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Another exciting week of baseball gone by (depending, you know...on what team you root for), and some good drama before, during, and after the games made for a very interesting seven days. As we get closer and closer to the official summer, fantasy managers need to start looking toward the trade deadline and thinking ahead about which relief pitchers are suddenly going to matter a whole lot more and which ones are suddenly barely going to matter at all.
This week, a displaced closer got hurt and left somehow more of a mess in his team's bullpen. A few committees did committee things, as committees do, and a pair of struggling closers seem to be mostly back on track, at least for now. Let's look at all of that in more detail and some other things as well, read on!
Be sure to also keep an eye on our Fantasy Baseball Closer Depth Charts for saves, holds, and bullpens. They will be updated daily or sometimes even more often throughout the 2024 baseball season.
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Sunday Quick Hit Closer Updates
-Big weekend news as Toronto sent closer Jordan Romano to the injured list with an elbow injury. Blue Jays manager John Schneider says Yimi Garcia (28% rostered) will be the first closing option, but that Chad Green (4% rostered) could get some chances as well. Both should be added immediately in holds leagues, and Garcia needs to be rostered in most saves leagues as well.
-Evan Phillips was officially activated from the injured list and should resume closing duties for the Dodgers immediately.
-The A's placed setup man Lucas Erceg on the injured list. Austin Adams and Scott Alexander will each move up a notch in the Oakland bullpen hierarchy ahead of closer Mason Miller.
-Jalen Beeks (12% rostered) earned his sixth save of the season for the Rockies and might have jumped back over Tyler Kinley (2% rostered), mentioned below, for the top spot in the Colorado bullpen. Odds are, they'll switch back and forth several more times over the next few weeks.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups for Saves
Reed Garrett, New York Mets (Rostered in 43% of leagues)
The New York Mets bullpen is a mess. Maybe that's being a little generous and we should use the words we *thought* Jorge Lopez said... Anyway, the Mets bullpen has been struggling mostly all season, even with All-Universe closer Edwin Diaz back on the mound. Diaz has a 5.40 ERA, four blown saves, and the worst strikeout rate of his career, and then things somehow got worse this week as he was placed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement.
The immediate guess to take over closing duties in Queens was Adam Ottavino, but Ottavino is in a serious pitching slump, posting an ERA of 21.00 over the past 10 days. Enter Reed Garrett, a journeyman reliever who has played for four teams in four years and entered this season with just one win and 31 appearances. He's already made 20 appearances this season, and has a 2.63 ERA along with a 36.8% K%. His previous best ERA? 6.41. His previous best strikeout rate? 18.4%. Something is different with Garrett this season (he credits a thorough revamp in his pitching mechanics), and it's working; a 2.11 xERA/2.47 FIP back up that he hasn't just been lucky, but actually good.
The Mets are likely to go with a committee that will still include Ottavino along with Jake Diekman and others, but Garrett feels like the most likely option to see an important ninth inning going forward. Edwin Diaz will probably be given every chance to earn the role back once he's healthy, so fantasy managers with an open IL spot could do worse than check their waiver wire in case he's available. He's rostered in 86% of leagues as of now.
Reed Garrett locks down the save and the Mets win! pic.twitter.com/zwS0Zmaym0
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 31, 2024
Tyler Kinley, Colorado Rockies (Rostered in 2% of leagues)
This one is pretty much only for fantasy managers who are absolutely desperate for saves. In general, avoiding the Rockies bullpen is probably the best move. But at least for right now, it looks like Tyler Kinley is the guy in charge of the ninth inning in Denver.
He's been anything but great (8.06 ERA -0.4 fWAR), but he's seemingly supplanted Jalen Beeks for closer duties right now. In most leagues, Kinley is on the waiver wire and should stay there. In some extremely deep leagues, if there's no one else pitching ninth innings on the wire, Kinley can at least maybe have some value? It's a tough sell, but as the old fantasy baseball adage goes: he's (kind of) a closer, and closers will always have value.
Tyler Kinley, K'ing the Side. pic.twitter.com/80sIZszIUj
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 9, 2023
More Bullpen and Closer News
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers have been without closer Evan Phillips since May 3 when he landed on the injured list with a hamstring issue. He'd been excellent before that (0.66 ERA, eight saves, 17:4 K:BB ratio) and has been excellent in his rehab outings (1 2/3 perfect innings with three strikeouts).
He may see a medium-leverage outing first, but should soon be back in the highest-leverage role in the Los Angeles bullpen, pushing Daniel Hudson back into a setup role. Because of the more fluid nature of the Dodgers bullpen, Hudson could still see a few saves going forward, but Phillips is definitely the guy to roster in saves leagues. He's expected to be activated for the weekend series against the Rockies.
Evan Phillips Save pic.twitter.com/yoDutu6X4m
— Mad Choriyama (@MadChoriyama) April 3, 2024
Milwaukee Brewers
Trevor Megill has been working as the highest-leverage reliever in the Brewers bullpen and has earned eight saves and three holds along the way. While the Milwaukee bullpen is also a little more fluid than others, Megill is clearly the top option for saves and late-game leverage moments. He took a line drive off his arm this week and was forced to miss some time with an elbow injury, but he isn't expected to need an IL stint and should be back on the mound as soon as this weekend. Elvis Peguero and Bryan Hudson have been working as Megill's setup men, and they'll handle any save chances while Megill finishes healing up.
Trevor Megill took a line drive off the pitching elbow and was immediately removed from the game. 99.4 MPH off the bat.
Ghost runner scored from second base on the play.
— Tyler Koerth (@TylerKoerth) May 29, 2024
Short Relief - Other Bullpen News
-Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada set a Major League Baseball record this week by striking out his 13th batter in a row. All 13 have been swinging, which is even more ridiculous. He has a 0.55 ERA and 48.3% K% and needs to be rostered in every holds league.
-The Mets bullpen has blown five of their last eight save chances and eight of their last 15. That's a lot of potential wins that a struggling team is turning into losses.
-Jorge Alcala has thrown four scoreless innings since being called back up to the Twins and consistently hits 100 mph with his fastball. He's someone to keep an eye on in holds leagues.
-Mason Miller negative FIP watch: over?? After allowing one earned run and blowing a save this week, Miller's FIP has skyrocketed to...0.09. He's still probably the last guy you want to see on the mound if your team needs a run or two, though.
-Current MLB saves leaders: Ryan Helsley (18), Emmanuel Clase (17), Clay Holmes (16), and Robert Suarez (16).
-Current MLB holds leaders: JoJo Romero (18), Hunter Harvey (16), and Andrew Kittredge (15).
-With their closer atop the chart for saves and two of the three holds leaders also being Cardinals, St. Louis plays a ton of close games, huh?
-Steven Okert and Adbert Alzolay still top the blown saves chart, with five each.
-Blake Treinen has a save and three holds and still hasn't allowed an earned run in 8 2/3 innings of work since coming off the injured list.
-Among pitchers with 10+ innings pitched, Emmanuel Clase (0.33), Colin Holderman (0.52), and Jeremiah Estrada (0.55) have the lowest ERAs.
-With that same 10+ inning qualification, MLB's highest K% belongs to, of course, Mason Miller (52.8%). He's followed by Jeremiah Estrada (48.3%) and Fernando Cruz 48.0%).
-On the other end of that, highest walk rates (BB%) go to Aroldis Chapman (24.1%), Jonathan Hernandez (22.6%), and Nick Nastrini (20.0%).
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