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
- Eight teams have a scheduled day off Monday and aren’t available for streaming: TB, TOR, OAK, SEA, TEX, ATL, MIA, SD
- Despite four fewer games than a full slate, there are several win vulture opportunities around the league. First, Michael King is going for the Yankees at home against the Angels. King has gone five innings in just one of his five starts. Jonathan Loaisiga is working on two full days of rest and is very much worth your time here. Wade LeBlanc is getting the ball for the Cardinals at home to the Diamondbacks. LeBlanc last went on Thursday (three days’ rest) and went two and a third innings, so he’s certainly looking at a workload restriction here. I’m going to go away from the long guys and say that Ryan Helsley is the guy to stream here. He’s rested and has been solid in June.
Transactions/Injuries
- No important transactions to note today, just some regular comings and goings to and from AAA.
Yesterday’s Performances
- Dillon Tate was absolutely filthy on Sunday striking out five of six batters he faced on a CSW of 52%. His sinker was extra heavy and sat at 97.1 mph compared to his season average of 94.7. He’s been throwing a little harder over his past few outings, but nothing like this. If Tate can consistently generate this type of velocity, it would send his potential soaring.
- Jordan Romano picked up save number six on the year with Patrick Murphy, Tim Mayza, and Anthony Castro all earning holds. Romano hasn’t allowed a run in over a month and has been one of the more dominant relievers in the bigs over the past six weeks. He’s the clear best pitcher on the team, but the Blue Jays will definitely need to bring in help around him at the deadline if they are looking to compete this year and that may involve moving Romano into more of a fireman role to maximize his value to the team.
- Ryan Pressly pitched for the second game in a row sending the game into extras with a scoreless ninth, but his team didn’t pick him up with a win. He’s been lights out in June along with the rest of the Astros, so he remains a very strong play.
- José Cisnero and Gregory Soto combined for three scoreless innings to close out the game and send the Tigers home with a win for which Soto was credited. The duo has been absolutely dominating in June and have combined for an ERA of 0.77 in 23.2 innings in that stretch. In the absence of Michael Fulmer, look for both to get save opportunities with the slight edge going to Soto.
- Raisel Iglesias recorded the final four outs for the Angels to notch his 13th save. He’s had his struggles this year, but his swinging strike rate is tops among relievers in the MLB and all his underlying numbers point to a dominant second half.
- The Rays bullpen was uncharacteristically hittable today as they gave up four runs over the final three frames to drop the game. Matt Wisler took the loss, but none of the four relievers who saw the mound for the Rays were sharp today.
- Do you hear that? It’s the sound of carnival music as the closer carousel continues to turn in Philadelphia. Archie Bradley bagged his first save of the year, but also allowed a solo bomb to Kevin Pillar and generated zero swings and misses. José Alvarado had problems of his own allowing two hits and a run in the eighth to create a save situation for Bradley. Héctor Neris had worked two straight coming into this one, so it’s not a surprise to see him rested here, but still this bullpen is a mess right now. There may be a solid closer when the dust settles, but you’d be grasping at straws right now.
- The Mets needed bulk relief work from Corey Oswalt and Drew Smith and the pair delivered six scoreless innings to keep the team in the game. Oswalt went a whopping 13/52 (25%) on swinging strikes, but nothing in his track record suggests he could keep that up if given more consistent opportunities.
- With a four-run advantage, there were no holds or saves to go around, but Atlanta used some of its top relievers to close out Cincinatti on Sunday. Will Smith was back to sitting below 92 mph on his fastball after looking like he might have found his velocity again on Friday. Even without his velocity, though, he’s gotten results and he’s done it long enough that maybe we should stop worrying about him sitting 91/92.
- Well, hello Art Warren. This guy has fallen under my radar so far this year and I’m kind of regretting it. He had a 43.8% K-rate and 8.3% BB-rate in AAA and has generated solid results in the majors including a swinging strike rate over 20%. He got six swings and misses on his fastball Sunday and only threw nine of them. In a Reds bullpen that can use all the help it can get right now, I’m buying.
- No holds and saves were awarded to the Nationals since they maintained a four-run lead, but it’s worth noting that Austin Voth took the eighth inning while Tanner Rainey took the seventh. Assuming Daniel Hudson comes back at some point over the next month, does that mean Rainey moves out of holds territory? Boy, I hope so. Has anybody held on to Rainey long enough to care? Boy, I hope not.
