Ryan Tepera Fantasy Baseball Updates - Ben Rosener’s MLB Beat

Major League Baseball’s regular season continues, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers missed in the winter months. Lineup news, regular waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.

This column aims to cover any fantasy baseball news, big or small, and how it pertains to your fantasy team. Has a player who's usually been hitting in the middle of a lineup suddenly batting eighth or ninth for an extended period? The fantasy implications will be covered here.

The same goes for injuries and injured list placements and whether or not you should consider picking up a player who was recently called up. Basically, any kernel of fantasy news and its relevance to fantasy managers could be covered here. Today, the news of the day is the fantasy baseball impact of the St. Louis Cardinals signing Ryan Tepera to a major league contract.

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Fantasy Baseball Impact Of The St. Louis Cardinals Signing Ryan Tepera To A Major League Contract

The St. Louis Cardinals added a veteran option to the team’s bullpen on Monday, adding reliever Ryan Tepera on a major league contract, per a tweet from the National League Central club’s official Twitter account.

Tepera previously appeared in 10 games for the Los Angeles Angels this season. He logged a 7.21 ERA and a 5.71 FIP in 8.2 innings of work while adding 10 strikeouts and surrendering three walks and two home runs in the process. He surrendered two hits, a walk, and an earned run in two-thirds of an inning in his St. Louis debut on Monday, registering a hold in the process.

The reliever owns a 3.61 ERA and a 4.08 FIP in 364 career major league innings. Last year for the Angels, he pitched to a 3.61 ERA and a 4.2 FIP in 57.1 innings, adding 47 strikeouts while giving up 20 walks and seven home runs.

A late-inning reliever for significant stretches of his career, Tepera has logged 18 saves in the majors, including six for the Angels last season.

And while it seems unlikely that the veteran will be a consistent source of saves in St. Louis’ bullpen, there is quality saves+holds league upside here, as well as a bit of ancillary save potential.

From the start of the 2021 season through the end of last year, only eight relievers logged more holds than Tepera, who had 38 total over the span of the two campaigns.

So far this year, just three full-time relievers -- Chris Stratton, Ryan Helsley (currently on the injured list), and Jordan Hicks -- have an fWAR north of 0.3 for St. Louis. The lack of bullpen depth, speculatively speaking, could open the door for hold opportunities for Tepera.

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