Bullpen Depth Charts: Relievers To Stream — 4/26

Welcome back to Relievers to Stream for Wins and Saves! This will bring you up-to-date bullpen depth charts every morning for the day’s games and makes for a great tool for those of you looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so be sure to check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!

Notes

Schedule notes:

• The following teams are off: the Red Sox, Blue Jays, White Sox, Mets, Nationals, Pirates, Padres, and Diamondbacks.
• Deivi García is making his first start of the year against the Orioles and represents a win vulture opportunity as he may not be fully stretched out yet. Chad Green is more likely to provide ratios that you like, but is also more likely to be used later in the game. Lucas Luetge is a less flashy option but is more likely to be called upon in the fourth or fifth inning if Garcia can’t go deep into the game.

• The Diamondbacks bullpen was treated to a second straight night off. After a postponement on Saturday, Zac Gallen threw a seven-inning one-hitter and Madison Bumgarner threw a seven-inning no-hitter propelling the Diamondbacks to a doubleheader sweep. The team has a scheduled day off on Monday, so the bullpen will be completely fresh, but may be facing the enviable problem of having too little work.
• The Braves went down early in both games and, since they didn’t score a run in either game, never threatened to make the games close. We didn’t see any of their top arms, so they’re all fresh for Monday after a break on Saturday as well.

• Clay Holmes picked up a vulture win for Pittsburgh after starter Wil Crowe failed to go five. He’s not pitching quite as badly as his ERA would indicate, but he’s still not worthy of consideration.
• Jorge Alcala generated 10 swinging strikes on 29 pitches for the Twins including going 6/13 on his slider. Yowza! We’ve not seen him do anything close to that so far this year, so chalk it up to the Pirates and make him do it again before being intrigued.

• The Rangers were down 8-1 after three innings and they threw a few fringe guys to get them through the game. Yes, Brett Martin, Josh Sborz, and Taylor Hearn combined for five scoreless innings to end the game. No, you shouldn’t roster any of them.
• Garrett Crochet stretched out to 46 pitches on Sunday, his highest total of the season, en route to three scoreless innings. It’s nice to see Crochet be stretched out a bit and considered for a more multi-inning role. Nine hits in nine innings so far in 2021 along with an 8:5 K:BB ratio are not as nice. I think tandem starts with Michael Kopech make a lot of sense and this seems to be what Crochet’s been preparing for as he’s intentionally reduced his velocity to be able to last longer in games. We’ll have to see if his strikeout rate settles closer to 30% like last year in limited playing time or closer to 20% as he’s doing now. He reportedly developed a blister during this outing, but he was likely getting several days’ rest after this outing regardless. It remains to be seen if he’ll need more time than that to recover.

• J.P. Feyereisen picked up his fifth hold to extend his scoreless innings streak to 11.2 to start the season. He’s not dominant and the walks are troublesome, but he’s produced weak contact so far and has a solid role in a solid pen. Devin Williams threw 10 of his 12 pitches for strikes in a one-two-three inning. I’m more and more encouraged by Williams despite the home run the other night. His velocity is closer to 2020 levels and he has allowed just two hits and one walk in his past four appearances after allowing three hits and five walks in his first four.
• Dillon Maples struck out two more batters, giving him 16 through his first nine innings pitched on the year. His slider was filthy generating five whiffs and four more called strikes on just 13 pitches. That would be extremely intriguing if his control was even close to league average. He’s given up nine walks and a hard hit % of 54 through 41 batters faced….. yikes. If he figures out how to keep his walks down for a stretch, though, he could be a really good fantasy asset in the back of the Cubs bullpen.

• The Phillies went down big in the middle innings and therefore saved the big guns in their bullpen. We did, however, see top prospect Spencer Howard for the third time this year. He continues to show the higher velocity we’d expect from a move to the bullpen and that has come with more strikeouts. He had four in two innings, giving him eight on the year in four-and-a-third innings on the year. However, he still hasn’t been able to put it together. Most of the base hits weren’t hit that hard, so perhaps he just had some bad luck here. Still, don’t chase this until he starts putting some good appearances together.
• The Rockies were protecting a lead of eight or more runs for most of the late innings, so they didn’t have to throw their top arms here.

• The Marlins essentially had a bullpen game on Sunday. Paul Campbell was expected to start, but was pushed to a bulk reliever role due to weather concerns and ended up only throwing three innings. Their top arms weren’t used, but they used six total pitchers in the game. They’re likely counting on Trevor Rogers to go at least six strong on Monday.
• Tyler Rogers picked up his second save of the season for the Giants. It was a rocky one in which he allowed three hits and an earned run before finally closing it out. Jake McGee was perhaps still unavailable after throwing 35 pitches across two appearances on Thursday and Friday. That’s two straight off days for McGee and three games out of four with work for Rogers, so McGee should certainly get the call if necessary on Monday.

• The Athletics needed only an inning and a third from their bullpen between taking the loss on the road and Jesús Luzardo’s solid performance. Only Deolis Guerra, who threw 38 pitches, is likely unavailable Monday.
• The Orioles also got a solid performance from their starter, John Means, to reduce the workload on their bullpen. They did throw Paul Fry in the eighth inning when it was still a two-run game. He struck out two in a scoreless inning giving him 12 in eight and a third innings of one-run ball so far this year. He’s built on his breakout in 2020 and is a solid under-the-rader holds option.

