwing his cutter more.

Los Angeles was again the beneficiary of a good start from Johnson, who pitched seven scoreless innings and walked only two.

The right-hander has leaned more heavily on his cutter and used his sinker less frequently over his past two starts, an adjustment Suzuki said plays to Johnson’s strengths.

His cutter (10% SwStr%) usage increased from 31% to 54% instead of his sinker (1% SwStr%). A 100% LOB% has him with a 1.46 ERA over those games while having a 5.13 xFIP. The pitch is an improvement for him, but he’s still not rosterable.

Astros

• Mike Burrows is on a rehab assignment.

RHP Mike Burrows
Injury: Right elbow neuritis
IL date: July 13 (15-day, retroactive to July 7)
Expected return: TBD
Status: Hasn’t allowed a run in nine innings in two rehab starts with Triple-A Sugar Land, including 4 2/3 scoreless innings Aug. 20 in which he gave up one hit and two walks and struck out five.

He leaned into his slider in AAA (10% point increase) and is throwing about 0.5 mph harder across all his pitches.

Athletics

• Denzel Clarke is nearing a return from his rehab assignment.

OF Denzel Clarke
Injury: Left hamstring strain
IL date: April 22 (transferred to 60-day IL on May 26)
Expected return: Early September
Status: Began rehab assignment with Triple-A Las Vegas on Aug. 18, going 5-for-10 with three walks and two RBIs in four games. Will alternate between playing in the field and at designated hitter while ramping up workload.

I have not been able to find out how the outfield playing time will get divided up.

Rangers

• Nathan Eovaldi (66% rostered) could join the rotation this week.

RHP Nathan Eovaldi
Injury: Right posterior elbow inflammation
IL date: Aug. 10 (15-day IL, retroactive to Aug. 9)
Expected return: TBD
Status: Felt discomfort while playing catch on Aug. 9 and underwent imaging. Experienced dip in velocity during last start on Aug. 7. Club is cautiously optimistic Eovaldi could miss minimum time.

Red Sox

• Trevor Story (49% rostered) should join the team any day now.

SS Trevor Story
Injury: Sports hernia
IL date: May 16 (transferred to 60-day IL on June 4)
Expected return: Late August/early September
Status: Will play seventh rehab games for Triple-A Worcester on Aug. 25 and status will be reassessed after that game to determine whether he needs additional time in the Minors.

White Sox

• After dealing with a blister, Davis Martin is nearing a rehab assignment.

RHP Davis Martin
Injury: Blister on right middle finger
IL date: Aug. 14 (15-day)
Expected return: Early September
Status: Will throw a second bullpen on Aug. 25, and then head out on an injury rehab with Triple-A Charlotte.

National League

Brewers

• Jake Bauers played several months with a fractured toe.

INF Jake Bauers
Injury: Right foot soreness
Expected return: TBD
Status: Fouled ball off foot in seventh-inning at-bat on Aug. 23 but finished the game. Has spent several months playing through right big toe fracture.

The injury doesn’t seem to bother him. He’s putting up the best season of his career (.884 OPS) with his second half (.892 OPS) better than his first half (.881).

Dodgers

• Justin Wrobleski and/or Eric Lauer 라우어 will provide long relief for Shohei Ohtani as Ohtani builds up his innings.

The Dodgers will build Ohtani up in a similar fashion to how they did last season: He’ll initially pitch one inning before progressing to five over the course of several starts. Coach Dave Roberts noted that the organization will ramp up Ohtani a bit more “aggressively” than last season; that’s due to the calendar and the team’s desire to give Ohtani every chance to be stretched out as a starter come October.

Lauer is likely to be the consistent piggyback option when Ohtani returns. That could change to Justin Wrobleski, who filled that role last year, once Wrobleski is activated off the injured list. After he posted an All-Star campaign as a starter in the first half of the season, the Dodgers are now looking to use Wrobleski in two- or three-inning stints, which makes him a logical piggyback option once Ohtani can log three or more frames. In the meantime, Lauer is throwing bullpens to stay fresh until needed.

• Edwin Díaz will be used in a low-leverage role when he comes off the IL.

When Díaz does return from his second stint on the IL, he won’t have the same role as he did when the team initially signed him, with Dave Roberts confirming on Sunday they’ll ease him into low-leverage innings upon his return.

Díaz, while disappointed, understood the reasoning, as he has struggled mightily this season, and was happy for Tanner Scott, who is having a great bounce-back season compared to 2025.

“I’m okay,” Díaz said. “I haven’t pitched good. Tanner Scott is doing a great job. I’m really happy for him. When I come back, I just want to do my job, help the team to win. They make the decision after that.”

Giants

• Willy Adames dealt with a back issue all season.

Adames, who was scheduled to meet with team doctors on Monday night, has also been playing through a back issue for most of this season, but he looked like he was starting to turn a corner after returning from a four-game absence, going 7-for-19 (.368) with a 1.084 OPS over his past five games.

Mets

• Carson Benge reworked his batting stance in late April.

But there’s a little more to this. Benge figured something out. In late April, he changed his batting stance, a pivot that aligns neatly with his midseason turnaround.

So much of how, and where, a batter stands in the box comes down to comfort. This isn’t about having a good stance or a bad stance. This is almost entirely about how a player actually feels in the box facing big league pitching.

• Mark Vientos is on a rehab assignment with a focus on playing first or third base.

1B Mark Vientos
Injury: Fractured right hand
IL date: July 10 (10-day IL)
Expected return: Late August or early September
Status: Began a Minor League rehab assignment on Aug. 21, almost exactly six weeks after being struck on the right hand by a Michael Wacha sinker. Did not require surgery for the injury. Will receive reps at first and third base while on rehab.

Again, I haven’t read anything on how the playing time will work out.

Padres

• Joe Musgrove needs at least one more rehab start.

RHP Joe Musgrove
Injury: Tommy John surgery
IL date: March 25 (transferred to 60-day IL on May 7)
Expected return: Late August or September
Status: Threw a bullpen at Petco Park on Aug. 22. Will make fourth rehab start with Triple-A El Paso on Aug. 27. Could rejoin the rotation after that.

Phillies

• In AAA, Andrew Painter added a circle and adjusted his mechanics to throw more strikes.

During his time in Triple A, Painter ditched his splitter, added a circle change, cleaned up some mechanics to help his command, and decided to start throwing the ball with conviction. “Rip it,” as he said. That has helped the velocity and ride on his fastball. He also focused on getting ahead in counts.

“I had a lot of things I needed to straighten out,” he said. “It seemed every walk was coming around to score. I needed to get more early outs so I can stay in the game longer. The biggest thing is trying to be in the zone a lot and force their hand. I did a good job at that tonight. Zero walks is something I’m trying to do every time. I pretty much ripped everything as hard as I could tonight and had that confidence within the zone.”