A.J. Puk was placed on the IL this past weekend and will undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of his elbow injury… that means Justin Martinez will get all the saves in Arizona now, right? Well, that was the original thought, but then we come to find out Martinez was unavailable on Sunday due to “general fatigue,” which seems a bit odd considering he’s only thrown seven innings over the past month. Having fatigue issues in April is certainly not ideal, so the Diamondbacks may be really careful with Martinez moving forward, meaning pitch counts, no back-to-backs, etc. So, who may join this potential closer committee with Puk out and Martinez limited? We haven’t heard anything on Kevin Ginkel’s status, so he doesn’t seem to be a factor anytime soon. That leaves the likes of Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks, who signed late in the offseason for a total of just $2.25 million. I think Beeks could be an interesting add in deeper 15+ team roto formats and NL-only leagues, just because as the left-handed option, he’s the easy replacement for Puk, plus he also closed out 10 games last season.
Notes
- Jeff Hoffman deserves to be in this top tier finally, as we are now closer to that 10 IP mark for a lot of these closers, and we can start pulling back that small sample caveat to some degree. To some degree is the key phrase here, as it is still very early in the season, but we’ve also seen this dominance from Hoffman over the past two seasons, and now he just gets to do it as a full-time closer.
- Ryan Helsley was never going to save 45+ games again this season, but I didn’t see him being a major issue for WHIP as he currently holds a 19.4% BB rate with six walks and just nine strikeouts over seven innings. I know four of those walks came in a rough outing against Boston, but he also struck out two over an inning of work in that one, so if we were to take that game away, Helsley still is looking at just a 7/2 K/BB ratio over six innings. That’s a fine number, but not top-tier worthy.
- Raisel Iglesias is not exactly concerning, but the stuff just seems to be solid, and not exactly spectacular anymore. The velocity is down one mph, his CSW rate sits at just 25.7%, and both PLV (4.93) and Stuff+ (98) grade out as slightly below average. He’s still a fine reliever, but maybe he’s closer to Kenley Jansen than to Andrés Muñoz at this point in his career.
- David Bednar returned this past weekend, and while he’s not guaranteed to get his closer role back, Dennis Santana hasn’t exactly run away with the role since getting the opportunity. Bednar was fantastic in Triple-A and looked better in his return on Saturday, getting strikes on 60% of his curveballs thrown. Being able to locate that curve in the zone, as well as the splitter every once in a while, is going to go a long way to keeping hitters off balance. His four-seam location was not great Saturday, and allowed some hard contact as a result, but he had been doing a better job.
- Will Vest might be working his way into a committee with Tommy Kahnle in Detroit, and personally, I prefer Vest (who has the Tigers’ last two saves) as the closer, but we shall see how things play out this week.
- In Miami, Jesús Tinoco has picked up the Marlins’ past two saves, but this bullpen in general is very messy with no upside to chase, so just keep your hopes in check when rostering Tinoco or whoever it may be.
| Rank | Pitcher | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emmanuel ClaseT1 | - |
| 2 | Josh Hader | - |
| 3 | Edwin Díaz | - |
| 4 | Devin Williams | - |
| 5 | Mason Miller | - |
| 6 | Andrés Muñoz | - |
| 7 | Félix Bautista | - |
| 8 | Jhoan Duran | +1 |
| 9 | Jeff Hoffman | +2 |
| 10 | Ryan HelsleyT2 | -2 |
| 11 | Robert Suarez | +3 |
| 12 | Raisel Iglesias | -2 |
| 13 | Kenley Jansen | +2 |
| 14 | Tanner Scott | +2 |
| 15 | José Alvarado | -2 |
| 16 | Justin Martinez | +2 |
| 17 | Ryan Walker | -5 |
| 18 | Trevor Megill | +1 |
| 19 | Aroldis Chapman | +1 |
| 20 | Pete FairbanksT3 | +1 |
| 21 | Kyle Finnegan | +2 |
| 22 | Carlos Estévez | - |
| 23 | Ryan Pressly | +1 |
| 24 | David Bednar | +UR |
| 25 | Luke JacksonT4 | - |
| 26 | Emilio Pagán | +1 |
| 27 | Will Vest | +UR |
| 28 | Tommy Kahnle | - |
| 29 | Dennis Santana | -3 |
| 30 | Justin Slaten | +10 |
| 31 | Robert Garcia | +UR |
| 32 | Tony SantillanT5 | +1 |
| 33 | Kirby Yates | +UR |
| 34 | Lucas Erceg | +3 |
| 35 | Cade Smith | +UR |
| 36 | Jesús Tinoco | +UR |
| 37 | Matt Strahm | +UR |
| 38 | Porter Hodge | -6 |
| 39 | Jason Adam | -1 |
| 40 | Seth Halvorsen | -10 |
Just wanted to point out that last year, when Clase needed a blow, they DIDN’T use Smith, preferring to keep him in a fireman role. Last night, Vogt used Smith. It could mean very little (as all the fantasy newswires say), but it is a distinct change in behavior that, at the very least, probably means one of the league’s relief aces is getting at least SOME save chances this season.
Love your stuff and find it super useful.
Surprised Scott is down at 15 given his usage. Can you explain your thoughts? Thanks!
I hope people read my comment and picked up Smith before his second save in as many nights. You can’t afford not to grab him now.