Closers in Flux

The Twins. While it was largely speculated that it would be Taylor Rogers who would take over the closing gig after the departure of Brandon Kintzler, it now seems to be Matt Belisle’s job. Belisle worked back-to-back save chances, converting on both opportunities without allowing a run. Belisle has awful ratios of a 4.34 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 7.88 K/9 so it is a bit surprising to see him working the ninth inning. Rogers could still see some save opportunities in spots that call for a lefty, but for now if the ninth inning has mainly righties due up, look for Belisle to be called upon.

Bud Norris appears to be coming back down to earth with continued struggles as of late. Over his last 6.2 innings pitched he has given up eleven earned runs and has seen all of his ratios trend in negative directions. Over that time, his ERA has risen from 2.17 to 4.09, his WHIP from 1.02 to 1.27, and his BAA against from .179 to .215. Norris has never been a dominant pitcher (or even an above average one) so it is of little surprise to see his numbers trending back to his averages. For his career his ERA is 4.49, his WHIP is 1.40, and his BAA is .260. Setup man; and former team closer, Cam Bedrosian appears to be back on track with five straight scoreless outings. We could be trending towards a role reversal for the two pitchers.

Blown Saves

*Top 10

*Note: I track blown saves that happened by guys who were brought into finish the game. Such as guys in the closer role, or other pitchers who were brought in late in the game. A guy who picks up a “blown save,” for example, in the 6th inning is very irrelevant in my opinion, when tracking fantasy assets.

PlayerBS YTD PlayerBS last 7 days
Jim Johnson8 Greg Holland2
Roberto Osuna7 Blake Treinen1
Santiago Casilla 6 Felipe Rivero1
Tony Watson5 Roberto Osuna1
Fernando Rodney5 Bud Norris1
Alex Colome5 Cody Allen1
Sam Dyson4   
Mark Melancon4   
Brandon Kintzler4   
7 more tied with 4   

Who’s Hot?

Craig Kimbrel (98% owned) had another superb week for fantasy owners this week. He pitched four times and converted on all three of his save chances. He also picked up nine strikeouts across four shutout innings. Kimbrel is having an incredible season and has now had shutout appearances in ten of his last eleven outings. He has just one appearance for the entire season where he has given up more than one run and in that performance it was a whopping two runs (sarcasm). His ratios are currently an ERA of 1.48, a 0.68 WHIP, and a 16.64 K/9. He is currently pitching like the best closer in the game. YTD stats: 48.2 innings, 28 saves, 90 K, 1.48 ERA.

Fernando Rodney (78% owned) continues to have a roller coaster of a season, but this week was filled with highs. He pitched three times and was successful on all three of his save chances. He had six strikeouts across three shutout innings. He has not allowed a run in his last eight appearances (7.1 innings) and now has 26 saves. The reason his season has been a roller coaster is because in April he had a 12.60 ERA, which he followed up with a 0.00 ERA in both May and June. He then gave up five runs in just five July innings, but is off to four clean innings here in August. He will remain in the lower tier of the closing ranks until he finds some consistency. YTD stats: 37.2 innings, 26 saves, 48 K, 4.54 ERA.

Edwin Diaz (94% owned) had a strong week for fantasy owners, completing the four save week. He pitched four innings, and managed to strikeout five opposing hitters. He did allow a run to score against him, and for the most part has been pitching very well as of late. Over the last 30 days, Diaz has 12 saves, a 1.29 ERA, and 21 strikeouts across 14 innings. The 12 saves over the last 30 days are a league-high over that span, with second most having just 8. He has also not allowed a run to score against him over his last six appearances. He seems to be back in last season’s form, and can be trusted as an upper-tier close for the remainder of the season. YTD stats: 49.2 innings, 25 saves, 69 K, 2.90 ERA.

Who’s Cold?

Greg Holland (94% owned) had a complete meltdown this week. He converted on just one of three save chances, and gave up six earned runs across just 3.2 innings pitched. The good news for fantasy owners is that he did at least pick up one save and a win, the bad news is the runs and WHIP. With back-to-back blown saves and the runs he gave up, his ERA shot up from 1.56 to 2.79 for the season. Fantasy owners will be hoping he can quickly get back on track. He still ranks in the upper tier of the closing ranks, but the rough week knocked him down a few pegs. He is still the league leader in saves. YTD stats: 42.0 innings, 34 saves, 54 K, 2.79 ERA.

