Keeping track of baseball’s bullpens is never easy and this week is no exception. Just when you think you know who the Royals closer might be… You don’t. With a 5.16 ERA, the Diamondbacks’ bullpen has been blowing saves (13 to be exact) all season long. This week the shoe was on the other foot, and with the moves the team made, it was the Diamondbacks’ team that was killing the bullpen. Please enjoy this week’s Bullpen Report.
Weekly Save Leaders
Heading into Wednesday’s action Will Smith, Brad Hand, and Mark Melancon had recorded three saves each over the past week.
Smith has had a couple of ups and downs this season but at least for now, it seems he has a secure hold on the Braves’ closer role. His slider, (.140 BAA) is his most effective pitch. Keep an eye on Braves reliever Luke Jackson. He hasn’t given up a run in his last 15 appearances and he has eight holds on the season. He has closer experience, having saved 18 games for the Braves in 2019. Jackson has been pitching in high leverage situations and if Smith suffers an injury or is unavailable, he would likely be in line for save opportunities.
Hand had a 6.75 ERA during the month of May but has recovered nicely, saving eight games for the Nationals, and posting a 1.42 ERA in the month of June.
As the Padres closer Melancon leads the Major Leagues with 22 saves. Opposing hitters are batting .140 against his curveball and it’s generating a 30.4 Whiff Rate.
Weekly Holds Leaders
Eleven pitchers had two holds each heading into Wednesday’s action. Three of those pitchers, Tim Hill, Craig Stammen and Emilio Pagan, are San Diego Padres.
Hill has nine holds on the season and leads the NL with 35 appearances. Stammen has seven holds and a 2.95 ERA on the season. Pagan is considered next in line should Melancon lose his grip on the Padres’ closer role.
Noteworthy Bullpen News
Arizona Diamondbacks
The slumping Diamondbacks need to overhaul their team and it looks like they’re going to start by rebuilding their bullpen. They began by sending Kevin Ginkel to their Triple-A affiliate in Reno on Saturday. On Wednesday they designated Stefan Crichton for assignment. That leaves Joakim Soria as the teams’ closer and Noe Ramirez and Ryan Buchter as potentially being next in line. Tyler Clippard, who has been on the IL recuperating from a right shoulder capsule sprain, threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and should be able to rejoin the team once he completes a rehab assignment.
Kansas City Royals
With the Royals using a closer by committee approach this season, six of their pitchers have recorded at least one save. However, manager Mike Matheny has been relying on Greg Holland in save situations recently and he has saved two games for the Royals over the past week. It appears Matheny might have gone to the well once too often. Holland, who saved the Royals’ victory against the Yanks on Tuesday night, blew a save opportunity on Wednesday night. Holland will likely get more save opportunities in the future, but Scott Barlow or Josh Staumont will also be given opportunities to close out games for the Royals moving forward.
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 consider using 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 six batters over the past week. We’ve listed each pitcher’s overall season stats, as well as their stats for the past week.
Brad Wieck, Cubs
Zero wins, zero losses, one hold, 0.00 ERA, 1.182 WHIP
| Time Frame | IP | W/L/H/S | K’s | ERA | WHIP |
| June 17th – June 23rd | 3 | 8 | 0.00 | 1.33 |
Collin McHugh, Rays
One win, one loss, two holds, 2.15 ERA, 1.057 WHIP
| Time Frame | IP | W/L/H/S | K’s | ERA | WHIP |
| June 17th – June 23rd | 6 | 6 | 0.00 | 0.33 |
Nabil Crismatt, Padres
Two wins, one loss, one hold, 2.80 ERA, 1.274 WHIP
| Time Frame | IP | W/L/H/S | K’s | ERA | WHIP |
| June 17th – June 23rd | 5.2 | 1 H | 6 | 1.59 | 0.706 |
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.
UPDATED: 6.24.2021
