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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 8/6/24 Depth Chart

Breakdowns of key bullpen usage from yesterday's slate of games.

Scott McDermott
Fantasy 8/7/2024

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

 

Transactions and Schedule

 

  • Rain was a factor across the league Tuesday, with the Diamondbacks-Guardians and Angels-Yankees both postponed.  Cleveland and New York will host respective double-headers on Wednesday.
  • Miller Time is around the corner.  The A’s announced their laser-rocket-armed closer will be activated off the IL on Wednesday.
  • After the St. Louis Cardinals DFA’ed Giovanny Gallegos and he initially went unclaimed, the Minnesota Twins have offered him a minor-league contract.  Gallegos’s ERA ballooned to 6.53 this year in 20.2 IP, but has been 3.49 over his career with 396 K’s in 335 total innings.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

BAL 2 – TOR 5

SV: Chad Green (9)

HD: Génesis Cabrera (5)

L: Gregory Soto (2-5)

  • Chris ’start-him-at-home’ Bassitt had an effective outing with nine K’s in seven innings, holding Baltimore’s vaunted offense to two runs.
  • For the O’s, Albert Suarez filled in for Grayson Rodriguez as the latter was scratched with lat soreness.
  • Bassitt came back in the eighth but loaded the bases without recording an out, and got the hook for Génesis Cabrera.  Cabrera let a run come home but otherwise escaped the threat.
  • Chad Green’s been the last man standing in Toronto’s decimated bullpen, but he was effective tonight per usual.  He retired Baltimore’s 3-4-5 hitters in order on twelve pitches to lower his ERA to 1.51.
  • Worth noting, Craig Kimbrel worked the seventh with the Orioles down four runs.  He gave up a hit and struck out one.

 

KCR 2 – STL 4

SV: Ryan Helsley (35)

HD: Andrew Kittredge (28)

  • Sonny Gray gave up two first-inning runs but shut things down afterward, finishing his night after seven innings.
  • After Andrew Kittredge worked a clean eighth, the Cardinals predictably brought in Helsley.
  • Helsley got into trouble early, walking Josh Lowe after getting ahead 0-2, and giving up a hit to Jose Siri to make it first-and-third, no out.
  • After a check-swing pop-up and a strikeout, suddenly the tables had turned.  But Johnny DeLuca got an RBI single to make it a one-run game.  Then, on a 3-2 count, Taylor Walls hit a comebacker to the mound that bounced off the rubber and skipped into Masyn Winn’s hands.  The shortstop threw out Walls to end the game (Winn has a cannon), bailing Helsley out of the jam.

 

HOU 4 – TEX 2

SV: Josh Hader (23)

  • Wow, Framber Valdez was THIS CLOSE to throwing his second no-hitter almost exactly a year to the day after the last one.  But fate had other plans…
  • After a leadoff walk in the ninth inning of a 4-0 game, a double-play ball put Valdez an out away.  But he’d walk his second batter of the game and then Corey Seager walloped a hanging slider to end the no-no (and the shutout).
  • That was good news for Josh Hader, who’s converted his last 22 Save opportunities.  Only needing one out, he’d still make it interesting, giving up a walk to let the tying run come to bat.  Josh Jung almost came through but was a few feet short as a fly ball died on the warning track.

 

BOS 6 – KCR 5

SV: Kenley Jansen (21)

HD: Zack Kelly (7), Cam Booser (6), Luis Garcia (12)

  • Boston had a comfortable lead going into the bottom of the eighth, up 6-3.  After a leadoff single against Cam Booser, the Red Sox brought in Luis Garcia, but he’d give up consecutive doubles to make it 6-5.
  • After Garcia got the next two hitters out, Boston asked Kenley Jansen to stop the bleeding.  He would ring up Maikel Garcia on five pitches to move things to the ninth.
  • The Sox couldn’t get anything going in the top half, so Jansen came back in for the four-out Save.  Jansen’s advanced metrics range from ho-hum to scary, including a lowest 5% average exit velocity AND ground ball rate—which you think would result in a ton of home runs.  But he’s still striking out 27.7% of hitters and has only allowed two dingers all season (on consecutive nights to the Dodgers, July 20-21).
  • Jansen got two quick outs but that would bring up Bobby Witt Jr., perhaps the hottest hitter in all of baseball.  He threw a couple of cutters that didn’t cut and somehow got away with them, then dialed back for a 95-mph heater up in the zone to strike out Witt and end it.  Jansen’s still got it, folks.