• The Royals bullpen threw four scoreless innings to complete the shutout and grant starter Danny Duffy the win. Had he been completely healthy, we may have seen Greg Holland here, but coach Mike Matheny may have wanted to give him one more day to recover from his vaccine side effects.
• For the second straight turn of the rotation, the Tigers piggybacked Tarik Skubal onto Michael Fulmer’s start. It will be worth monitoring to see if they continue with this for a while.

• The Nationals got three scoreless innings out of Austin Voth and one out of Tanner Rainey to somewhat ease the pain of their struggling offense. It was Rainey’s second straight scoreless outing although his velocity continues to be down slightly from last year.
• Miguel Castro and Edwin Díaz combined to secure the final six outs for the Mets in a non-save, non-hold situation. Díaz had only worked one inning since the previous Sunday, so sending him out in a non-save situation was likely mostly about keeping him fresh with a scheduled off day on Monday. He was pretty efficient, throwing 11 of 14 pitches for strikes, and should be ready to go when the Mets take the field again on Tuesday.

• The Mariners needed 26 outs from their bullpen after starter Nick Margevicius recorded only one before succumbing to an injury. The majority of the slack was picked up by Ljay Newsome who threw four scoreless innings striking out four and generating 10 whiffs on 54 pitches. Newsome could easily move into a starter’s role after this performance if Margevicius is shut down.
• After seven strong innings from Eduardo Rodriguez, the Red Sox turned to Adam Ottavino in the eighth and Matt Barnes in the ninth for the hold and save respectively. Barnes now carries a K:BB ratio of 20:3 across 12 innings to start the year. That’s three games in four days for both Barnes and Ottavino, so they could possibly each get Tuesday off in addition to the team’s scheduled rest day on Monday.

• Hyun Jin Ryu left early with an injury, leaving it to the bullpen to pick up the extra slack. They were able to maintain the shutout delivering five and a third scoreless innings culminating in a four-out save from Rafael Dolis. It was Dolis’ second straight appearance resulting in a save after both Julian Merryweather and Jordan Romano went down with injuries and he needed just six pitches to record four outs here. It remains to be seen if Romano will retake the ninth inning once he gets fully back up to speed.
• Josh Fleming was a bulk reliever behind Luis Patiño in his Rays’ debut. Louis Head also made his major league debut, so I imagine he’ll get a couple of saves next week because it’s the Rays.

• Luis Cessa pitched two scoreless innings of relief which brings him to 11.2 innings on the season with just one earned run and 15 Ks. He’s been throwing his slider nearly 70% of the time this year and it’s been working. He could turn into one of the more valuable multi-inning relievers to have.
• We saw James Karinchak for the second straight day and the third time in four days and he, yet again, struck out the side. He’s now struck out 10 out of the past 11 batters he’s faced and has a K:BB ratio of 18:2 in eight and a third innings so far this year. Emmanuel Clase took a different approach to the ninth allowing three sharply hit balls in play that all found fielders. These are simply two of the most exciting young relievers in the game.

• Raisel Iglesias picked up his third save of the year and finally got the best of the Astros who had put up a pair of runs on him in each of his last two appearances against them. Mike Mayers picked up his third hold and Chris Rodriguez picked up the win and continues to impress. As with many young relievers, control is holding him back, but we also have to consider the injury risk of a guy with Rodriguez’s history before buying in.
• The Astros used Luis Garcia and Brooks Raley to try to keep the game close, but both allowed a run. Neither have much fantasy relevance.

• Sean Doolittle appeared in his tenth game as a Red and continued to struggle. He’s essentially turned into a one-pitch pitcher as he’s thrown over 90% four-seamers on the year and all 21 of his pitches Sunday were four-seamers. He generated zero swings and misses and just two called strikes, good for a CSW under 10%. He has a good strikeout rate on the year, but it won’t stick if he’s not able to get swings and misses. If he loses that, he’d need to make major improvements to his walk rate and contact suppression to remain on an MLB roster. This is not the answer to the Reds’ bullpen woes.
• Alex Reyes worked around two walks and a base hit to record his fifth save of the year. Reyes remains unscored upon in 2021, but with ten walks and nine strikeouts in nine and a third innings on the year, that likely won’t hold up long. An xERA of 6.96 and FIP of 4.38 suggest a regression coming up. Don’t forget about Giovanny Gallegos.

• • The Padres got just three innings from starter Joe Musgrove and needed eight from their bullpen in an extra-inning affair. They threw all of their top arms including Emilio Pagán, Drew Pomeranz, and Mark Melancon. The Friars have a scheduled off day on Monday, so they should have time to let their bullpen recover a bit. I’d imagine all three arms would be available Tuesday.
  • The Dodgers bullpen was also taxed going five innings and blowing a six-run lead going into the seventh inning. Victor González earned his seventh hold of the year, but he allowed both inherited runs to score. We saw Brusdar Graterol for the second time this year and he was lifted after just three batters and allowing a walk and a base hit. The Dodgers don’t have the benefit of an off-day, so this taxed bullpen will be crossing their fingers hoping for a strong start from Julio Urías on Monday.