Welcome back to Relievers to Stream for Wins and Saves! This will bring you up-to-date bullpen depth charts every morning for the day’s games and makes for an excellent tool for those of you looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so be sure to check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!
Notes
Schedule Notes
- All 30 teams played yesterday, including the Mets and Nationals, who resumed their suspended game from Tuesday before having their regularly scheduled game rained out again. That game is now scheduled for today — with a chance of thunderstorms during their second game.
- Today’s slate is relatively full for a Thursday: only Kansas City, Minnesota, Houston, and Miami will have the day off.
- The Dodgers will call up Mitch White to start their game against the Phillies today, but I expect he won’t qualify for the win. The best-rested option for them out of their tired bullpen should be Kevin Quackenbush. On the other side of that matchup, Ranger Suarez is starting after operating as a closer for most of the year, so the Phillies could go to Matt Moore to pitch multiple innings. I predict offense in this matchup, but it’s also clearly the best shot for a reliever to pick up a win. Proceed with caution.
Transaction and Injury Notes
- A handful of notable setup arms were placed on the IL yesterday: Baltimore’s Tanner Scott, Philadelphia’s José Alvarado, and San Diego’s Drew Pomeranz. Daniel Hudson was activated to fill Pomeranz’s spot.
Yesterday’s Performances
The Twins’ Alex Colomé closed out a 1–0 win over the White Sox to pick up his seventh save of the year. You might remember Colomé for the short stint at the beginning of the year as the Twins’ closer when he allowed 8 earned runs through 8.2 innings in April. Since then, he’s allowed only 12 more earned runs in his next 35 innings — that’s a 3.09 ERA — and the Twins suddenly don’t have anyone else to close games. They’ve also been a .500 team in the last month, making his role more valuable than you might think.
Edwin Díaz did what he does best and sat down the Nats’ last three batters in order to finish off the Mets’ win of their game started on August 10th. So, technically, Díaz might not have accrued any fantasy stats for you yesterday. Bummer! Díaz’s ERA still sits about 4 — he’s stranded far fewer of his allowed runs than league average — but his 2.36 FIP tells the story of how good he’s been this year.
Gregory Soto picked up save #14 on the year for the Tigers in their 5-2 win over the Orioles. Don’t look now — no really, you don’t have to, I’m telling you the numbers — but the Tigers are 17-13 over their last 30 and just four games under .500 with a good shot to reach 81 wins. Soto still has the biggest hold on that role. His walk numbers are still scary (that happens with lefty relievers without a changeup!) but his 29% strikeout rate has allowed his strand-a-few approach to work. He should be off today, though, after pitching on back-to-back days; I’d lean toward Michael Fulmer as today’s late-inning option.
There was a period of time where there was a question about whether Lou Trivino was actually Oakland’s closer, or if he and Jake Diekman would be stuck in a timeshare. That question has been more or less put to bed for a good while now, and Trivino now has six saves since July 1st to Diekman’s one after closing out last night’s win over Cleveland. Trivino forced groundouts from José Ramírez and Franmil Reyes to start the inning, so this wasn’t just him performing against the worst of the AL Central.
Zack Britton picked up his first save of the year for the Aroldis Chapman-less Yankees in their 5–2 win over the Royals. All three of the Yankees’ current late-inning options — Britton, Chad Green, and Jonathan Loáisiga appeared in this game, and none of them allowed an earned run. Green went two innings, which is both one of his strengths and a potential reason why he might not (and shouldn’t!) settle into a closer role, and Loáisiga struck out one in one inning. Loáisiga is probably a better high-leverage option than Britton at this point, but with politics and keeping the reality that the most important moments aren’t always in the 9th in mind, Britton might be in line for more saves chances than the other two, even if that just means 40% of the save opportunities.
Atlanta went 11 innings with Cincinnati last night after using almost the entirety of their late-inning bullpen the night before. The result? They have four different relievers who deserve rest today: Will Smith, Richard Rodriguez, Luke Jackson, and Tyler Matzek. Chris Martin and A.J. Minter are near-locks to appear if their game tonight is close. Will Smith also blew a save chance and set the wheels in motion for this, but his role has looked secure — his high-3’s ERA this year came with quite a bit of bad luck in the early summer, and he deserves the trust he’s getting.