Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: September 11

Each week I will breakdown closers and middle relievers in many different ways to provide you with all the information you need to have a successful fantasy bullpen. ** This week’s report is a bit of a shortened version and was written on Tuesday (instead of the normal Thursday). Hurricane Florence is coming through my area, sorry FANation! **

Quick Hits

• 9/6 Jesse Chávez picked up his fourth save, an extra innings save after Pedro Strop was used in a tie game in the ninth.... Brad Brach converted his first save as a member of the Braves.
• 9/7 Tommy Hunter notched his fourth save.... rookie Ty Buttrey converted his first save.... Kenta Maeda picked up his second save and appears to be the Dodgers go-to guy when Kenley Jansen is not available.
• 9/8 Greg Holland retired the side in order en route to his second save with Washington.
• 9/9 Seth Lugo notched a two inning save.... Carlos Martínez converted his second save since moving to the bullpen.... José Álvarez picked up a one-out save in relief of Blake Parker .
• 9/10 Carlos Martínez picked up a save for the second straight day.

Blown Saves

*Top 10

*Note: I track blown saves that happened by guys who were brought into finish the game. Such as guys in the closer role, or other pitchers who were brought in late in the game. A guy who picks up a “blown save,” for example, in the 6^th inning is very irrelevant in my opinion, when tracking fantasy assets.

Who’s Hot?

Despite it being a shortened week, I will still be focusing on Thursday to now only, instead of pushing back into days I already covered in last week’s report.

Jeremy Jeffress (70% owned) – Jeffress pitched three times and converted on all of his save chances. He struck out six across 3.1 shutout innings in what was a very dominant five-day timeframe for the Brewers closer. He has made five straight scoreless appearances and has only given up more than one earned run in an outing just one this season (two runs on June 23). Jeffress has had a phenomenal season and has racked up counting stats in so many different areas as he has eight wins, 11 saves, and 18 holds. Factor in his 1.41 ERA and 10.36 K/9 and you are looking at one of the best relievers in baseball this year. It has been a very strong bounce back season for a guy who posted a 4.68 ERA in 2017. Middle-tier. YTD stats: 70.1 innings, 11 saves, 81 Ks, 1.41 ERA.

Roberto Osuna (89% owned) – Osuna picked up three saves on three tries since Thursday. He did give up one run, which usually gets you excluded from the hot list, but on the short week, move value was put into his three saves then the one run against. He struck out three across three innings and now has 28 across 32.1 innings on the year. Osuna was strong in the strikeout department in his first three years in the league, so it is a bit surprising to see such poor numbers from him in that area this year. He is, however, doing very well with saves as he is 16-of-17 this year. He is someone you can trust down the stretch run of the fantasy baseball season. YTD stats: 32.1 innings, 16 saves, 28 Ks, 2.51 ERA.

Who’s Cold?

Shane Greene (69% owned) – Greene had a very solid 2017 campaign for Detroit, but 2018 has been a much different story for the righty. This week he pitched two times and failed to convert on his lone save chance. He gave up two runs across two innings pitched, but did somewhat help his fantasy owners out by picking up two wins. Over his last seven outings, he has allowed nine runs with four of those outings being of the multiple-runs given up variety. His ERA has skyrocketed up to 4.87 and his 1.34 and .261 BAA marks are both rough. He can’t be trusted right now. Bottom-tier. YTD stats: 57.1 innings, 28 saves, 61 Ks, 4.87 ERA.

Middle Relievers of Note

This section will focus on closers in waiting or closer capable guys and how they are performing.

Carlos Martínez (83% owned) – Martinez, also known as Tsunami (one of my favorite nicknames in sports), hasn’t officially been named closer yet, but he seems to be trending in that direction. He was recently moved to the bullpen and has already picked up three saves with two of them coming over the last two days. If his owner dropped him when he was removed from a starter’s role, you need to be picking him up for the saves he is producing. His strikeouts also appear to be picking up as he has six over his four innings. He has given up just two earned runs across 10.1 innings pitched since moving to the ‘pen and has only given up six hits. He is worth adding in all formats especially after being named the closer over the weekend. YTD stats: 110.2 innings, 4 holds, 107 Ks, 3.25 ERA.

Holds

*Top 10

Stat Leaders

This simply provides the current top-5 closers in saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP.  *I did not include Brandon Morrow this week because of his extended DL stint.

Team Bullpen ERA

This section will look into the best and worst bullpens in the league, which can be helpful for DFS. If a team has a weak starting pitcher throwing that day and also a poor bullpen it can make for big days for hitters. A bad bullpen ERA also has an effect on how likely a starting pitcher is to pick up a win.

*Ownership percentages are based off Yahoo

Be sure to check out the Closer Grid which has regularly updated rankings. Also feel free to shoot me any questions on Twitter @JustinVreeland