We fantasy baseball managers are still dealing with the aftermath left behind from one of the busiest trade deadlines in recent memory. The trade market for bullpen help was especially active this season and just about all of the closers who were traded leading up to the deadline found themselves less likely to provide their fantasy managers with saves, except for one. We’ll analyze the bullpen related transactions that took place since our last column and try to determine how they’ll affect your fantasy team moving forward. 

Ian Kennedy to the Phillies

Kennedy is the one closer who got traded and retained his status as his news teams’ closer. Kennedy who had been closing out Rangers wins this season was traded to the Phillies and promptly took the reins from previous closer Ranger Suarez. In fact, Suarez is so far removed from the Phillies’ closers job, that he’s being stretched out and is expected to join the team’s starting rotation. Look for Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado to pitch in high leverage late inning situations from time to time for the Phillies as well. Former Phillies closer Hector Neris, who as this article is being written hasn’t given up a run in his last five appearances, is still lurking in the background and may occasionally pitch in late inning situations as well. 

Rangers’ Bullpen Moving Forward

It appears that Spencer Patton has stepped into the closers role for the Rangers, with Joe Barlow and Brett Martin also potentially getting occasional save opportunities as well. Josh Sborz who had previously been mentioned as a candidate to close out games for the Rangers closer has given up a run in four straight appearances for a 9.82 ERA during that time span.

Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox

In a very surprising move, the Cubs helped their cross-town rivals strengthen their bullpen. As this article is being written no White Sox reliever has recorded a save since the trade deadline but, Kimbrel is expected to share closer duties with Liam Hendriks. Aaron Bummer, Michael Kopec and former Cubs reliever Ryan Tepera will also be in the mix for late inning work for the White Sox.

Cubs’ Bullpen Moving Forward

Kyle Ryan picked up the first save for the Cubs in the post Kimbrel era, but some speculate that Rex Brothers will take over as the team’s closer for the short term. He has experience closing out games, having saved 19 for the Rockies in 2013. Look for newly acquired Codi Heuer, Dan Winkler and Manuel Rodriguez to also see late inning action.

Richard Rodriguez to the Braves

The former Pirates closer will help bolster the Braves bullpen, but while he should see occasional save opportunities, unfortunately Rodriguez won’t be their primary closer. 

Pirates’ Bullpen Moving Forward

David Bednar has plenty of minor league closer experience and was generally expected to take over as the Pirates’ closer once the Pirates inevitably traded Richard Rodriguez. He’ll likely get most of the Pirates’ save opportunities moving forward but the Bucs will likely want to know what they have in Chris Stratton and Chasen Shreve. Look for them to pitch in high leverage late inning situations as well.

Brad Hand and Joakim Soria to the Blue Jays

Unfortunately for fantasy managers rostering Hand and Soria, both pitchers go from a situation where they were their teams’ primary closers, to a situation in which they’ll only occasionally be called upon the close out games. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, who has previously said he doesn’t like using one pitcher as his closer, will probably continue to rely on Jordan Romano as his primary closer at least for the short term. Romano has pitched to a 7.04 ERA since the beginning of July and if he continues to slump Montoyo won’t hesitate to use  Hand or Soria (once he comes off the IL) to close out games for the Jays as the need arises.

Nationals’ Bullpen Moving Forward

It appears that Kyle Finnegan has inherited Hand’s former role as the Nationals’ closer. Austin Voth is currently on the COVID IL, but Ryne Harper and Gabe Klobosits should also see some late inning action as well.

Diamondbacks’ Bullpen Moving Forward

Tyler Clippard, who hasn’t given up a run in his first six appearances since coming off the IL, will be the Diamondbacks’ closer, for now.

Diego Castillo to the Mariners

The Mariners found their replacement for Kendall Graveman in Castillo who’ll take over as the teams’ primary closer moving forward. Paul Sewald should also get the occasional save chance for the M’s as well. The Rays always seem to have a surplus of solid bullpen arms like Castillo to trade. They got back a pretty good reliever from the Mariners in J.T. Chargois who we’ve added to our closer grid and can help them now. 

Rays Bullpen Moving Forward 

The Rays have more bullpen talent on their IL than some teams have on their active roster. Look for Matt Wisler and Andrew Kittredge to split closing duties for now.

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: 8.5.2021