Welcome back to the latest edition of our Reliever Ranks series! 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 looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!
Notes
Transaction and Schedule Notes
- We had 14 games across Tuesday’s slate of baseball with the Mets/Tigers game postponed until Wednesday. Two games went into extra innings.
- The White Sox designated Jake Diekman for assignment and selected the contract of Alex Colomé.
- The Los Angeles Angels activated Ryan Tepera from the 15-Day IL.
- The Cardinals options Zach Thompson to the minors.
Bullpen to Stream
- The Boston bullpen has eaten up a lot of innings as of late. Four relievers have pitched in three of the last four games including John Schreiber, Josh Winckowski, Richard Bleier, and Brennan Bernardino. And if Kenley Jansen remains unavailable again on Wednesday, this could be an excellent spot to stream a save or hold.
- I would target Chris Martin for a save and Ryan Brasier for a potential hold as they represent the most well-rested options available.
Yesterday’s Performances
PIT 1 – TAM 4
SV: Jason Adam (1)
H: Ryan Thompson (1), Jalen Beeks (1), Kevin Kelly (2)
- In true Rays fashion, seven relief pitchers were utilized in this bullpen game by design. Rule 5 draft pick Kevin Kelly continues to impress for Tampa Bay as he pitched a clean 8th inning with a strikeout. Kelly is beginning to see more and more high-leverage late-inning work and might be able to provide sneaky value in deep league formats.
- Jason Adam secured his first save of the season with a strong performance—giving up a hit and striking out three. Peter Fairbanks’s availability remained an open question as he is currently dealing with Raynaud’s syndrome. The expectation is that this is a day-to-day injury for Fairbanks, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a speculative add of Adam if you have the roster space. Just be prepared for the Rays to mix and match as always.
CLE 2 – NYY 4
SV: Michael King (2)
- After a particularly uninspiring showing from Clay Holmes on Monday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided to chart a different late-inning course on Tuesday. Boone called upon Michael King to secure the final five outs of the ballgame. And King delivered—striking out three on the way to securing his second save of the season.
- Despite Aaron Boone awarding Holmes the dreaded “vote of confidence” as the Yankee’s closer, it might be time to consider scooping King in anticipation of a changing of the guard.
LAA 5 – STL 1
H: Chris Devenski (2)
- While there was not a save chance converted in this game, the bullpen usage of the Angles is particularly interesting. Of note, 32-year-old Chris Devenski pitched the 6th & 7th innings in a hold situation and didn’t allow a baserunner. Since getting called up from AAA this week, Devenski has now converted two holds in the span of three days. Despite displaying a rather pedestrian 18 CSW% with zero strikeouts in this outing, Devenski’s usage and experience as a successful late-inning arm might be something to track.
- After Devenski, the Halos expanded their lead beyond hold and save situations, but manager Phil Nevin still utilized their late-inning script by deploying Matt Moore in the 8th (no runs, three strikeouts) and recently entrenched closer Carlos Estévez in the 9th (no runs, one strikeout).
- It will be interesting to see how the late-inning pecking order develops with the return of Ryan Tepera from the IL and the call-up of Devenski. The Angel’s late-inning waters are even murkier as we also consider the emergence of Matt Moore as a solid bridge, the call-up of prospect Chase Silseth and his for-the-time-being placement in the bullpen, and the presence of the floundering-yet-once-shut-down-arm of Aaron Loup.
ARI 4 – TEX 5
SV: Will Smith (4)
H: Jonathan Hernández (6)
- Will Smith continued to solidify his role as the Rangers closer by collecting the final four outs. While Smith made the 9th interesting by allowing two base runners, he ultimately got the job done to secure his fourth save.
- Jonathan Hernández converted his sixth hold by pitching parts of the 6th & 7th inning.
- It seems that José Leclerc is now relegated to middle-relief work for the time being, much to the relief of Texas fans.
- On the other side of the field, Scott McGough earned the loss by issuing a two-run home run to Ezequiel Duran. McGough relieved Zac Gallen—whose 28-inning scoreless streak finally came to a close in this game.
CIN 2 – SDP 1 [F/10]
SV: Alexis Díaz (5)
- Both teams featured strong outings from their starters with Graham Ashcraft and Michael Wacha each pitching six strong innings—keeping the game close and setting the stage for some quality bullpen innings.
- For Cinncinati, Lucas Sims pitched the 7th inning with the Reds trailing by one run. Sims has dazzled since returning to action, with a 36 K% and 35.5 CSW% through 6.1 IP. I would expect Sims to reclaim a spot in the later innings and become a consistent holds source sooner than later.
- Alexis Díaz pitched the bottom of the 10th with the Reds clinging to a one-run lead. Diaz navigated past the ghost runner and walk via two strikeouts to secure his 5th save.
- For the Padres, Josh Hader pitched the 9th inning of a tie game and continued his strong early season showing by not allowing a baserunner and adding a strikeout.
Best of the rest
- Caleb Theilbar was issued a loss after coughing up the lead in extra innings. The damage was done via a sacrifice bunt and a single which allowed the ghost runner to score.
- Blue Jays’ set-up man Eric Swanson gave up only his third ER on the season during what was then a tie-game in the 8th inning via a Connor Wong blast. With Kenley Jansen unavailable, Boston turned to 24-year-old Josh Winckowski for the save—and he did not disappoint. This was Winckowski’s first save of the season to go along with his three holds.
- Paul Sewald continued his superb start to the season by converting his 8th save with two strikeouts. Justin Topa earned his 6th hold in the contest to further solidify his late-inning role.
- Kyle Finnegan secured his 6th save with a clean 9th inning for the Nationals. The ride is bumpy, but if you’ve invested in Finnegan, you have to be pleased with this save total through the first 28 games.
- Camilo Doval locked down his 4th save in a somewhat curious fashion. While facing Yordon Alvarez with a 3-2 count, after San Fransisco had seemingly exhausted their mound visits and time outs, the umpire inexplicably allowed an additional mound visit for the Giants. As per the rules, this should have been called an automatic ball four to send Yordan to first, but, instead, Doval was allowed to rear back and strike out Alvarez on the following pitch. This was a truly interesting case of umpire discretion while implementing the new pitching rules.
- Pierce Johnson earned his fourth save of the season for the Rockies. On the flip side, Peter Strzelecki was straddled with his first loss of the year after giving up the go-ahead run via an Elias Díaz single.
Bullpen Depth Charts
Also, if you’re looking for a detailed list or ranking of RPs, check out Rick Graham’s weekly pieces:
The Hold Up: Ranking the Top 100 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday
Closing Time: Ranking the Top 30 Closers
Top 100 Relievers for Save+Hold Leagues
What happened to Evan Phillips?