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
- Just four teams were out of action last night: Cleveland, Minnesota, Cincinnati, and the Chicago Cubs. Across the other 13 games, pitchers collected eight saves — a fairly busy night!
- Another ten teams will have today off for regular Thursday travel and rest: CHW, LAA, SEA, NYM, PHI, MIL, ARI, COL, SDP, and SFG.
Transactions/Injuries
- St. Louis placed Daniel Ponce De Leon on the 10-day IL with a shoulder injury. This is his second trip of the year with shoulder issues, which is concerning.
- The Arizona Diamondbacks designed struggling relievers Stefan Crichton for assignment. Crichton had been their primary setup, so despite Arizona’s struggles, it should be worth watching to see who will be trusted to take on some higher-leverage chances.
Yesterday’s Performances
Mark Melancon recorded his fourth save in the last five days last night, closing out the Padres’ win over the Dodgers. That’s now 23 saves on the year for Melancon, which means he’s saved more than half of the Padres’ wins this year. He’ll rest with the rest of the Padres on today’s off day.
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano picked up his second save in two nights against the Marlins, giving up a leadoff double before retiring the last three batters. He should be off for the day today, as should be Tyler Chatwood, who has also pitched on back-to-back nights, so Rafael Dolis could be tagged as tonight’s closer.
Liam Hendriks struck out one and picked up his 19th save of the year for the White Sox. He’ll get a natural rest day with the White Sox off before their series against Seattle this weekend.
The Rockies called upon Daniel Bard to pick up the final out of their win against Seattle, which he did without blowing their three-run lead. He and the rest of the Rockies are off today before their weekend series in Milwaukee.
Edwin Díaz entered the Mets’ matchup against Atlanta with a three-run cushion in the 8th, picking up the final five outs without allowing a hit. The Mets added an insurance run, leading to the odd save in a four-run game. Díaz needed 33 pitches to get through six batters, but with a team rest day today, he should be out of your lineups anyway.
Brewers closer Josh Hader worked a clean ninth to pick up his 19th save of the year (author’s note: and, seemingly his first on a Wednesday in forever. what’s up with that?), striking out two of his three batters faced. Eduardo Escobar’s 8th-inning home run off of Devin Williams did make this a tighter margin for the Brewers, but their Woodruff-Williams-Hader combination was nonetheless able to do its job. The Brewers are off tonight as they fly home to face the Rockies this weekend.
Aroldis Chapman picked up a win after blowing a save opportunity for the Yankees, allowing two runs on five baserunners while striking out two. The Royals’ Greg Holland returned the favor, though, blowing the save thanks to a Gary Sanchez home run before allowing a walk-off single to Luke Voit. This series continues tonight, but Holland could have a scheduled rest day after pitching two games in a row. The same could be true, though, for the rest of the Royals’ high-leverage options, so picking a potential fill-in choice seems tricky.
The Rangers’ Ian Kennedy was out for their matchup against Oakland with an illness, which opened the opportunity for Joely Rodriguez to pick up his first career save. It’s unclear whether Kennedy will be available tonight.
The nationals handed the ball off to Paulo Espino to close out their 13-12 victory over the Phillies. Aside from closer Brad Hand, who had pitched the previous night, every member of the Nationals bullpen appeared in this matchup. While the Phillies are off today, the Nats open a series in Miami tonight — Hand should be available tonight, but tired arms could be an issue over the next few days.
No word on Hector Neris and his 5th blow save of the season in 15 attempts? And let’s say no word on how the Phillies aren’t getting that many save opportunities?
Stupid question but…how do you interpret this chart? Like for example for SF are you saying Zach Little is in line for the next SV opportunity? Or any one of those pitchers in that box?
The chart is just here to let you know if the closer and/or his backup (setup) have pitched or not the last 3 days. And if they have pitched, then if they pitched 2 days in a row during the last 3 days, or if they have pitched the previous day, or if they have pitched 2 days during the last 3 days.
Basically, the chart is just giving you an indication about if the closer and/or his backup are likely or not to pitch if there would be a save opportunity. It’s based on a simple rule which is that Closers (and even holders) are hardly asked to pitch more than 2 days in a row. For example, Romano for TOR pitched yesterday and the day before so there was 99.99% chances he wouldn’t be asked to pitch tonight (Thursday). So in this case you can look for his backup unless he would also have pitched 2 days in a row (but very unlikely)
Hope it’s clearer.
Jayson, Thanks for the Reply!