Saves can sometimes come from unlikely sources. On Wednesday night the Rockies played an extra inning game and after already calling upon their regular closer to pitch the ninth inning, they had to use Robert Stephenson in the 10th inning. He picked up his first save of the season and second of his career. Stephenson is probably not getting another chance to close out a game this season, but his performance reinforces the fact that relief pitchers on bad teams get save opportunities too. Three relievers mentioned in the weekly save leaders section of the article below pitch for bad teams. Speaking of bad teams, we’ll let you know who’ll be closing out games for the Pirates moving forward and identify three relievers who based on their recent fantasy production, can potentially be used as streaming options in weekly leagues. Please enjoy this week’s Bullpen Report.

Weekly Save Leaders

Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos saved four games last week, striking out eight batters and pitching to a 1.93 ERA in 4.2 IP.  Gallegos was forced to take over as the Cardinals closer as a result of Alex Reyes mid-season melt down. Reyes was closing out games for the Cardinals earlier this season and was one of the most reliable relievers in baseball. However, he lost his way and between August 1st and September 7th he had an 0-4 won/loss record, blew four saves and posted a 7.43 ERA. Reyes has pitched much better of late. Reyes has a 3-0 won/loss record, a hold, and he hasn’t given up a run in his last four appearances.  

Rangers closer Joe Barlow, Marlins closer Dylan Floro and Rockies closer Carlos Estévez each had three saves last week. Ironically all three pitchers close out games for teams who have won/loss records that are well below the .500 mark. 

Weekly Hold Leaders

Four relief pitchers had three holds last week including Cardinals relievers Luis García and T. J. McFarland. Collectively Cardinals relief pitchers pitched to a 2.35 ERA, saved five games and they held eight other games over the past week. Royals reliever Josh Staumont and Rockies reliever Jhoulys Chacín also had three holds last week. 

Potential Relief Pitcher Streaming Options

The following three pitchers each posted a solid ERA and struck out at least six batters each 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

Four Wins, One Loss, Two Saves, Five Holds, 3.19 ERA, 1.194 WHIP

Time FrameIPW/L/H/SK’sERAWHIP
September 8th – 14th51 W91.801.80

Michael Kopech, White Sox

Four Wins, Two Losses, Zero Saves, 13 Holds, 3.79 ERA, 1.175 WHIP

Time FrameIPW/L/H/SK’sERAWHIP
September 8th – 14th31 H70.001.000

Brad Boxberger, Brewers

Five Wins, Three Losses, Four Saves, 22 Holds, 2.87 ERA, 1.039 WHIP

Time FrameIPW/L/H/SK’sERAWHIP
September 8th – 14th2.21 H60.000.000

More Bullpen News

Pirates

Pirates closer David Bednar was placed on the IL due to a strained oblique leaving Chris Stratton to get the majority of the teams’ save opportunities moving forward. Stratton had already been in the mix for saves and has five on the season. Entering Thursday’s action he has a win, three saves and a hold in his last five appearances. According to Pirates manager Derek Shelton, RHP Shelby Miller, LHP Chasen Shreve, RHP Chad Kuhl and RHP Nick Mears could all be in line to pitch in high leverage late inning situations as well. 

Yankees

We’ve removed Chad Green from our closer grid and for the Yankees’ sake we hope it’s only temporary. Green has given up home runs in three straight outings and at least one earned run in four straight outings. With Jonathan Loáisiga on the IL, Yanks manager told reporters that Green would “continue to be an option” and still have a role in the Bronx Bombers’ bullpen.  For the time being Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes seem to be the best late inning high leverage options for the Yankees leading up to the ninth inning. 

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: 9.16.2021