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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 9/27/24 Depth Chart

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

Josh Mockensturm
Fantasy 9/27/2024

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

 

  • There were nine games on Thursday, with one weather postponement.
  • BOS, TOR, CLE, HOU, SEA, PHI, CHC, CIN, ARI, and SFG were all off as scheduled.
  • NYM and ATL were off due to weather.
  • The Dodgers placed Brent Honeywell Jr. and Brusdar Graterol on the 15-day injured list and activated Anthony Banda and Ben Casparius in corresponding moves.
  • Mark Leiter Jr. was placed on the paternity list by the Yankees, with Scott Effross getting called up from AAA to take his place for the weekend.
  • Milwaukee activated Nick Mears from the 15-day injured list and sent Kevin Herget to AAA Nashville.
  • Some matchups to target:
    • NYY faces off against PIT
    • DET gets to take on CHW (and potentially send them into the history books)
    • SEA takes on OAK and is pretty well rested
    • BOS is officially eliminated, but they face off against TBR and Chris Martin / Justin Slaten should get some work.
  • A couple of potential bulk reliever options this weekend:
    • Ryne Nelson should get some work this weekend after being recently activated.
    • Gavin Williams is expected to work as the bulk reliever on Sunday.
    • Kenta Maeda hasn’t pitched in a week and seems primed to get some innings, whether in bulk or as a starter. Ty Madden and Jackson Jobe are some other possibilities.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

DET 4 – TBR 3

W: Beau Brieske (4-4)

L: Garrett Cleavinger (7-5)

BS: Garrett Cleavinger (2)

HD: Hunter Bigge (2), Kevin Kelly (17)

SV: Jason Foley (27)

  • Detroit continued to stay hot and keep control of their playoff destiny. With Reese Olson only having been recently activated, and not fully built up yet, the Tiger deployed two of their long relief arms, Casey Mize and Beau Brieske, to bridge the gap to closer Jason Foley. Both Mize and Brieske went two innings, but Mize gave up the lead in his two innings, allowing one run on three hits (although he also struck out four). Brieske took the ball next and ended up taking home his fourth win of the season as well. Jason Foley pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save of the season, which is definitely not the number most people expected to see.
  • Speaking of things we did not expect to see… the Rays playing in a game that means nothing for them was not one of them! Tampa still gave Detroit some trouble, starting out getting five scoreless innings from opener-turned-actual-starter Tyler Alexander. After that Hunter Bigge dropped the bag, allowing two runs, but still managed to still earn the hold. Kevin Kelly earned his 17th hold with a perfect seventh, but Garrett Cleavinger couldn’t keep the good times holdin’, and took the loss and blown save.

 

KCR 7 – WSN 4

W: Kris Bubic (1-1)

L: Kyle Finnegan (3-8)

SV: Lucas Erceg (14)

  • The Royals bullpen held strong, going four scoreless innings of relief to keep the game tied. Kris Bubic earned his first win of the season with a two-strikeout eighth inning. After the Royals scored three in the top of the ninth, Lucas Erceg got the call and retired all three batters he faced for his 14th save of the season. This was Erceg’s third straight save in as many days, so there’s a good chance we won’t see him pitch again until Sunday.
  • Kyle Finnegan came into a tie game for the Nationals and immediately walked the first two batters he faced, and he ended up giving up three runs on three walks and two hits to take his eighth loss of the season, his second in as many appearances.

 

MIL 5 – PIT 2

HD: Joel Payamps (20), Jared Koenig (10)

SV: Devin Williams (14)

  • Despite not playing for anything, having already clinched what they could, the Brewers bullpen was in postseason form (well, except for Nick Mears, but he was just activated today, so let’s call that a Still ILL). Joel Payamps earned his 20th hold of the season after bailing Mears out of the seventh. Jared Koenig notched his 10th hold with a scoreless eighth, and then Devin Williams came in and pitched around a double to earn his 14th save of the season. It’s too bad we only go 20ish innings of Williams this year, because he looked as dominant as ever in his limited end-of-season innings.
  • The Pirates bullpen definitely did not have the year they wanted with last year’s tandem of Colin Holderman and David Bednar struggling at various points throughout the season. Both made an appearance in lower leverage situations here and delivered scoreless lines in the box score (although Holderman did allow an inherited runner to score). With young aces in the rotation, hopefully Pittsburgh will get better innings from their bullpen next season (and maybe add some help).

