Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: Bullpen Shakeups?

An Astros reliever picked up the first save of his career. The Orioles may be looking to make a change at the closer position. If the Rockies decide to shake things up in their bullpen, they’ve got a pitcher on their roster who looks like he might have closer potential. There’s plenty to cover in this week’s Bullpen Report.

Weekly Save Leaders

Kenley Jansen , Dodgers, 3

Jansen has been on a roll as of late. As this article is being written Jansen hasn’t given up a run in his last ten appearances and he’s recorded six saves during that span. The Dodgers rarely use him on consecutive days, and when they’ve had to rest him, Blake Treinen has done a nice job filling in. Jansen had three saves in the past week and has 11 on the season.

Brad Hand , Nationals, 3

Hand managed to notch three saves last week despite giving up three runs in four innings of work. He’s been getting knocked around a bit, giving up at least one run in five of his last eight appearances. Hand compiled an 8.59 ERA and he yielded three home runs in those appearances. Despite his recent struggles Nationals manager Davey Martinez used Hand three days straight last weekend and oddly enough he didn’t give up a run in the final two games of that three-game stretch. Next man up Daniel Hudson hasn’t let up a run in his last ten appearances. He’s only rostered in 21% of Yahoo fantasy leagues and with Hand’s recent issues it might be wise to add him to your fantasy team (more later).

Weekly Holds Leaders

José Cisnero and Daniel Hudson recorded three holds last week. It was the second week in a row that Hudson notched three holds. As you’ll see later in this article, Hudson is someone you should probably consider rostering.

José Cisnero , Tigers, 3                 

Cisnero’s overall numbers (4.82 ERA, 1.446 WHIP) aren’t very impressive, and he pitches for a scrappy, but bad Tigers team. However, Cisnero has been coming on of late, and hasn’t given up a run in his last five appearances and posting a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. With six holds on the season, he only has very marginal value in leagues that track that category.

Bullpen News To Take Note Of

Houston Astros

Keep an eye on Ryan Pressly ’s status over the next couple of days. According to Astros manager Dusty Baker, Pressly was unavailable to pitch on Wednesday night due to a stiff neck. According to Baker, Pressly was unable to “even turn his head.” With setup men Brooks Raley and Ryan Stanek having already pitched in the game Bryan Abreu was called upon to pick up the first save of his career for the Astros on Wednesday night. We probably shouldn’t expect Abreu to get too many more save opportunities moving forward. If Pressly were to spend time on the IL Stanek and Raley would be the next guys up with a potential combination of Joe Smith , Andre Scrubb and Enoli Paredes being in the hole.

Tampa Bay Rays

With Rays starting pitchers only pitching 4.8 innings per games started, their bullpen continues to be a huge part of their success. The Rays added a solid relief pitcher in J.P. Feyereisen to their pen  when they traded Willy Adames to the Brewers. Feyereisen’s 14.3% walk rate is concerning and giving up free passes has always been a problem for the right-hander, but he has nine holds on the season and has already saved a game for the Rays. He did blow a save opportunity on Wednesday night but hung on for the victory. Despite his recent workload we probably wouldn’t expect the Rays to use him as their primary closer. Diego Castillo is the closest thing to a primary closer that the Rays have on their roster and even he won’t pitch in every save opportunity. Keep an eye on Castillo who was recently reinstated from the IL. He hasn’t pitched since Saturday.

Colorado Rockies

Keep an eye on Carlos Estévez who, heading into Wednesday’s action, had saved two games, held another and pitched eight straight scoreless innings. Daniel Bard has pitched well of late, and it looks like his role as the Rockies closer is secure. However, with Mychal Givens pitching to a 10.13 ERA in his last four appearances, we’re projecting that Estevez might be next in line should the Rockies need to make a change at the closer position.  

Baltimore Orioles

With an 8.22 ERA in his last 7.2 IP César Valdez could be on the brink of being replaced as the Orioles’ closer. If the Orioles do decide to make a move, they may end up handing the reigns to Paul Fry who hasn’t given up a run in 16 of his 19 appearances this season. If Fry is the guy the Orioles use in high leverage relief situations it might not be for long. Hunter Harvey , who was expected to enter the season as the Orioles closer, is eligible to come off the IL (oblique strain) on June 1^st. He’s already made his first rehab appearance and is scheduled to make a few more in the coming week.

Relief Pitcher Streaming Options

In last week’s column we talked about how it’s sometimes more advantageous to insert a solid reliever who pitches a few innings per week and provides your fantasy team with a solid ERA and a generous number of strikeouts into your weekly lineup instead of a weak starter who has a bad matchup and can potentially blow up your weekly stats. The following are four pitchers who can help your fantasy team if you’re in a pinch and are likely widely available on your league’s waiver wire. We’ve listed each pitcher’s overall season stats (as of Wednesday morning), as well as their stats for the past week. You may wish to stream these pitchers, but with some of them potentially having an eventual direct path to a closer’s role, (like Daniel Hudson ) you may decide to hold on to them for a while.

Miguel Castro , Mets

One win, one loss, three holds, 3.12 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Steve Cishek , Angels

Three holds, 3.54 ERA, 1.475 WHIP (0.43 WHIP in last eight appearances)

Daniel Hudson , Nationals

Three wins, nine holds, 1.06 ERA, 0.65 WHIP

Miguel Diaz , Padres

Two wins, 0.69 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

If you've been a subscriber here at Fantasy Alarm, you've seen the Fantasy Baseball Closer Grid before. If you're new, it's very simple. We not only list who the closer is for each team, but we then go another two-deep into the bullpen to let you know who would be next in line to accrue saves should there be an injury or a change, as well as which relievers you may want to target if your league scores for holds. This isn't about how the teams' depth charts always reads, so keep that in mind. Sometimes the heir-apparent is an obvious one, but in many cases it is not. We look for things like skill set, contact rates, pitch-command, pitch-mix, how many lefties are in the bullpen, who has worked as a closer before and who has the experience in high-leverage situation among other things.

GREEN will be those with strong talent, abundant opportunities and a high-level of job security. The tier below will be in YELLOW followed by ORANGE and lastly RED to indicate who may have the job right now but could lose it with one bad hiccup.