Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: Ryan Walker returns to the closer role; Justin Topa steps up for Twins
Meanwhile, the closer situations in St. Louis and Texas remain messy
By
Scott White
•
7 min read
Even now, nearly a month later, bullpens across the league are still contending with the fallout from the trade deadline.
Two of the teams to move their front-runner for saves, the Orioles and Athletics, haven't made any progress toward developing a new one. If I had to pick a favorite from each of those bullpens, I'd say Keegan Allen and Sean Newcomb, respectively, but both have commonly worked innings that wouldn't normally go to closers. Each of their past two appearances has come prior to the eighth, for instance.
Given that the Orioles and the Athletics are both last-place teams, the pursuit hardly seems worth the trouble. Maybe if a singular pitcher in either bullpen grabs the horns within the next week or so, there will be time to mine a few saves from him, but because such a pitcher has yet to reveal himself, I've made the executive decision to exclude both the Orioles and Athletics from this latest rundown of the closer scenarios most in flux. They just aren't deserving of our time right now.
Note: "Pecking order" refers to rosterability in Fantasy and not necessarily who's first in line for saves (though it's usually one and the same).
Giants
| Pecking order |
Randy Rodriguez just hit the IL with an elbow injury, and while the prognosis is unclear, it doesn't have to be so severe to effectively end his season. So the Giants are back to using Ryan Walker as their closer. He's the only one left to do the job after they shipped out Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers at the trade deadline, and he should do it well enough. Sure, he wasn't good enough to hold onto the role at the start of the year, but he has a 1.80 ERA in 20 appearances since the beginning of July and has already notched two saves in Rodriguez's absence. This may be the last safe bet for saves that pops up on the waiver wire this year, though keep in mind that it's still technically possible for Rodriguez to return.
Tigers
| Pecking order |
Some might argue that Will Vest belongs at the top of the pecking order, given that he's responsible for three of the Tigers' past four saves, but he's had a bumpy ride of late, actually blowing a 10th-inning save chance in his latest appearance Tuesday. He has a 3.97 ERA since the start of August, while Kyle Finnegan's during that same time is 0.00. Finnegan has four saves since coming over from the Nationals at the trade deadline, but only one in the past three weeks. His strikeout rate has exploded with the Tigers, who have encouraged him to throw his splitter more, and he actually worked the scoreless ninth inning that took the Tigers into the 10th Tuesday, leading to Vest's blown save. Finnegan and Vest are probably still in a closing tandem for now, but any time one falters, it tips the scales in the other one's favor.
Dodgers
| Pecking order |
No clear favorite for saves emerged for the Dodgers during the month that Tanner Scott missed with elbow inflammation, so you'd think manager Dave Roberts would be eager to reinstate him in the role. Instead, Scott's first appearance off the IL came in the eighth inning of an 8-2 win, but his second was for a save Tuesday. He was preceded in that game by Blake Treinen, who has most frequently worked the eighth since returning from his own IL stint in late July. If Roberts were to implement a closing tandem, Treinen would be the preferred right-handed option. Left-hander Alex Vesia has been the Dodgers' best reliever this year and has notched four saves himself, but he's currently on the IL with an oblique strain. The hope is that it'll be a minimal stay, but I'm expecting Scott to gain a foothold in the ninth inning before then.
Twins
| Pecking order |
When the Twins expended their top four relievers -- Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louie Varland, and Danny Coulombe -- at the trade deadline, I determined Cole Sands to be the best one they had left, making him the likely choice to close. Turns out he hasn't even gotten a look in the ninth. Instead, manager Rocco Baldelli has zeroed in on Justin Topa. The right-hander's latest save Tuesday gives him each of the Twins' past four. He's not particularly good -- sporting a 3.58 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 7.8 K/9 on the year -- but he seems to be uncontested in the role and is getting enough save chances to matter.
Marlins
| Pecking order |
Clayton McCullough's bullpen tendencies have been as elusive as any manager's, but Calvin Faucher has begun to pull away in the saves category, boasting twice as many (12) as the next up (Ronny Henriquez with six). He has four of the team's past eight saves, including the most recent one Monday. They're still too spread out for him to matter outside of deeper categories leagues, but he's as clear of a front-runner as the Marlins have had all season. (Of course, the caveat there is that Henriquez is clearly the better pitcher.)
Cardinals
| Pecking order |
JoJo Romero has four saves since the Cardinals shipped Ryan Helsley to the Mets at the trade deadline, which is why I still place him at the top of the pecking order. But Riley O'Brien has two, and there's reason to believe that the scales are tipping ever more in the right-hander's favor. For one thing, he's right-handed, which will come in handy if manager Oliver Marmol decides that Romero's left-handedness is best implemented situationally. For another, two of Romero's past three appearances have been to set up a save chance for O'Brien. The right-hander blew the last one Monday but ended up with the win. Romero is the more proven of the two, but it looks like he's part of a tandem now. O'Brien does have a 1.73 ERA on the year, but that's more on the strength of a high ground-ball rate than his bat-missing abilities.
Diamondbacks
| Pecking order |
At first glance, the Diamondbacks' closer situation would appear to be as messy as the Orioles' and Athletics', and it's true they have a stable of unknowns after losing Justin Martinez, A.J. Puk, and Kevin Ginkel to injury. But one of those unknowns, left-hander Andrew Saalfrank, has begun to distance himself from the rest, both in terms of usage and his 1.47 ERA (albeit in just 18 appearances). Five of his past seven appearances have been to finish out a game, including twice for a save. Another was to preserve a tie in the ninth. His latest came in the eighth, but then right-hander Juan Morillo ended up taking the loss in the ninth, reinforcing Saalfrank as the most trustworthy option.
Nationals
| Pecking order |
The Nationals had long touted Jose Ferrer as a closer-in-waiting, and it didn't make much sense given his stat line. But now that he's no longer in waiting, we're beginning to see some results. He's recorded four of the Nationals' past five saves and has seven straight scoreless appearances, spanning 9 1/3 innings. The left-hander throws plenty hard, peaking at 100 mph, and has begun to mix in his slider more in this new role, giving him two swing-and-miss secondaries. He wouldn't be the first uninspiring reliever to rise to the challenge of closing. If nothing else, he appears to be uncontested for the role, so, sort of like the Twins' Justin Topa, there's a place for him in Fantasy.
Rockies
| Pecking order |
Victor Vodnik recently had a stretch where he recorded four saves in five days, so it's probably time to take him seriously in leagues where saves matter. His 1.41 WHIP makes him harder to take seriously, as does the miserable state of the Rockies, but Seth Halvorsen was also picking up saves at a pretty nice clip once the Rockies finally settled on him as the closer. Speaking of Halvorsen, the Rockies have been reluctant to rule him out for the season, but there hasn't been much progress in his recovery from a strained elbow. Odds are that Vodnik will continue to fill the closer role through the final month of the season.
Rangers
| Pecking order |
The Rangers haven't had a save in 10 days and have just two for all of August, making it hard to pin down what their plans for the closer role are. The first of those two saves went to Phil Maton, their big deadline acquisition, who was performing well with the Cardinals but has little closing experience. That lack of experience showed as he blew each of his next three save chances, opening the door for Shawn Armstrong to secure the latest one Aug. 17. He's the front-runner by default, then -- and to be fair, he boasts a 2.54 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 9.7 K/9 on the year -- but the 34-year-old has a spotty track record and no closing experience himself. Manager Bruce Bochy may still turn back to Maton, who recorded the final two outs to preserve a four-run lead Tuesday, or he may go with a committee, in which case left-handers Robert Garcia and Danny Coulombe could get involved.