- Nothing much to note for the Marlins. Another Sandy Alcantara start, another disappearing act by the offense which has given him two runs of support across his past three starts.
- The Yankees were down big in this game, save for a brief moment in the seventh when the tying run was at the plate. They generally used bulk relievers to just get through this game.
- For just a brief window, the Yankees brought the tying run to the plate and that allowed Garrett Whitlock to earn his sixth hold of the season. He’s been great out of the bullpen in June allowing just one earned run in 13.2 IP and earning three wins.
- Cleveland was down six runs by the end of the fourth inning and used bulk relievers to get through this game. Nothing to note from a fantasy perspective.
- Tyler Duffey hadn’t worked since Tuesday, so the Twins decided to throw him a low-leverage inning here. He wasn’t his sharpest, but that can be forgiven considering the circumstances.
- Kendall Graveman locked down save number seven in the resumed portion of Saturday’s game. His velocity has returned to his pre-COVID levels, but there’s still more hard contact than there was in April and May. He didn’t throw any sliders or generate any whiffs in this one which makes me feel a bit uneasy. Still, it’s a save on the road against a division leader. Just take it.
- Liam Hendriks was looking pretty good, at least his fastball was, but then he hung a slider middle-in to Taylor Trammell and that was all she wrote for the resumed game. These things happen to aggressive relievers and we just have to live with it. He went out and saved the second game of the day (his 20th), so he’s not too broken up about it clearly.
- This was only a five-run game, but it felt like more as both teams were mainly running out guys they hoped would work out at the major league level like Yency Almonte. Is he as bad as his ERA suggests? Absolutely not. Would he be on the major league roster in most organizations right now? Also no.
- Hunter Strickland is already on his third team of the year and it’s not even July. How high can he go?
- David Bednar handled the ninth inning for the Pirates, but received no save as his team was up five. With Sam Howard out, there’s a chance for Bednar to establish himself as the clear top dog once Richard Rodríguez and, potentially, Kyle Crick are gone. He’s still an inexperienced reliever, though, so expect his fair share of volatility even if he assumes the closer role this year.
- Down 5-0 coming out of a long delay, the Cardinals opted to send out bulk relievers and save their top bullpen arms. Nobody fantasy-relevant was used.
- Scott Barlow struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh inning in a losing effort on Sunday. He continued his sparkling performance on the year and now has a 1.91 ERA to go along with two saves, two wins, and 55 strikeouts. Why a guy like Greg Holland is still somehow getting high-leverage innings over a guy like Barlow is beyond me.
- Ian Kennedy locked down his 13th save of the season needing just seven pitches to do so. Spencer Patton earned his second hold. It was Kennedy’s first save since June 4th due to an IL stint and a Rangers drought, but Kennedy seems to be fully back into form and ready to take advantage of the next opportunity afforded him.
- Lou Trivino came in to clean up a mess left by Deolis Guerra, but it unfortunately wasn’t messy enough for Trivino to earn himself a save. He hasn’t allowed a run all month and hasn’t allowed an earned run since May 5th.
- The Giants just seem to be able to churn out quality relievers seemingly out of nowhere. Jimmie Sherfy allowed his first run since being called up June 13th, a span of eight innings. José Álvarez hasn’t allowed a run all month in nine and a third innings of work. Neither of these guys jump off the page at you in terms of stuff, but the Giants just seem to know how to make guys effective this year.
- Matt Peacock earned the loss in relief, his sixth of the year, allowing three earned runs in two innings. A rough month here for Peacock as he fell out of the rotation of the worst team in the league and tallied a total of five losses.
- Another day, another Mark Melancon save. He continues to find success throwing primarily cutters. The only question is, will the Padres do something crazy at the deadline?
- The Rex Brothers combined for two scoreless innings in what was an otherwise lackluster day for the Cubs who gave up six runs in the second inning and never sniffed the lead beyond that. The Brothers are on a bit of a roll having struck out 19 batters in 11 June innings with a 1.64 ERA.
- A gem from Clayton Kershaw prevented the Dodgers from needing more than three outs from their bullpen. Phil Bickford did the honors and he is now unscored upon in his last eight and two thirds innings.
Bullpen Depth Charts