With the MLB season in full swing, some bullpen hierarchies are becoming a lot clearer, while others have fallen apart. Though some managers may keep fantasy owners guessing, it is important to at least have an idea of who has a chance at a save, and who is most likely not even going to appear in a game today. Don’t sleep on saves! In a shortened season, they all count that much more.
First, notes from last night and thoughts on today’s games:
Notes
- With plenty of teams having Monday off, not many pitchers saw time in back-to-back days. In fact, only four relievers pitched on Monday and Tuesday this week: Aaron Loup of the Rays, Trevor May and Taylor Rogers of the Twins, and Drew Pomeranz of the Padres.
- Touki Toussaint of the Atlanta Braves was used as an opener against the Yankees last night and went four innings pitched, allowing six earned runs.
- Daniel Mengden came in to relieve Mike Fiers and went 3.1 IP, allowing just one earned run.
- Logan Allen of the Cleveland Indians provided some stability for a shaky bullpen, going three innings pitched and allowing just one earned run.
- Travis Lakin Sr. earned his first career save for the Baltimore Orioles in just five pitches and 0.1 IP.
- Zack Britton earned his league-leading sixth save of the season for the Yankees, recording three outs on just six pitches, including a strikeout.
- For the Washington Nationals, Daniel Hudson recorded his third save on his fourth opportunity of the season.
- Josh Hader finally got another save opportunity and closed the doors by striking out the side against the Twins for his third save of the season.
- Daniel Bard slammed the doors on the Arizona Diamondbacks in his first opportunity of the season for the Rockies. He pitched just 0.1 IP and recorded a strikeout.
- Rafael Montero of the Texas Rangers needed just 9 pitches to shut down the Seattle Mariners for his third save of the season. He has yet to allow a run in 2020.
- Tyler Rogers has struggled this season for the San Francisco Giants, but he was able to record the save against the Astro yesterday. It was his second opportunity and first save of the season
Bullpen Depth Charts
Green = closer is available/long reliever expected to pitch after starter
Yellow = closer pitched previous day/LR has chance to pitch after starter
Red = closer has pitched back to back days and likely has the day off
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
I don’t see Neris’s or Bass’s implosions mentioned and they’re both marked as “white” instead of “yellow”. Are you literally just looking at saves and not box scores?
Ryan Pressly has thrown two nights in a row (poorly, I might add). Any thoughts on a save candidate?
O’s Sulser Givens and Castro were heavily used yesterday, Reds had Iglesias throw, Rosenthal threw a clean inning for the Royals, Rays had Anderson and every “other hold’s option” reliever throw, Bard got a 1 out save due to Jairo Diaz blowing up, Pomeranz is red even though he only threw one pitch, and Touki was not an “opener,” he is in the rotation now.
I enjoy this new series and find it helpful, but please at least check the box scores.