Roto Riteup: August 19, 2026

by
August 19, 2026

A criminal action:

On the Agenda: 

  1. Closer Chaos
  2. Quick Hits
  3. Various News and Notes
  4. Streaming Pitchers

 

Closer Chaos

Edwin Diaz was placed on the 15-Day IL with neck inflammation. This reportedly has nothing to do with the elbow surgery he had earlier this season which is good news. Tanner Scott is the likely next man up for saves and he registered his 17th of the year on Tuesday. 

Quick Hits

You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

Hunter Goodman was placed on the IL with a shoulder strain. There is no timetable for his return, but the move is backdated to August 15 so he could return next week. Braxton Fulford was recalled to take his spot on the roster. 

Victor Mesa Jr. left Tuesday’s game with a hamstring issue. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

Kevin Gausman left Tuesday’s start with a hand issue. 

It was a cramp in his non-throwing hand that forced him out of the game so this doesn’t appear to be serious. Consider him day-to-day for now.

Various News and Notes
Brett Callahan went 2-for-3 with a home run in the loss to the Pirates on Thursday.

This was Callahan’s first MLB home run. He has hit .444/.444/1.000 so far in his first nine plate appearances after hitting 13 home runs and stealing 29 bases in 416 plate appearances in the minors between AA and AAA. Callahan doesn’t profile as much of a power hitting, but he can make contact and has some speed so there is deep league appeal.

George Klassen threw seven scoreless innings versus the Astros on Thursday, allowing just one hit and three walks while striking out seven in the victory

Klassen was fantastic in the outing, getting a 60% whiff rate on his slider and a 40% rate in total on all his pitches. He has struggled some with control in the Majors and minors, but the strikeout stuff is impressive so there is nice upside when he is able to find the zone.

Jo Adell went 3-for-4 with a home run in the victory over the Giants on Tuesday.

There was some fear that Adell would be on the short side of a platoon in Cleveland, but he has been playing regularly for the Guardians. The power is evident, but he has struggled against righties and has had some approach regression this season. He left this game in the eighth inning with knee pain due to fouling a pitch off of it earlier in the game. Consider him day-to-day at this time.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in Yahoo)

Pitcher for Today: Clay Holmes vs CHW

Holmes has been fantastic this season and while this isn’t the best matchup, if he is still on the wire in your league, you should be picking him up. 

Other Options: Seth Lugo vs ATH, Jeffrey Springs at KC, Walbert Urena at HOU, Kumar Rocker vs WAS, Dustin May vs SEA, Matthew Liberatore at CIN. 

Pitcher for Tomorrow: Gage Jump at KC

Jump has been great on the road this year and has a nice matchup. 

Other Options: Landen Roupp at CLE, Robert Gasser vs SEA, Brady Singe vs STL, Andrew Alverez at TEX, Grant Holmes at CHW. 

For those of you that would like to see how these picks play out, I have a doc I put together to track the stats from my recommended pitchers. It does not include the “Other Options.”





 

Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted