On Sunday, we saw Kenley Jansen and Kyle Gibson in unfamiliar roles, though in neither case was it necessarily a sign of things to come.

Given Jansen’s recent struggles, one could be forgiven for thinking that his appearance in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the Mets on Sunday night could have been the first sign of a demotion from being a full-time closer. He entered the bottom of the eighth inning with the game tied, 2-2, and Jansen kept it that way. He needed only 10 pitches to retire Juan Lagares, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso, finishing up the inning by striking Alonso out on three pitches. In a break from his recent pattern, Jansen showed sharp command and control, demonstrating the latter by throwing six of his ten pitches in the strike zone.
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Down the stretch, we’ll be covering the probable starters and highlighting our favorites to stream as you chase down your fantasy titles. The pitcher in question must be available in 50% or more of leagues according to FantasyPros.com, which combines ESPN and Yahoo! roster rates (sometimes exceptions just over 50% will be mentioned if they are really good and should have a much higher roster rate).

Go Get ‘Em!

Merrill Kelly (10-14, 4.68) vs. CIN | 15%*

For only the second time this season, Kelly has put together three starts in a row with a SwStr% of at least 10 percent. It just so happens that those three most recent starts are the only ones in which Kelly has averaged at least 93 mph in fastball velocity. Across those outings, Kelly has a 3.18 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP to go along with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings. Factor in his .296 wOBA allowed in home starts plus a matchup with a Reds offense that ranks sixth in strikeout rate and 21st in wOBA over the last 30 days, and Kelly stands out as the best starter to add on this slate.
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Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth inning against the Orioles for his 29th save on Thursday night, and it was the sort of uneventful outing that typically only gets a mention in the “Quick Hits” section of this column. Yet it was notable, not for what happened in this particular appearance, but how it fit into a larger trend.

The Dodgers’ closer threw 18 pitches, and only seven of them were in the strike zone. That 38.9 percent Zone% gave Jansen a string of eight outings in which he has recorded a Zone% below 40 percent in all but one appearance. Six of those eight performances have resulted in Jansen throwing no more than one out of every three pitches in the strike zone, and his cumulative Zone% over this eight-inning span is just 29.0 percent. To put this into perspective, no qualified reliever between 2014 and 2018 finished with a rate below 32 percent.
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There is a hitter who has recently worked his way into regular playing time for the Diamondbacks who has a 1.236 OPS over the last 30 days…and he’s owned in fewer than 12 percent of the leagues on ESPN, Yahoo and CBS. Read about this mystery player, as well as other National League hitters seeing changes in playing time just below.

Arizona

Wilmer Flores has emerged as the regular at second base, as he has started six of the last eight games there. That has pushed Eduardo Escobar back making third base his full-time position and Ketel Marte into more starts in center field. Jake Lamb has been the biggest playing time loser, but it has also meant a slight reduction in playing time for Jarrod Dyson and Adam Jones, who are now vying for starts in right field. Flores has earned the more prominent role, as he has gone 24 for 59 (.407) with six home runs since Aug. 14.
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Greg Jewett made a speculative call in Tuesday’s Bullpen Report that doesn’t look so speculative now. He noted how Shaun Anderson has thrived since moving to the bullpen, and given how depleted the Giants’ relief corps is right now, he could see some save opportunities in the former starter’s future. The first of those opportunities came as soon as Tuesday night against the Pirates. With Will Smith (back) still unavailable and Tony Watson (wrist) likely out for the season, Anderson got the call to pitch in the top of the eighth inning with two outs and a 5-4 lead, which had been a 5-0 advantage heading into the inning.

In getting José Osuna to fly out to end the threat in the eighth and pitching a scoreless ninth, Anderson recorded his first career save. With Smith’s return not looking imminent, Anderson and Jandel Gustave, who blew a save chance in Monday night’s series opener, figure to be the primary candidates for save opportunities in the near term.
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This is not the first time that I will be pointing out that Brad Hand has been going through a rough patch in recent weeks, but it is the first time in awhile that there are some encouraging signs to report. Hand’s save against the Twins on Sunday — his 34th of the season — was not entirely without drama, as he put LaMonte Wade Jr. on first base with two outs with a hit-by-pitch and then moved him up to second base with a four-pitch walk to Jonathan Schoop. It took seven pitches, but Hand ended the threat by striking out recently-acquired Ryan LaMarre with a 92.9 mph fastball on the inside edge of the strike zone.

It’s that fastball velocity that should have Hand’s fantasy owners breathing a sigh of relief. He threw 14 fastballs, and they averaged 92.1 mph in velocity. This marks the first time in five appearances that his average fastball velocity exceeded 92 mph. However, only one of his 22 total pitches induced a swinging strike, so there is still some reason for concern. While Hand has held the opposition scoreless in five of his last six outings, his SwStr% over that span is still just 8.5 percent.
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Though each team in the National League has brought their September callups aboard, only a handful of teams are giving even a single newly-added player significant playing time. Here is the rundown of lineup and batting order changes for each team.

Arizona

Josh Rojas has become a regular in the outfield, having started each of the last six games, and he is in the lineup once again for Friday night’s game in Cincinnati. After starting his career off 6 for 33 (.182) with one double, Rojas has since gone 10 for 26 (.385) with two home runs and two doubles.
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On a day that was largely devoid of big bullpen developments on the field, an important move was made off of it. On Thursday, the Cubs placed Craig Kimbrel on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Monday, with right elbow inflammation. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein said that Kimbrel is targeting a return by “the end of next week,” or in other words, not much beyond his eligibility date for activation.

Joe Maddon plans on playing the matchups with save situations while Kimbrel is out. When the Cubs’ closer missed two weeks in August with right knee inflammation, David Phelps, Pedro Strop, Brandon Kintzler, Derek Holland and Rowan Wick all had ninth-inning save opportunities. Each of them could be in the mix this time around, as well as Steve Cishek and Kyle Ryan. Owners should keep tabs on this situation in case Kimbrel’s return is delayed and if someone emerges as a clear primary closing option, but there is no need to pursue one of the potential replacements now.
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For most of the second half, Brad Hand just hasn’t been his usual dominant self, and his problems are getting more acute. Since July 23, the Indians’ closer has a 6.59 ERA, a 2.12 WHIP and an 18.8 percent strikeout rate. Undergirding Hand’s subpar K-rate is an 8.8 percent SwStr%. Until recently, his pitch velocity and movement had been near their normal levels, so there was reason to hope that whatever was hurting Hand’s performance could be easily fixed. However, over his last four outings, his average fastball velocity has been just 91.2 mph, or roughly 2 mph below where it typically had been. The average horizontal movement on Hand’s slider has dipped below five inches in two of his last four appearances, as compared to his season-to-date average of 8.6 inches.

Those changes in Hand’s pitches were not apparent in the results from the first three of those four games. He did not allow a run in any of those performances and gave up only one hit over the three combined innings. On Wednesday night against the White Sox — the fourth of those appearances — things went haywire pretty quickly. Hand started off the top of the ninth inning with an 8-4 lead and began by striking out pinch-hitter Danny Mendick, but that was followed by a Leury García single and a Tim Anderson home run. Now with just a two-run lead, Hand loaded the bases by allowing a single, a walk and then another single. At that point, Terry Francona pulled Hand in favor of Nick Wittgren, who retired Eloy Jiménez and Ryan Goins for his fourth save of the year.
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The Mets’ 11-10 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday night, as heartbreaking as it was, merely reinforced the team’s bullpen hierarchy. Seth Lugo has been used consistently as the closer for the last two-and-a-half weeks (including in the top of the ninth inning in tie games), and he was in line for a two-inning save against the Nationals. He relieved Jacob deGrom in the bottom of the eighth inning after the Mets’ starter gave up a two-run homer to Juan Soto that cut the lead to 5-4, and Lugo retired all three batters he faced. However, when the Mets blew the game open with five runs in the top of the ninth, the save opportunity was gone, and Mickey Callaway opted to let Paul Sewald finish out the game.

In retrospect, it’s easy to say that Callaway should have left Lugo in, as Sewald retired only one of five batters he saw, and he bequeathed a 10-6 lead with runners on first and second base to Luis Avilán. Yet Sewald had been superb since rejoining the Mets from Triple-A Syracuse, allowing one run over 7.1 innings with 13 strikeouts, one walk and four hits allowed. After Sewald departed, Avilán gave up a single to Juan Soto, so Edwin Díaz entered with still only one out and the bases loaded.
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