 

CHW 5 – OAK 1

HD: Chad Kuhl (1), Dominic Leone (4)

  • A battle between cellar-dwellers meant one team had to win, and maybe the A’s sound engineer blasting “22” during the pre-game warmups (so cold!) fired up the Sox. They’d take a 5-1 lead into the ninth.
  • It wouldn’t be for a Save, but John Brebbia hasn’t seen many opportunities with a lead of late so he’d come on to close.  He’d get a trio of fly ball outs and the South side of Chicago (along with Taylor Swift fans, I guess?) can breathe a sigh of relief that their losing streak is over at 21 games.

 

NYM 3 – COL 6

W: Justin Lawrence (4-4)

HD: Angel Chivilli (1), Tyler Kinley (10)

SV: Victor Vodnik (6)

  • The Mets have been playing good ball of late, moving within a game of the Wild Card, so you’d think the Rockies wouldn’t be much of a test.  But Coors being Coors, starter Luis Severino got into trouble early and often, allowing five runs (four earned) to stake Colorado a lead.
  • After starter Kyle Freeland lasted just 4.2 innings (though striking out seven), the bullpen took over.  They’d keep the ball down and get the outs they needed, even if most of their ERA’s are above five.  Justin Lawrence, Angel Chivilli, and Tyler Kinley all proved effective in keeping the Rockies ahead.
  • So with a 6-3 lead, Victor Vodnik came on to keep it going.  And after giving up a hit and falling behind 3-1 to Harrison Bader, things looked dicey.  But Bader grounded out, Tyrone Taylor lined out to Center, and Francisco Lindor had another ground-out to give the game to Colorado.
  • Is Vodnik any good?  Well, he throws hard at least, averaging almost 98 on his fastball.  But the thin air at home results in a hard-hit percentage above 50, which is in the bottom 1% of the league with an average exit velo of 91.2.  Add in a 10% walk rate and he’s best left on the wire.  But it’s only his first real year in the bigs (he made six appearances in 2023) so there’s room for improvement—and his name sounds like he’s a comic book villain so there’s that.

 

DET 4 – SEA 2

SV: Tyler Holton (4)

HD: Will Vest (7), Jason Foley (7), Beau Brieske (4)

  • In a surprise move, Jason Foley pitched the eighth inning of a 4-1 game and gave way to Beau Brieske in the ninth.  Brieske hasn’t really been asked to close with just two Saves on his career, but he’d strike out Randy Arozarena looking to kick things off.
  • Cal Raleigh walked next, and after the second out Jorge Polanco hit a fly ball to the gap that left both outfielders giving way to each other.  The ball dropped in (it was ruled a single but…come on) and a run scored.  That would do it for Brieske and Tyler Holton got the nod to retire a pinch-hitting Mitch Haniger.
  • Three strikes later, it was over, with Haniger out whiffing to give the game to Detroit.

 

The best of the rest…

 

  • The Cubs scored in the bottom of the eighth to make it 7-3 and take away a Save situation, so Tyson Miller got the ball in the ninth.  With a .77 WHIP, it was no surprise he’d throw a clean inning and is looking like Chicago’s best reliever.
  • Up 4-0 in the seventh, the Padres brought in recent acquisition Tanner Scott.  Scott had a 0.00 ERA in his nine July appearances but allowed a run in his last one on August 3rd.  He’d be asked to get four outs in this game.  With the Friars adding two more runs in the top of the ninth, Scott did his job. Jeremiah Estrada finished off the 6-0 game to keep Robert Suarez fresh.
  • Recent Phillies acquisition Carlos Estévez worked the ninth in a 6-2 game against the Dodgers.  Estevez looked lost in April with a 7.04 ERA but hasn’t given up an earned run since May 20th (!), and his walk rate is down to 4.9%, the best of his career (it was 11% last year).  The Phillies got a good one at the deadline.

 

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

Scott McDermott

Scott lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, two daughters, and a couple of furballs. When he’s not dissecting box scores and pondering over the optimal starting lineup for the Cincinnati Reds, he covers fantasy baseball for Pitcher List. He’s also the author of the award-winning book series 'Election 2064', available on Amazon.

One response to “Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 8/6/24 Depth Chart”

  1. Clark says:
    August 7, 2024 at 4:20 PM

    lol fantasy writers hate Vodnik

    Reply

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