Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: Cincinnati Shuffle

There seems to be a little clarity with regards to the Reds’ bullpen, while at the same time the Rays’ shiny new bullpen toy can’t help himself from giving out free passes to first base.  The Rangers will need to decide who’ll be closing out their games while their reliable closer is temporarily on the shelf, and we’ve also identified another three relief pitchers who you can potentially stream in weekly leagues. Please enjoy this week’s Bullpen Report.

Weekly Save Leaders 

Lucas Sims, Reds, 3

In what has been a committee approach in Cincinnati all season long, it that Sims has pulled ahead, at least for the time being. He saved three games last week and has a total of five in his last six appearances dating back to May 25th. Sims hasn’t given up any runs and compiled a 9:2 K/9 ratio during that time span. Don’t rule out Tejay Antone from picking up a spot save moving forward. He hasn’t given up a run in his last 11 appearances. 

Nine other pitchers saved two games last week including:

Jose Cisnero, Tigers, 2

With Michael Fulmer hitting the IL due to a right shoulder strain Cisnero looks like he’ll get the majority of save opportunities in the short term with Gregory Soto also pitching in high leverage situations. Cisnero has a 1.54 ERA in his last 11.2 IP with 14 strikeouts and two walks.

Weekly Holds Leaders

Heading into Wednesday’s action five pitchers recorded three holds each last week. Let’s focus on a couple of those pitchers (both Brewers) who haven’t yet been covered in this column.

Devin Williams, Brewers, 3

Williams may be Brewers closer Josh Hader’s heir apparent, but so far this season, he hasn’t been as dominant a pitcher as he was in the past. According to Fangraphs, his overall velocity is slightly lower this season as compared to 2020. On average he’s lost 1.4 MPH off his fastball and 3.5 MPH off his slider. Walks (6.56 BB/9) have also been an issue this season, and the three home runs he’s already given up are the most he’s yielded in his big-league career. Opposing batters are barreling his pitches (10.6) and hitting his offerings harder (38.3% hard hit rate) than ever before. His fastball usage is down approximately nine percent since last season, and he’s been using his changeup more (10% increase). While his changeup is still his most effective pitch, it’s been slightly more hittable this season. Hitters have a .162 BAA it this season and it generates a 47.9% whiff rate. However, last season the pitch had a .032 BAA and 61.1% whiff rate. 

Brad Boxberger, Brewers, 3

With two saves and eight holds on the season, we’ve listed Boxberger as third in line behind Hader and Williams on our closer grid. He hasn’t given up a run in his last ten outings and opposing hitters are batting .111 against him during that time frame.  

Bullpen News To Take Note Of

Texas Rangers

Ian Kennedy, who’s been one of baseball’s most consistent closers this season, hit the IL due to a hamstring strain. The Rangers expect him to be able to rejoin the team once he’s eligible to come off the IL on June 16th. John Sborz and Joely Rodriguez should be the favorites to work in save situations during Kennedy’s absence. Rangers manager Chris Woodward also suggested that he’d considering using LHP’s John King and Brett Martin to close out games as well. 

Tampa Bay Rays

J.P. Feyereisen’s old enemy, the base on ball, came calling this week. After picking up three saves in his first five appearances for the Rays, he’s walked six batters in his last three appearances (2.2 IP). Feyereisen’s control issues provided Diego Castillo with the opportunity to pick up two saves (his ninth and tenth of the season). Castillo worked just two scoreless innings last week. He struck out four and didn’t walk any batters. The Rays’ bullpen entered Wednesday’s action with the fourth best ERA (3.21) in the big leagues. Ryan Thompson (seven holds, 1.06 ERA in his last 18 appearances) and Pete Fairbanks (one save, seven holds, 1.29 ERA on the season) are two other important cogs in the Rays bullpen who regularly pitch in high leverage situations.

Relief Pitcher Streaming Options

In our last few columns, we’ve been featuring relief pitchers who typically work multiple innings per week who you can use in your weekly lineups in place of struggling starting pitchers who have tough matchups. The following three pitchers each posted a solid ERA and struck out at least eight batters over the past week. We’ve listed each pitcher’s overall season stats, as well as their stats for the past week. 

Cristian Javier, Astros

Three wins, one loss, 3.02 ERA, 1.022 WHIP

Conner Menez, Giants

One win, one hold, 0.00 ERA, 0.250 WHIP 

Hector Santiago, Mariners

One loss, 4.70 ERA, 1.174 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.