Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: April 25

Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: April 25

Closers & Saves

This just might be your favorite paragraph in this whole piece simply because there has been no unrest in the world of MLB closers. Everyone who held the job as their team’s ninth-inning specialist still remains in their role and everyone who is part of a committee remains in that state as well. Obviously not every situation is ideal, but not having any turnover is a huge blessing to those who need to divert their FAAB budget to other areas of concern. As for some of the situations highlighted in last week’s edition, here are some updates:

Brad Ziegler seems to have settled down from last week and while he’s given up a few hits over his last three appearances, he hasn’t issued a single free pass in that span. You still don’t want to see him allowing baserunners, but in the past week he’s locked down two saves and hasn’t allowed a run in his last five appearances

Cincinnati remains a dumpster fire. J.J. Hoover, Tony Cingrani, Ross Ohlendorf, Blake Wood and Caleb Cotham all remain in the mix should the Reds be in need of a closer. Not one of them has procured a save in the past week and only Cingrani has been charged with a blown save after he coughed up the lead in the eighth inning against the Rockies back on April 20. Do we care that Ohlendorf pitched a scoreless ninth and backed into a win that game? Not really. This pen blows and you need to stay far away from its blast radius.

Kevin Jepsen blew the save against the Nationals on Sunday when he gave up a solo shot to Bryce Harper, but it doesn’t appear as if manager Paul Molitor is going to have an itchy trigger finger. He will leave the 31-year-old right-hander in the role as Trevor May hasn’t exactly been lights-out himself.

Since our last edition, Ryan Madson has collected three saves to Sean Doolittle’s zero. If you weren’t concerned earlier, you may want to start worrying if the A’s southpaw is ever going to get his job back. Given my lack of faith in Madson staying healthy, I’d say he will, but as it stands right now, Doolittle seems to be nothing more than a lefty set-up man.

Relievers & Holds

While neither Koji Uehara nor Junichi Tazawa has done anything to warrant a bump down in the bullpen pecking order, keep in mind that Carson Smith (forearm) is expected to return from the disabled list during the first week of May. The 26-year-old hard-throwing righty is starting his rehab assignment this week and should be able to return to the Red Sox after a few outings. He’s got a low to mid-90’s fastball and both his slider and change have been very solid secondary offerings. He could be in line for some holds once he returns to the pen.

You may have noticed in the Closer Grid that Jacob Petricka remains a candidate for potential saves, it’s actually Matt Albers who is racking up the holds in the White Sox pen. That is simply a matter of Petricka having done it before for the team and if David Robertson was hurt and Nate Jones wasn’t available, I think Petricka is the guy manager Robin Ventura would go to in a bind. Albers has been plenty reliable in the earlier innings and would likely stay there if push came to shove.

With Keone Kela (elbow) landing on the 60-day disabled list and not likely to return until after the All Star break, Tom Wilhelmsen has moved up in the pecking order and should be in line for some holds and, should anything happen to Shawn Tolleson, saves. Sam Dyson still seems to be the heir-apparent, but The Bartender is likely to vault lefty Jake Diekman if the Rangers have to dig deeper into the ranks. Diekman remains in line for his usual holds work, but will probably stay put as a set-up man given that he is the most reliable southpaw in the pen.

The Rockies bullpen struggles continue as Miguel Castro (shoulder) lands on the 15-day DL. The team does not believe the injury to be serious and they believe he will return to the pen May 3 when he is eligible, but for now, it moves Justin Miller up the ranks and he should be someone who can grab you some holds, at least when the team is on the road and not in the middle of a Coors Field slugfest.

The Mariners have finally been forced to put Joaquin Benoit (shoulder) on the DL with the same inflammation issue he dealt with during spring training. The club has called up Mayckol Guiape to take his place in the bullpen, but look for Tony Zych and Joel Peralta to reap the bigger benefits. Both move up in the pecking order and each should see some holds while Benoit is out. However, don’t rule out Nick Vincent or even lefty Vidal Nuno. They’re not two guys upon whom I would like to rely, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Strength of Bullpen

Once again, these bullpens may not be the be-all, end-all for holds or saves, but they are the top-10 bullpens based on a number of statistics and are likely the ones you want backing your starters. If it comes down to two starters you can’t decide between, I tend to go with the guy with the stronger bullpen as it increases your chances of earning a win.

Closer Grid