Bullpen Depth Charts: Relievers To Stream — 5/10

 

Roster Moves

 

• Rafael Dolis was placed on the IL by the Blue Jays. Jordan Romano appears to have fallen back into saves opportunities, but Tyler Chatwood is another name to consider.
• The Orioles placed Dillon Tate on the IL giving Paul Fry and Travis Lakins Sr. a bit less competition for holds.
• Tony Watson was activated from the IL giving the Angels another option in the back end of their bullpen

 

Yesterday’s Performances

 

• Adam Ottavino gave up a run, but posted his seventh hold. Matt Barnes delivered a clean ninth inning to earn his eighth save of the year. Barnes is a top-1o closer this year in my opinion.
• What if I told you Cole Sulser had a 2.24 FIP this year and a 20:1 strikeout to walk ratio? Don’t sleep on the O’s bullpen!

 

• Brad Hand picked up the loss on Sunday as his struggles against the Yankees continued. Austin Voth’s last five relief appearances: 9 IP, 0 ER, 10 K. This bullpen needs someone else to step up with Tanner Rainey needing to get his groove back and Will Harris needing to get back up to speed. Are holds in Voth’s future? The Nationals are off on Monday, but they might opt to use the more rested Daniel Hudson in a save opportunity on Tuesday since Hand had such a rough weekend.
• Aroldis Chapman worked for the second straight day and only struck out one of the four batters he faced raising his FIP on the year to -0.43. Yes, that’s still a negative FIP. In May. Oh my. The Yankees have an off day on Monday, so Chapman should be good to go again when they retake the field on Tuesday.

 

• Kevin Ginkel was sent in in top of the sixth of a game the Diamondbacks trailed by one. He faced three batters walking two and striking out one before being replaced by J.B. Bukauskas. Is this really where you’d use your setup man? For me, this tells me that Joakim Soria is the next in line if and when Stefan Crichton continues to falter.
• Edwin Díaz was called upon for a five-out save on Sunday, his fifth of the year. He needed 27 pitches to secure this one, but the Mets are off on Monday, so I’d bet Díaz will be available Tuesday if needed.

 

• J.P. Feyereisen gave up his first earned run on the season in seventeen innings pitches allowing a solo shot to Lewis Brinson.  Devin Williams extended his scoreless innings streak to six and Josh Hader got his third win and lowered his ERA to 0.71. This is what you were signing up for with Williams and Hader. Feyereisen is a nice surprise for the Brewers and has been earning his great performance. That’s two days in a row for both Williams and Hader, but they’ve kept their pitch counts down overall. After a rest day on Monday, I’d expect them to be ready to go on Tuesday.
• Yimi García struck out the side to keep the game tied in the ninth, but Anthony Bass allowed his inherited run to score in the tenth which was enough to earn him the loss. García has done great so far this year, but an elevated xERA and FIP make that success seem a bit unstable. He’ll need to continue striking guys out like he did today to avoid having his high barrel rate come back to bite him.

 

• The Blue Jays were down 7-0 by the fourth inning after a rough start from rookie Nate Pearson. They proceeded to use a few long relievers that don’t have too much fantasy relevance.
• Ryan Pressly secured his sixth save of the year with a clean ninth inning. It was good to see a clean ninth from Pressly after he had allowed runs in each of his previous two outings. Ryne Stanek notched his third hold and continued his very solid start to the season. He’s the guy to own as a handcuff to Pressly.

 

• The White Sox were up by as many as six runs in the seventh inning, but we still saw Aaron Bummer for an inning and two thirds. He’s really finding his groove recently after a somewhat shaky start to the year. He’s got a six appearance scoreless streak going in which he hasn’t walked a single batter.
• The Royals were down big but needed to get some work for Josh Staumont who hadn’t pitched since Tuesday. He wasn’t very sharp as he needed 25 pitches to get just two outs, but that won’t affect his job security at all. Based on usage and performance recently, I’m wondering if Scott Barlow isn’t next in line for saves instead of Greg Holland.

