Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 5/26/23 Depth Chart

Welcome back to the latest edition of our Reliever Ranks series! 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 looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!

 

Notes

 

Transaction and Schedule Notes

 

• It was a busier slate yesterday (10 total games) than we’ve experienced on the past few Thursdays of May.
• The Cubs recalled Javier Assad from Triple-A Iowa and put Nick Burdi on the 15-day DL after he had an emergency appendectomy this week.
• The Rays sent Ben Heller back to Triple-A Durham a day after calling him up and reinstated Jake Diekman from the paternity list. They also recalled Calvin Faucher from Triple-A.
• The Giants agreed to terms with RHP Phoenix Sanders. Sanders appeared in eight games last season with the Rays and has a career 3.07 ERA. This will most likely end up being a totally inconsequential move, but is noted here as that is a cool name!

 

STL 2 – CIN 1

SV: Giovanny Gallegos (5)
HD: Drew VerHagen (6)
L: Lucas Sims (1-1)

• Giovanny Gallegos was given the save opportunity for the Cardinals and locked down his fifth save of the season, despite the fact that Ryan Helsley did not pitch yesterday. Does this represent a shift for St. Louis due to Helsley’s recent struggles? Gallegos (5) and Helsley (6) are now almost evenly split with saves and this is something to watch closely. After Helsley was nearly unhittable with great numbers for fantasy ratios last season, you may want to begin thinking of floating him in a trade offer if you’re looking to fill a need on your roster. Drew VerHagen struck out one and walked two in 0.2 IP to get his sixth hold.
• For the Reds, Lucas Sims received the loss after allowing two earned runs, two hits, and two walks in 1.2 IP. Sims had a rough day with his control which also caused two wild pitches.

TOR 3 – TB 6
SV: Colin Poche (1)

• With Pete Fairbanks having pitched on Tuesday and Thursday, the Rays trotted out Jake Diekman with a 6-1 advantage over the Blue Jays. The lead quickly dissipated as the Rays loaded the bases against Diekman before Colin Poche entered the game. Poche walked Bo Bichette and allowed a sac fly causing two unearned runs to cross, but still locked down his first save of the season.
• Alex Manoah’s struggles continued for the Blue Jays as he only lasted 3.2 innings after allowing four earned runs on five hits and five walks. Trevor Richards relieved Manoah and pitched three perfect innings before Adam Cimber allowed a run in an inning of action. Tim Mayza also appeared for the Jays and threw a scoreless inning.

 

SD 8 – WSH 6

SV: Josh Hader (13)
BS: Nick Martinez (2), Hunter Harvey (4)
HD: Kyle Finnegan (3)
L: Hunter Harvey (2-2)
W: Drew Carlton (1-0)

• In a wild one, Josh Hader nailed down his 13th save of the season in 15 chances and Drew Carlton earned the first win of his career in the Padres victory over the Nationals. After a combined nine appearances over the past two seasons with the Tigers (and in only his second appearance this season with San Diego) Carlton fired a clean eighth inning to earn the victory. Nick Martinez preceded Carlton and blew the save, but Rougned Odor bailed him out with a three-run home run in the ninth inning off Hunter Harvey.
• For the Nationals, Harvey only needed one more out to clinch the save when he served up the home run. Harvey was pitching for the second day in a row after notching his ninth hold of the season on Wednesday. Kyle Finnegan had also pitched on Wednesday, earning his 10th save of the year, but Dave Martinez decided to flip things last night – putting Finnegan in the game in the eighth inning and giving the save chance to Harvey.
• Thaddeus Ward and Mason Thompson also made appearances in the game last night before Harvey and Finnegan entered. Additionally, Carl Edwards Jr. also pitched on Wednesday, so perhaps the flip-flop of roles was just Martinez pulling straws from a limited group of tired arms.

 

PHI 5 – ATL 8

SV: Raisel Iglesias (4)
BS: A.J. Minter (3)
HD: Kirby Yates (3)
L: Gregory Soto (1-4)
W: Nick Anderson (3-0)

• I know this is a pitching article, but the story of this game was Austin Riley. Riley crushed home runs of 459 feet and 458 feet, becoming only the third player since 2015 to hit two 445+ foot home runs in the same game.
• The starting pitchers struggled in this game so both teams were active in the bullpen. For the Phillies, Gregory Soto lost his fourth game after allowing three earned runs in less than an inning of work.
• The Braves first brought in Kirby Yates, who threw a scoreless sixth inning for his third hold, before turning to A.J. Minter in the seventh. Minter’s 2023 season continues to be a season to forget as he blew his third game while his ERA rose to 7.43. Nick Anderson struck out two in the eighth inning and was credited with the win before Raisel Iglesias took the mound in the ninth. Iglesias notched his fourth save after striking out one.

 

BAL 3 – NYY 1

SV: Yennier Cano (4)
HD: Mike Baumann (2)

• Kyle Gibson went seven strong innings giving most of the Baltimore bullpen an off night. Mike Baumann threw a scoreless eighth before Yennier Cano entered in the ninth. Cano was given the save opportunity as Félix Bautista pitched against the Yankees on Wednesday. Cano got his fourth save but did allow his second earned run of the season (with both coming in the past week). His ERA still sits at a fantastic 0.68. He now has four saves and 10 holds on the season,
• The Yankees burned through five relievers (Nick Martinez, Jimmy Cordero, Wandy Peralta, Clay Holmes, and Albert Abreu) after starter Clarke Schmidt departed after the fifth inning. It seems that Michael King and Ron Marinaccio would be the logical candidates for save/hold action on Friday, but this would be something to monitor heading into the weekend.

 

Best of the rest

 

• Pierce Johnson nearly threw the game away for Colorado when he gave up four earned runs on home runs to Jorge Soler and Garrett Cooper in the ninth inning. However, Brett Suter earned his third win of the season by throwing quick five pitches to get the final out as the Rockies held on to beat the Marlins 7-6.
• Gregory Santos was the only White Sox pitcher to not allow a run against the Tigers as starter Lucas Giolito was knocked around for four earned runs, Garrett Crochet walked four batters in 1.2 IP and Aaron was a Bummer as he allowed two additional runs. José Cisnero and Jason Foley earned holds with scoreless outings for Detroit.
• Paul Sewald now has 11 saves for Seattle after pitching a perfect inning in the Mariners 3-2 victory over the lowly A’s. For Oakland, Trevor May blew his second save and Richard Lovelady fell to 0-3 on the year as luck hasn’t been his lady despite a solid 2.51 ERA and 1.05 WHIP.
• Sean Manaea earned the first hold of his career after pitching 1.1 innings of relief during a scripted bullpen game for the Giants against the Brewers. Tyler Rogers also picked up a hold, his 10th of the season, while Jakob Junis won the game and now sits at 3-2.

 

Bullpen Depth Charts

Also, if you’re looking for a detailed list or ranking of RPs, check out Rick Graham’s weekly pieces:

The Hold Up: Ranking the Top 100 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday

Closing Time: Ranking the Top 30 Closers

Top 100 Relievers for Save+Hold Leagues

 

(Photos by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Doug Carlin (@Bdougals on Twitter)