Bullpen Depth Charts: Relievers To Stream – 9/20

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

 

• Eight teams are off on Monday: BOS, MIN, NYM, CHC, SD, LAD, COL, SF.
• Cleveland and Kansas City play a doubleheader and, looking a little further ahead in the week, Cleveland plays another doubleheader on Thursday.
• The best option for a win vulture is in the second game of the doubleheader. At this time, starters have not been announced, so middle relievers for Cleveland like Nick Wittgren could be worth an add for the day.

 

Transaction Notes

 

• The Cubs designated Dillon Maples for assignment and activated Keegan Thompson from the IL.
• The Rays optioned Louis Head back to Triple-A Durham.
• Gregory Soto was placed on the 10-day IL by the Tigers.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

 

• Jordan Sheffield delivered another scoreless inning and now has a 2.59 ERA for the Rockies in 24.1 IP in his rookie year. Could he be in line for saves at some point in the near future? Probably not. His K-BB% is just 7.8% and that is a major factor in his 4.32 FIP and 3.75 xERA. These aren’t bad numbers, especially for a rookie, but they’re also not the numbers of a guy worth targeting in dynasty leagues.
• Kyle Finnegan got back on the right side of the scorebook posting his 10th save while allowing just a single walk. Finnegan was coming off a couple of really tough outings in which he gave up home runs. He’s a decent option for the final two weeks of the season if you need saves, but his walk rate and lack of a really strong whiff pitch limit his upside.

 

• The three Indians relievers combined for eight punchouts and a 40% CSW in the final three innings. Were they all just that good in this one or did the Yankees bats just check out in a blowout? Probably more the latter than the former.
• Clarke Schmidt got his first appearance of the year out of the bullpen after starting last Sunday’s game. It still definitely looks like a work in progress, so there’s no use touching him for this year.

 

• Seven scoreless innings for Minnesota’s pen in Toronto on Sunday. Very impressive! They may have found a few pieces for next year even though their ERA for the year (4.53) is 22nd in the majors. They’re up to 10th since the trade deadline with a combined 3.59 ERA.
• Jordan Romano locked down save number 19 with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. He’s up to 19/20 on the year in save chances. That makes two days in a row for Romano, but he’s only thrown 27 pitches between the two days, so with the Blue Jays in the thick of the Wildcard chase, look for Romano to still be available on Monday.

 

• Conner Greene took the loss and the blown save for the Orioles as their string of poor performances in the bullpen continue. As a team, they sport a 5.71 ERA on the year and 7.65 since the trade deadline, both of which are worst in the league. Start your batters who play the Orioles.
• Garrett Richards logged his third save of the year with Hansel Robles working the eighth. Adam Ottavino was not used in this one and I don’t see any indication of an injury or anything else that would preclude him from being used. I would consider this a complete ‘all hands on deck’ approach for the Sox right now. We’re basically seeing all their relievers used in a variety of situations.

 

• Kenley Jansen worked the ninth inning, but entered with a four-run lead and was not credited with a save despite the three-run margin at the end. That’s two days in a row for Jansen, but the Dodgers have a scheduled day off on Tuesday, so he’ll be ready to go by then.
• Hooray, Art Warren is back! He worked both Saturday and Sunday against the Dodgers, striking out four in two scoreless innings. On the year, he has a 1.65 ERA with a 25:6 strikeout to walk ratio and is a guy I’ll be looking at as a deep sleeper next year.

 

• Kyle Funkhouser notched his first save of the season by limiting the Rays to one hit and throwing 10 of 12 pitches for strikes. Michael Fulmer is still the go-to guy here, but the Tigers opted not to use him after he threw 73 pitches across three days of work in their previous four games.
• Nick Anderson continues to work his way back and the Rays haven’t been shy about using him. The inning he worked on Sunday was his fourth of the week amounting to a total of 63 pitches. The good: Just two hits, one walk, and one earned run in four innings, good for a 2.25 ERA and 0.75 WHIP. The bad: A troubling dip in velocity and spin on both the fastball and curve allowing his fastball to be barreled up four times in four appearances. It’s early. He’s still getting his feet under him. That being said, I’m concerned and I’m not starting Anderson in any league right now.

 

• Look at all those blown saves in Miami! Three in this game and two by the Pirates as each team took a couple of turns trying to close things out before the Marlins won. Chris Stratton got the first shot for the Pirates and blew his fourth save of the year after four successful conversions. Stratton is going to be first in line for saves in the absence of David Bednar for a team that is quietly 8-4 in its last 12 games.
• Marlins closer Dylan Floro also got a shot to close this out, but was unable to and was saddled with his sixth blown save of the season. Floro has been decent, but Anthony Bender, who worked the seventh inning, is the guy I’d be looking at next year as a sleeper.

