One of the shortcomings of the usual Bullpen Report is that it focuses on the closer scenarios most in flux. It's a logical approach, but it leaves no room to anticipate. If a stable closer situation were suddenly to become unstable -- say, because of injury -- wouldn't you like to know ahead of time who's next in line?
The midway point seems like a good time to take inventory of every team's bullpen, just as I did prior to Opening Day. Maybe you want to identify new targets for holds or back up your current closer with his likely replacement. Maybe you just want to file away the information in case it becomes relevant later. Whatever the case, you'll find answers to many of your bullpen questions here.
Note: "Pecking order" refers to rosterability in Fantasy and not necessarily who's first in line for saves (though it's usually one and the same).
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| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Scott McGough
McGough has surged to the top of the pecking order with a 0.35 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 11.6 K/9 over his past 20 appearances and could be a big find off the waiver wire.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Felix Bautista, Yennier Cano
The Orioles might have the best closer (Bautista) and the best setup man (Cano) in baseball.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Kenley Jansen
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter
The save chances have been few and far between lately, but with the way David Ross has used the two in non-save chances, it's becoming increasingly clear that Alzolay is preferred in the ninth inning and Leiter in the eighth.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Liam Hendriks, Kendall Graveman
Presumably, the White Sox will want to try Hendriks in the closer role again once he's recovered from his bout with elbow inflammation, but Graveman appears to have a firm grip on the role in the meantime.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Alexis Diaz
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Emmanuel Clase
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Justin Lawrence
Lawrence has been the Rockies' most effective reliever this year but has struggled to lock down the closer role since Pierce Johnson was ousted from it. Meanwhile, Daniel Bard is issuing far too many walks to be taken seriously.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Alex Lange
Walks have been a major issue for Lange, but he appears to have stabilized again after looking like he was on the verge of losing chances to Jason Foley.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Ryan Pressly
It's an honest toss-up which of Hector Neris and Bryan Abreu would replace Pressly if he goes down, as he's been known to do.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Scott Barlow
The save chances have been so lacking for the Royals that it's almost not even worth speculating if Aroldis Chapman could eventually overtake Barlow, who has been pretty shaky this year.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Carlos Estevez
The Angels have a whole mess of intriguing arms -- Jose Soriano, Jacob Webb and Chris Devenski, to name a few -- who could fill in if Estevez goes down while Matt Moore (strained oblique) and Ben Joyce (ulnar neuritis) are still on the IL.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Evan Phillips
Phillips has the makings of a terrific closer, but Dave Roberts seems less than fully committed to the idea. Daniel Hudson's impending return from a torn ACL could complicate things.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? A.J. Puk
Skip Schumaker has been uncommonly predictable with his bullpen usage, but Andrew Nardi may be on the verge of overtaking Dylan Floro as the eighth-inning guy.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Devin Williams
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Jhoan Duran
Rocco Baldelli has always been one to prefer a committee, but with Jorge Lopez (mental health) out of the picture for the foreseeable future, Duran appears to have the job on lockdown.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? David Robertson
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Clay Holmes
Holmes seems to have the trust of Aaron Boone again, but he's playing more of a fireman role than that of a true closer. Others like Wandy Peralta and Ron Marinaccio could also factor in the saves mix.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? nobody
Honestly, don't even bother with this one. There's more harm than good to be done.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Craig Kimbrel, Jose Alvarado
The full-season numbers make Alvarado seem like a major threat to Kimbrel, but the latter has a 1.42 ERA, 0.63 WHIP and 15.6 K/9 over his past 19 appearances.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? David Bednar
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Josh Hader
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Camilo Doval
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Paul Sewald, Andres Munoz
Everyone's favorite sleeper for saves at the start of the year, Munoz has yet to get a single save chance in his six appearances since returning from a strained shoulder. At this point, Scott Servais may be set on Sewald.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Ryan Helsley, Jordan Hicks
Hicks has gotten every Cardinals save since Helsley went down, and though his other numbers leave something to be desired, he has enough of a history in the role to suggest he could settle into it.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: medium
Who's rosterable? Peter Fairbanks, Jason Adam
Kevin Cash has been curiously conventional with his closer usage thus far, but his reputation, along with Peter Fairbanks' injury history, gives me pause.
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: medium
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Will Smith
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: high
Chances of committee: low
Who's rosterable? Jordan Romano, Erik Swanson
| Pecking order |
Confidence in top guy: low
Chances of committee: high
Who's rosterable? Hunter Harvey, Kyle Finnegan
The Nationals' save chances have been so few and far between that it's taken a few weeks to confirm that Harvey has indeed overtaken Finnegan for ninth-inning duties. Whether he's good enough to hold onto them is another question.
