The Rangers’ closing situation (and bullpen in general) has become a mess lately, with the wheels completely falling off for Aroldis Chapman and Josh Sborz. José Leclerc’s luck may be running out, and while Will Smith had a disastrous August, he has been better over his last five outings … so perhaps we are back to Smith as the preferred closer at the moment?
It’s just a very messy situation at the moment and it makes it hard to recommend any one of these options. The highest upside (Chapman) has been the worst recently, while Leclerc has been very lucky for much of the second half and Smith has just been flat-out not good in the second half.
I guess I would still rank them Smith, Chapman, and Leclerc, but I don’t have much confidence in any of the three so only roster if desperate for saves.
Notes
- Carlos Estévez has been pitching much better as of late, and now that Reynaldo López and Matt Moore are out of the picture, it appears his job should be safe for the remainder of the season. Estevez has now gone five straight outings without allowing a run, giving up just two hits while walking none and striking out six.
- The closer picture is getting murkier in Philadelphia as it looks like may be back to a committee between Craig Kimbrel and José Alvarado. Alvarado worked the 8th inning and Kimbrel the 9th inning on Sunday, but manager Rob Thomson decided to flip the two yesterday, with Alvarado earning his first save since June 14th and Kimbrel just his second hold since April 19th. Moving forward, I’d still expect more Kimbrel save chances than Alvarado, but both should probably be rostered at this point.
- With JoJo Romero landing on the IL, I’d expect Giovanny Gallegos to see the bulk of save chances as Ryan Helsley is still pitching on a schedule and won’t be available most days. Gallegos has had his fair share of issues in the ninth inning this season but was able to work a clean ninth Sunday against the Pirates for his 10th save of the season, giving him at least 10 saves over in each of the past three seasons.
- The closer situation in Detroit seems to be leaning more in Alex Lange’s favor, as he was able to secure two saves this week while Jason Foley’s last save came on August 19th. Lange now has four saves since Foley’s last, and I’d imagine as long as Lange isn’t completely terrible, he finishes the season as the team’s closer. Walks are still an issue, but outside of his outing against the Yankees on Thursday, he has allowed just 3 earned runs since the All-Star break.
And if you want more daily reliever updates, please check out our Reliever Ranks series
| Rank | Pitcher | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | José Alvarado | PHI | Looks like he may be in a committee with Kimbrel now. |
| 2. | Jason Foley | DET | Still may be in a committee of some sort with Lange. |
| 3. | Ryan Helsley | STL | Won’t always be available, but may still see some save chances |
| 4. | Matt Brash | SEA | Could be more involved in the 9th inning as option 1B. |
| 5. | Aroldis Chapman | TEX | The situation is still fluid in Texas as everyone is struggling |
| 6. | Brooks Raley | NYM | Timeshare with Ottavino (and others) for now seems likely. |
| 7. | Hunter Harvey | WAS | As good as Finnegan has been, could Harvey still regain the job? |
| 8. | Danny Coulombe | BAL | Could factor into some save chances as Cano’s top setup man. |
| 9. | Taylor Rogers | SF | Doval hasn’t pitched in a week and has been wearing down |
| 10. | José Soriano | LAA | Just in case Estevez reverts back to what he was. |
| Rank | Pitcher | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devin WilliamsT1 | - |
| 2 | Pete Fairbanks | - |
| 3 | Raisel Iglesias | - |
| 4 | Josh Hader | - |
| 5 | Ryan Pressly | - |
| 6 | Jhoan Duran | - |
| 7 | Adbert Alzolay | - |
| 8 | Paul Sewald | - |
| 9 | Emmanuel Clase | - |
| 10 | Evan Phillips | - |
| 11 | Camilo Doval | - |
| 12 | Kenley Jansen | - |
| 13 | Andrés Muñoz | - |
| 14 | Tanner Scott | - |
| 15 | Jordan Romano | +1 |
| 16 | David Bednar | +1 |
| 17 | Alexis Díaz | +1 |
| 18 | Clay Holmes | +1 |
| 19 | Carlos Estévez | +5 |
| 20 | Yennier Cano | +2 |
| 21 | Craig KimbrelT2 | -6 |
| 22 | Giovanny Gallegos | +UR |
| 23 | Kyle Finnegan | -2 |
| 24 | Carlos Hernández | -1 |
| 25 | Gregory Santos | - |
| 26 | Alex Lange | +UR |
| 27 | Will Smith | +UR |
| 28 | Trevor May | +1 |
| 29 | Adam Ottavino | -1 |
| 30 | Tyler Kinley | +UR |