A.J. Ramos (81% owned) has struggled since joining his new team, and that continued this week. He pitched just two times, but did convert on his lone save chance. However, he gave up two runs in just two innings, and had now given up four runs in his first four innings with the Mets. He has allowed eight runners to reach base against him and has yet to have a perfect inning for the club. His job security remains safe while Jeurys Familia is sidelined, but both the Mets and fantasy owners will be hoping for better results going forward. YTD stats: 43.2 innings, 21 saves, 53 K, 4.12 ERA.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Cold Season Leader Board

This table shows who has made the most appearances in these sections.

 Hot Total  Cold Total
Greg Holland5 Mark Melancon3
Kenley Jansen5 Brandon Kintzler 3
Craig Kimbrel5 Roberto Osuna3
Raisel Iglesias3 A.J. Ramos 3
Roberto Osuna3 Francisco Rodriguez2
Edwin Diaz3 Kelvin Herrera2
Brandon Kintzler 2 Addison Reed2
A.J. Ramos2 Seung-Hwan Oh2
Fernando Rodney2 Matt Bush2
15 tied with1 Alex Colome2
   14 tied with 1

Middle Relievers of Note

Steve Cishek (5% owned) has been fantastic thus far for the Rays since joining the club. So far for the Rays, Cishek has made six appearances, not allowed a run, has eight strikeouts, and has also picked up three holds. Three holds in six outings shows the Rays have quickly placed trust in Cishek excelling in high leverage roles. He is not going to challenge Alex Colome for saves, but is worth monitoring for holds leagues. Overall between the Mariners and Rays, Cishek has pitched 12.2 innings over the last 30 days and given up just one earned run while grabbing five holds. YTD stats: 26.2 innings, 9 holds, 23 K, 2.36 ERA.

Holds

*Top 10

PlayerHLD YTD PlayerHLD last 7 days
Taylor Rogers25 Michael Lorenzen3
David Phelps21 Pedro Baez2
Andrew Miller21 Anthony Swarzak2
Jacob Barnes21 Seung-Hwan Oh2
Nick Vincent20 Pedro Strop2
Adam Ottavino20 Pat Neshek2
Matt Barnes19 Matt Barnes2
Jose Ramirez19 Dellin Betances2
Matt Bowman19 Hunter Strickland2
3 tied with 18 19 more tied with2

Team Bullpen ERA

This section will look into the best and worst bullpens in the league, which can be helpful for DFS. If a team has a weak starting pitcher throwing that day and also a poor bullpen it can make for big days for hitters. A bad bullpen ERA also has an effect on how likely a starting pitcher is to pick up a win.

TeamERAIP TeamERAIP TeamERAIP
Red Sox2.90353.1 Angels3.91381.2 Braves4.36365.0
Indians2.98341.1 Orioles3.92408.2 Phillies4.39365.1
Dodgers2.99375.2 Royals3.97387.2 Blue Jays4.52412.1
Yankees3.19374.2 Giants4.07351.1 Padres4.52392.1
Cubs3.48388.1 Reds4.19438.2 Rockies4.54380.2
Diamondbacks3.49338.0 Brewers4.26399.2 Twins4.60387.2
Cardinals3.76359.1 Marlins4.26413.2 Athletics4.67379.1
Pirates3.77384.1 Rays4.30368.2 Mets4.72385.0
Mariners3.86396.2 Astros4.31388.2 Nationals5.04321.1
White Sox3.90378.2 Rangers4.36352.2 Tigers5.11343.2

Recently Overworked

This highlights the bullpens that have been seeing both heavy usage and struggling over the last 7 days.

TeamERAIP
Rockies4.9725.1
Royals6.2924.1
Mets5.0923.0
Marlins6.5320.2
Cubs6.6420.1
Padres8.3819.1

 

*Ownership percentages are based off Yahoo

 

Be sure to check out the Closer Grid which has regularly updated rankings. Also feel free to shoot me any questions on Twitter @JustinVreeland