 

• Arizona’s bullpen was heavily used the previous two games and that’s never a good sign for a team with such a shallow bullpen to begin with. They eventually called on Brandyn Sittinger to get them through the eighth, but he was unable to do so allowing both the tying and go-ahead home runs to back-to-back batters. None of you had Sittinger starting, right? Ok, good.
• Houston got bulk relief from Peter Solomon who was rewarded with his first big league win for his four innings of work. Ryan Pressly came on to close the game out and earn his 25th save by striking out the side on 12 pitches. Pressly worked all three games in this series and, even though he looked good in all of them, is likely not available on Monday. Look for Kendall Graveman to temporarily fill the closer role.

 

• Only two low-leverage innings were needed from the Mariners relievers to secure the win on Sunday, so no holds or saves were distributed. One of the innings was completed by Yohan Ramirez whose slider continues to be an extremely effective pitch at the big league level. He could easily step forward as a more consistent late-inning option for Seattle next year.
• Nothing too interesting from the Royals on Sunday as they were down five runs after three innings and never sniffed the lead after that. I suppose Scott Blewett didn’t blow it this time, but I don’t foresee too many high-leverage innings in his future.

 

• A rare bullpen game for the Cubs and…. it worked? Adrian Sampson was your bulk reliever and picked up the win while Michael Rucker earned his first career save. Rowan Wick nearly had another huge meltdown and ended up allowing five walks, five hits, and six earned runs in two appearances in the series. He had been rolling up until getting to Milwaukee, so I guess keep starting him and hope the Brewers just have his number.
• Brad Boxberger had a rough eighth inning and ended up taking the loss and the blown save. It’s too bad because I wanted to see if they would use Josh Hader for the third day in a row in their efforts to move closer to clinching the division. With their magic number down to three, a split of the upcoming home series against would clinch the division for the Brewers. They’ve been very conservative with Hader’s usage all year, so I wouldn’t count on many innings for Hader in the final week of the season.

 

• It was an unexpected bullpen game for San Diego who got just one out from their scheduled starter Jake Arrieta. Craig Stammen ended up bulking and they did pretty well the rest of the way to allow the offense to get them back into the game.
• Giovanny Gallegos locked down his tenth save of the season in convincing fashion with two punchouts. His slider was absolutely filthy, generating four swinging strikes on 10 pitches and making him basically untouchable. The rest of the St. Louis bullpen was quite touchable including Alex Reyes who allowed yet another home run. Reyes allowed five home runs in the first 124.1 IP of his career and six home runs in his past 17 IP. That’s two days in a row for Gallegos, but just 26 pitches combined. With a hugely important trip to Milwaukee coming up, I’d bet he’s available on Monday.

 

• Aaron Bummer and Michael Kopech had fairly uneventful outings that didn’t generate any holds for them. Overall, not too much to write about in the White Sox bullpen this week. Just one inning for Liam Hendriks and no team save opportunities.
• The Rangers were down five or six runs for the majority of this game. Josh Sborz has a 2.45 ERA since the trade deadline, but that comes with a 13.5% walk rate and a 4.25 FIP. No, thanks.

 

• Will Smith logged his 33rd save of the season striking out two in a clean ninth inning avenging his blown save from Friday. Luke Jackson returned from the paternity list to record his 27th hold.
• What is Camilo Doval’s potential for next year? He’s got juice and came into the year as a solid reliever prospect. His metrics paint a mixed picture so far, though. His FIP of 4.84 is in disagreement with his xERA of 3.26 and it really comes down to home runs. FIP hates homers. I think he’s got the stuff to be a late-inning option next year.

 

• Sergio Romo blew a two-run lead in the ninth, but Lou Trivino saved the day by preventing further damage in the ninth and holding the Angels scoreless in the 10th to secure the win, Trivino’s sixth of the year. The closer carousel may not be done turning in Oakland. Trivino over the last two weeks: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, Andrew Chafin over the last two weeks: 6.2 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. The runs aren’t bad, but that’s a 1.95 WHIP for Chafin. He will eventually run into problems if he keeps that up.
• Raisel Iglesias took the tough-luck loss on Sunday as he was unable to prevent the extra innings runner from scoring and the Angels offense did nothing to help him out. That’s just an unearned run for Iglesias who is putting the finishing touches on arguably the best year of his career.

 

• Just four outs were needed from Philadelphia’s relievers and they were all taken care of by Cam Bedrosian. It’s probably a good thing they didn’t need more innings as their 5.14 bullpen ERA since the trade deadline is fourth-worst in the Majors.
• Edwin Díaz earned save number 30 on the season while Aaron Loup picked up his sixth win in relief. Díaz has had a couple of rough patches throughout the year, as most relievers do, but he’s overall turned in a solid campaign.