 

COL 10 – STL 8

W: Angel Chivilli (2-3)

L: Ryan Fernandez (1-6)

BS: Ryan Fernandez (3)

HD: John King (8)

SV: Seth Halvorsen (2)

  • Do the Rockies have their closer of the future in Seth Halvorsen? In his 10.2 innings thus far this season, he has looked the part. Halvorsen locked down his second save of the season (and of the week) with a scoreless ninth inning. It’s dangerous business going out your door rostering a Rockies pitcher, but there are encouraging signs for next year that maybe Halvorsen could do alright. That being said, we’ve had plenty of relievers who pop up and look like they might be able to beat Coors, only to stumble after a bit. Case in point, Victor Vodnik was that guy earlier this season. He pitched a clean seventh in this game ahead of Angel Chivilli, who managed to earn his second win despite allowing two earned runs in his inning of work.
  • Ryan Fernandez took home his sixth loss of the season, and his third blown save, after coughing up four runs (one inherited) in his one inning of work. John King did earn a hold ahead of Fernandez with 2/3 of an inning of scoreless work that Fernandez actually finished for him. But the wheels fell off in the eighth.

 

OAK 3 – TEX 2

HD: T.J. McFarland (19), Tyler Ferguson (11), Michel Otañez (6)

SV: Mason Miller (28)

  • Mason Miller closed out the Oakland chapter for the A’s with his 28th save of the season, pumping straight gas and nearly touching 104 with his final two pitches of the game. It was a bittersweet moment for Oakland (the team and the city) that really didn’t have to happen. But what’s done is done. T.J. McFarland, Tyler Ferguson, and Michel Otañez all earned holds ahead of Miller.
  • Texas opted to pair their young Vanderbilt stars together in this matchup, having Kumar Rocker start the game and Jack Leiter finish it. Rocker had a lot of traffic in his 4.2 innings of work, allowing three runs on seven hits, but no walks. Leiter continued the trend, but inverted things a bit by walking three batters and allowing two hits, but he kept the A’s off the board.

 

MIA 8 – MIN 6 (13)

W: Anthony Maldonado (1-1)

L: Scott Blewett (1-1)

BS: Jesús Tinoco (1), Michael Petersen (1)

HD: Lake Bachar (4), Anthony Veneziano (1), Anthony Bender (15)

SV: Darren McCaughan (1)

  • Miami used nearly their entire bullpen to get the win in this one and play spoiler to the Twins’ slim playoff chances. In fact, seven different relievers earned a decision of some kind in this matchup (a lot of them firsts). Anthony Veneziano earned his first hold of the season, Anthony Maldonado his first win, and Darren McCaughan his first save! On the flip side, both Jesús Tinoco and Michael Petersen earned their first blown saves of the season. This bullpen threw a lot of pitches yesterday, so I expect we’ll see some long relief today since today’s starter, Adam Oller, usually only goes about five. Anthony Bender and Lake Bachar could also be available, since they didn’t pitch as much earning their holds as the others. Jesús Tinoco will definitely be out, after throwing 39 pitches.
  • Minnesota continues to fight tooth and nail to try to earn a playoff berth and that means their bullpen is absolutely spent going into the weekend. Just like Miami, nearly every reliever on the team pitched in this one (save Louie Varland, who had thrown 48 pitches the day before). Every high-leverage receiver pitched for the second straight day. Of note, Jhoan Duran threw two scoreless innings, striking out two and Griffin Jax threw a scoreless inning ahead of Duran, striking out two. In the end, it was Scott who blew it. Yes, I know…. low hanging fruit. But this is actually the first loss for Scott Blewett across 11 appearances and 19.2 innings!

 

The Best of the Rest…

  • Anthony Banda earned his third win of the season and Blake Treinen notched his 16th hold as the Dodgers clinched a bye. Michael Kopech got work in the ninth since he had already warmed up, but it was no longer a save situation.
  • Tanner Scott got blown up by the heart of the Dodgers lineup in the seventh but still managed to keep his ERA under 2.
  • Speaking of blown up, the Yankees got handled by Corbin Burnes but then demolished the Orioles pen to gain a lopsided 10-1 win. Despite the runs, most of the Orioles high-leverage guys should be available this weekend to get some work in as needed.
  • The White Sox didn’t lose! They played the Angels! Both starting pitchers in the game have 15 losses on the season! Oh, right… relievers. Kenny Rosenberg threw three scoreless innings, striking out four, while allowing four hits. Solid stuff.

 

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

Josh Mockensturm

Josh is an Ohio Born, North Carolina residing Boston Red Sox fan thanks to his mom (and her love of Wade Boggs). If he's not watching or reading about baseball, he's probably watching a movie, reading a book, or making a dumb spreadsheet about Baseball, movies, or books.

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