Bullpen Depth Charts: Relievers To Stream – 8/16

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 an excellent 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

 

• Ten teams have a scheduled day off on Monday and won’t be available for streams. They are: ARI, STL, MIL, WAS, PHI, TEX, SEA, DET, TOR, BOS.
• Both the Rays and Dodgers appear to be preparing for bullpen days against favorable opponents on Monday making the middle of their bullpens a worthy stream. Collin McHugh and Alex Vesia have solid shots of delivering multiple innings with solid ratios and a chance at a win.

 

Transaction and Injury Notes

 

• Milwaukee sent Justin Topa to AAA-Nashville after his disastrous performance on Saturday
• Baltimore designated Adam Plutko for assignment as they start looking at younger arms under team control next year

 

• Tampa Bay sent Louis Head down to AAA-Norfolk in a move that leaves them with 11 pitchers on their active roster. They likely won’t keep that roster construction for very long, but Head must stay in the minors for 10 days. Look for a roster move early in the week activating Nick Anderson from his rehab assignment.
• The Mariners placed Paul Sewald on the restricted list. He was just on paternity leave, but his third and final day was Sunday, so this is likely a move to give Sewald an extra day or two.

 

• Arizona placed Joe Mantiply on the 10-day IL. While it’s not been confirmed, this is likely a contact tracing stint due to Merrill Kelly’s positive COVID test. If so, Mantiply could be back in as little as a few days. Sean Poppen was recalled to take Mantiply’s place on the roster.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

 

• The Reds continue to have success with their closer by committee approach as Mychal Givens earned his third save of the season. Michael Lorenzen earned his fifth hold while Lucas Sims earned his fifth win in relief. The Reds seem to have a really effective pair in Givens and Lorenzen recently and I wouldn’t expect Sims to work his way back into save situations anytime soon.
• Not much to note here on the Philadelphia side except that they elected to use Héctor Neris for the fourth time in five days when they were down two in the top of the eighth. To be fair, his pitch counts were pretty low in his previous three outings, but it still seems like a strange time to ask him to empty the tank.

 

• Will Smith picked up save number 25 for Atlanta with Luke Jackson, Tyler Matzek, and Richard Rodríguez earning holds. These are arguably the top four arms in the Atlanta bullpen and they delivered four scoreless innings to close out a one-run victory. Smith might honestly be the shakiest of them as he’s allowed six walks in his last six appearances and has blown two out of his past five save opportunities.
• A pretty solid showing for a rebuilt Nationals bullpen as they delivered five innings of one-run ball. Mason Thompson, Ryne Harper, and Kyle Finnegan have all settled into their new roles pretty nicely. Finnegan has a chance to provide some value down the stretch.

 

• Would you believe that Josh Hader had recorded one save since July 8th going into Sunday’s action? It was just one save opportunity, too, so it has just been a strange stretch on top of the COVID diagnosis. He seemed just fine, so it’s safe to plan on more than one save over the next five weeks.
• It was a good day for the Pirates’ pen as they delivered four and a third innings of one-hit ball. David Bednar continues cruising, but it just doesn’t look like he’ll be anointed as the closer. Too bad.

 

• Marcos Diplán has allowed just one walk and struck out six in his first six and a third innings in the majors. He was never a big-time prospect, but he was striking out guys at a good clip in AAA this year with a 2.77 FIP. He could be a decent fighter for an Opening Day roster spot next year, but I don’t see any reason at this point to think he’ll be dominant. Then again, a 5.00 ERA might be dominant in a bullpen that has an ERA north of 10 in August.
• Matt Barnes worked a scoreless ninth for Boston in a non-save situation. It was his first work since Tuesday as he tries to put a few rough outings behind him. What are you doing with Garrett Whitlock next year if you’re Boston’s GM? Stretch him out to start? Pencil him in as closer? It’s a good problem to have, but you just have to get this kid in a bigger role, right?

 

• Emmanuel Clase closed out a blowout for Cleveland after not having worked since Tuesday.  A pretty standard maintenance inning.
• You know, credit where credit is due, the Tigers were down 11 after three innings facing a pitcher who had retired nine in a row with five strikeouts and they came out and tied the final six frames 0-0. Did you know they’re only four games under .500?

