Notes
- A.J. Puk may not be closing out games for the Athletics the rest of the way, but he has remained in the mix for holds. However, since August, Puk has scuffled a bit with an ERA of 6.00 and WHIP of 1.44 but he does have a K rate of 30.1% over those 18 innings. Domingo Acevedo remains the preferred reliever to roster here the rest of the way.
- After it looked like Kyle Finnegan may lose the closer role a week ago, he’s gone on to close out 3 games, and has 8 K’s over his last three outings while allowing just one earned run. This late in the season and with nothing to play for, the Nationals may as well just finish with Finnegan as their closer, especially given they don’t have a great alternative.
- We still don’t have much clarity as to who the Red Sox closer is at the moment, as Matt Strahm and John Schreiber have close out games since Matt Barnes last save on September 11th. Barnes has pitched fairly well since returning from the IL in August (outside of his 8/30 appearance against the Twins) and could still be in the mix to close out games next season.
- Domingo Acevedo, Scott Alexander, Kenley Jansen, A.J. Minter and A.J. Puk each had 3 SV+HLD’s this past week to lead all relievers. Alexander now has 6 SV+HLD’s over the past two weeks and still doesn’t make the list although perhaps he should as the Giants get the Diamondbacks and Rockies at home next week. If you need to strictly chase SV+HLD’s next week, he may be worth a look but I’m don’t think I’d add him in head to head matchups.
Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)