As expected, a lot of saves and holds changed hands leading up to MLB’s trade deadline. Some relievers who had been fantasy baseball closers won’t be closing out games on a regular basis any longer, but new closers were born because of some of the transactions that took place on Tuesday. 

 

 

 

Fantasy Baseball Closer Report: MLB Closers 2024

Oakland A’s injured closer Mason Miller, who was on many real-life MLB general managers’ wish lists, was not traded. Perhaps the A's asking price was too high, or maybe the fractured pinky on his non-pitching hand kept buyers away. Tyler Ferguson appears to be the A’s closer while Miller is on the IL. It almost certainly would have been Lucas Erceg, but he was traded to the Kansas City Royals who did a good job in bolstering their bullpen over the past week.

Plenty of closers and several high-end, high-leverage relievers find themselves on new teams with new roles as a result of a trading frenzy that ended on Tuesday at 6 PM ET. Let’s highlight some of the more fantasy relevant trades that took place this week and break down what they mean for MLB closers and your fantasy baseball roster!

*Unless otherwise noted all stats are accurate as per the morning of July 31, 2024.

 

 

 

The Phillies Have A New Closer, Even If Rob Thomson Won’t Admit It

The Phillies gave up two of their top prospects in order to land Carlos Estevez, and while manager Rob Thomson admitted that Estevez would get the majority of the work in the ninth inning for the Phils, he stopped short of naming him the team’s closer. 

Thomson’s relationship with the word closer has always been complicated. Jose Alvarado, who leads the team with 13 saves, and Jeff Hoffman, who has nine saves, will still likely be in the mix for occasional save opportunities, but it sounds like fantasy managers who roster Estevez caught a break. 

Hunter Strickland Might Be The New Angels Closer

After Carlos Estevez got traded to the Phillies, Angels manager Ron Washington anointed Luis Garcia as his team’s closer with Ben Joyce as his primary setup man. Well, Garcia got traded too and that left Joyce as the probable closer for the Angels. 

That is until Washington used him in the eighth inning on Tuesday and brought Hunter Strickland in for the save against the Rockies. Joyce has had some control issues this season, but he has a 2.01 ERA, and he hasn’t given up a run in his last 16 appearances spanning 20.1 IP.

He’s been better at getting lefty hitters out (.135 BAA) compared to right-handed batters (.261 BAA) and has six career minor league saves. Strickland is a 35-year-old veteran with a 3.06 ERA and 29 career saves under his belt. He’s been better at getting right-handed hitters out (.212 BAA) compared to left-handed hitters (.253 BAA).

Tanner Scott Joins A Stacked San Diego Padres Bullpen

Scott was a widely sought after reliever and, unfortunately, his landing spot hurts his fantasy baseball value in leagues that use saves only as a category. With Robert Suarez locked in as the Padres’ closer with 23 saves and a 1.48 ERA, Scott will more likely be a top resource for holds moving forward. 

The Padres also traded for former Tampa Bay Rays setup man Jason Adams, who is another top backend reliever. He has four saves and 19 holds this season and has filled in nicely as the Rays’ closer when Pete Fairbanks was unavailable. Colin Poche moves into the setup man role for the Rays with Adams being traded.

 

 

 

Who Is The Marlins Closer Now That Tanner Scott Has Been Traded?

The Marlins are the second worst team in the National League based on their win/loss record, but Scott was able to secure 18 saves this season, so figuring out who’ll get the majority of the team’s save chances might be worth your while. Some speculated that Andrew Nardi would be the next man up in the Marlins’ bullpen. However, he was used in the sixth inning against the Tampa Bays Rays’ 2, 3 and 4 hitters on Wednesday afternoon. 

Anthony Bender faced the Rays’ top of the order in the eighth inning and Calvin Faucher pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation. Faucher was often used in the eighth inning of games this season, picking up 11 holds while pitching to a 3.03 ERA. He has 33 saves in his professional baseball career (only one of them came in the major leagues), but he does have a history of control problems (career 4.3 BB/9). 

Bender, who saved nine games for the Marlins between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, has pitched well for the Marlins, recording nine holds and posting a 3.83 ERA. A.J. Puk, who was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Anthony Maldonado are the only other Marlins relievers to have recorded a save for the teams this season, so we’ll have to wait and see how manager Skip Schumaker plans on managing his bullpen for the rest of the season.

Last season, Schumaker went with a combination of a hot hand/matchup-based approach when it came to using a closer. He eventually used Scott as his primary closer, and for fantasy purposes, we can only hope that he settles on a primary closer for the rest of this season before too long.

Yankees Give Clay Holmes Vote Of Confidence, Say He’s Their Closer

When we say “they”, we mean manager Aaron Boone and team captain Aaron Judge. Four of Holmes’ eight league leading blown saves came in July. He bounced back from a blown save suffered at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night with a save of the Yankees’ win against those same Phillies on Wednesday afternoon. The Yanks did add some bullpen depth by acquiring Mark Leiter 

He’s been hot of late and pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Yanks on Tuesday night. Leiter Jr., who has seven career saves, followed that up by recording a hold for the Bronx Bombers on Wednesday afternoon. Luke Weaver or Tommy Kahnle would likely get a crack at closing out games for the Yanks should they look to eventually replace Holmes as the team’s closer.