 

• Lots of new faces in the Cubs bullpen and none of them are doing that well. Both Trevor Megill and Ryan Meisinger are sporting double-digit ERAs on the year, but at least Meisinger has the excuse that it was only his second major league appearance of the year.
• Dylan Floro was called upon again Sunday after nearly blowing the save on Saturday. This time, he came through with his fifth save of the season. Floro has delivered three saves since the trade deadline, but it’s been at the expense of pretty poor ratios. I’d expect that to be the story for the rest of the year for Floro unless the Marlins decide to change course in terms of their bullpen hierarchy. The Marlins do play on Monday, though, and with Floro having gone two days in a row, Anthony Bender likely temporarily steps into the closer’s role.

 

• T.J. McFarland is unscored upon in seven August innings for St. Louis. The back end of the Cardinals bullpen is pretty firmly entrenched, though, so it would take quite a bit more than that to enter him into the holds conversation.
• Seven and two-thirds scoreless innings for this Royals bullpen on Sunday! They do have some nice arms back there including Scott Barlow who got in a maintenance inning in this one. He’d have some value in saves-only leagues if he wasn’t inexplicably sharing duties with Greg Holland.

 

• JT Chargois hasn’t allowed a run in seven and a third innings since joining the Rays. He’s definitely in the conversation for holds going forward even when Nick Anderson returns.
• Alex Colomé notched a scoreless ninth which earned him a win in relief, his third of the year. Well, that’s five saves and a win in seven August appearances for Colomé. He’s kind of forcing our hand here. If you need saves, he’s likely the best option you’re going to find on the wire even if it does turn your stomach a little to trust him again.

 

• Wandy Peralta earned his fourth save of the year and second with the Yankees on Sunday. New York continues to try out a number of people in the ninth with Aroldis Chapman out of commission, so it’s tough to pin down who might get the next chance.
• Ryan Tepera hasn’t lost a step in his move across town as he’s allowed just one run and struck out nine in seven innings with the White Sox. The team hasn’t put the bullpen in many situations requiring saves and holds recently (no team saves in the month of August), but that run will likely end soon and Tepera will likely be able to snag a hold or two, although he’s a few spots down in the hierarchy due to the depth of the White Sox bullpen.

 

• Burch Smith and Jake Diekman did their best to allow Oakland’s offense to pull them back into the game, but it was for naught. They’ve arguably been the best bullpen in the AL since the All-star break despite the name recognition of Chicago. They’ve put up a 2.13 ERA in 80 innings in that time.
• Joe Barlow picked up his second save of the series and the season as he worked around a hit and a walk in the ninth. Spencer Patton worked the eighth and is likely settling into that role for the time being.

 

• Daniel Bard didn’t pitch in this one. That’s all that matters in the Rockies bullpen.
• Jake McGee put up save number 25 while Tyler Rogers earned hold number 21 for the Giants on Sunday. The Giants as a team do pretty much everything well (who would have expected them to lead the league in home runs?), but not blowing leads late is probably the most important of them. McGee and Rogers have been among the most reliable late-inning duos in the majors.

 

• Cristian Javier seems to have settled in well to a multi-inning relief role that doesn’t punish him as much for his lack of a consistent third pitch. He might be an interesting play in points leagues that reward volume that have dedicated RP slots.
• Raisel Iglesias tallied his 26th save of the season recording four outs (three on strikes) and allowing two hits. He’s not been quite as busy in August as he was in July, but he’s been just as effective and remains one of the top closers in baseball.

 

• It was a bullpen game for the best bullpen in baseball by ERA and they didn’t disappoint. Reiss Knehr picked up his first win for the Padres while a handful of holds were handed out as well to Pierce Johnson, Tim Hill, and Daniel Hudson.
• We got our first look at J.B. Wendelken as a Diamondback and he delivered a scoreless top of the seventh. With as much as Arizona’s bullpen has struggled this year, Wendelken could quickly work his way into an important role.

 

• Jordan Romano worked a maintenance inning for the Blue Jays after four days off in a row, but what’s more interesting is that Brad Hand was brought in to work the bottom of the sixth with the Blue Jays up 6-1. Hand wasn’t in need of work to stay fresh as he had just worked on Friday, so his usage here was interesting and could cast doubt on his future role. He hasn’t been terrible since joining the Blue Jays, but he hasn’t been great either. That’s definitely a situation to monitor.
• Nothing interesting happening in the Mariners pen on Sunday as they were playing from behind from the early innings and rested all their top guys.

 

• Position player pitching alert!!! Two of them! Brandon Drury and Kevin Pillar both saw the mound for the Mets in this one and neither of them has any fantasy relevance as a reliever.
• With the game well in hand by the time Max Scherzer left, the Dodgers got to experiment a little and give the ball to some less experienced arms. They have all their top guys fresh and ready for what will likely be a bullpen game on Monday.