 

• Daniel Bard logged a much-needed scoreless inning on Sunday. He had allowed a run in six of his previous seven outings.
• Ryan Helsley picked up a vulture two-out save after Alex Reyes and Giovanny Gallegos threw 30 and 28 pitches respectively on Saturday. Helsley’s ratios are still being anchored by his disastrous second performance of the year, but he’s allowed just two runs in 14.1 innings since then. With a day off today, Reyes and Gallegos will be ready to go again on Tuesday relegating Helsley back to his middle innings role.

 

• Well, well, well. Kyle Crick and Richard Rodríguez are human after all. Crick entered in the ninth first because it was a non-save situation at the time. Of his 10 pitches, only three were strikes including a wild pitch, a walk, and a hit batsman. Rodríguez inherited the two baserunners and struck out the first batter he faced, but then allowed an RBI single and bases-clearing double to bring the game within one and the winning run to the plate. He was able to close the game out in the end, earning his sixth save. With how good these two have been so far, I think they get a pass on this one.
• Dillon Maples struck out two more batters raising his season total to 25 in 14.2 IP. He’s pretty wild, but boy is he fun to watch.

 

• The Mariners deployed Rafael Montero in a low-leverage situation, but only because he hadn’t pitched since Tuesday. Neither his use nor performance in this specific situation are worth reading into too much.
• The Rangers went up big in the middle innings and used their long relievers to give the back end of their bullpen a day off. Nothing much here in terms of fantasy relevance.

 

• The Padres piggybacked Ryan Weathers onto Chris Paddack’s first start coming off the IL. This will be worth paying attention to as they may opt to do this one more time before letting Paddack stand on his own.
• The Giants went down big early and eventually threw in the towel. Outfielder Darin Ruf got to pitch the final frame, so the relief usage here isn’t consequential.

 

• Raisel Iglesias worked around a hit and a walk to notch his sixth save of the season. It’s a save against the Dodgers which is a feat in and of itself, but it’s still not very encouraging. He’s already allowed three home runs this year and his hard hit rate is the highest of his career by a wide margin. Advanced metrics will disagree on whether his poor ERA is justified based on whether they smooth out home runs in some way or not. I’m more of the opinion right now that his HR/FB rate will eventually come back nearer his league average and he’ll be able to bring his ERA into more respectable territory,
• Kenley Jansen worked a shaky, scoreless eighth striking out two. The Dodgers have an off day on Monday, so Jansen should be ready to go on Tuesday, but owners should continue to keep in mind that Jansen’s workload is being closely managed. He’s worked back-to-back days twice this season, but has received at least three days off in each of those instances.

 

• Andrew Kittredge picked up his second save for the Rays after Pete Fairbanks worked the eighth and Ryan Thompson the seventh. The guy we have listed as the closer, Jeffrey Springs, worked the fifth inning picking up a vulture win. Until Diego Castillo returns, you can basically throw out the below depth chart for the Rays.
• The Athletics were playing from behind in the late innings and opted not to use any of their top three arms. Despite the terrible ratios, Sergio Romo has allowed just one run over his last seven appearances (6 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K). I’d still watch that from afar, though.

 

• The Phillies used a couple of long relievers to get them through a game in which their ace couldn’t make it through the fifth inning. Nothing to see here.
• After some rough outings, A.J. Minter and Tyler Matzek appear to have righted the ship. Minter allowed four runs across two appearances in a mid-April series against the Marlins and hasn’t allowed an earned run in nine and two-thirds innings since. Matzek allowed at least a run in each of his past four appearances in April, but has started May with four straight scoreless opinions. The bigger question for the Braves is when and where does Shane Greene fit in here?

 

 Bullpen Depth Charts

 

 

Photo by Kent Kanouse/Flickr | Adapted by Justin Redler (@reldernitsuj on Twitter)