Luke Gregerson recently spent close to a week away from his teammates in order to deal with a personal matter, but returned to the hill yesterday in a scoreless inning of work. However, the 31-year-old right-hander once again left the team tonight to deal with an undisclosed personal matter, leaving Chad Qualls to fend off the Blue Jays in the ninth-inning in a save situation. And that he did, on just 12 pitches. Qualls retired Toronto’s 5-6-7 hitters consecutively — two by ground out, one via strikeout — to notch his fourth save in five opportunities this season. Gregerson is expected back with the team tomorrow (Friday, 5/15) and should assume the closer’s role, unless the Astros’ brass decides to provide the righty with an opportunity to get some work in during a lower leverage situation.

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Many fantasy baseball championships are won on draft day. But some fake baseballers are able bring home the bacon with shrewd waiver wire moves and smoothly navigating their league’s settings to identify certain loopholes they can use to their advantage.

In some league variations, owners are have a fixed number of starting and relief roster spots to fill each-and-every day, so identifying lesser-owned hurlers with dual eligibility could be more valuable than most imagine. With that said, here is a short list of arms that said owners could slot into either their starting or relief roster spots in an attempt to gain an advantage in needed categories.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.

Zach McAllister | Indians | 1% Y!
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Andrew Miller worked around a leadoff walk to Steve Pearce — his eighth free pass allowed this season — to remain a perfect 12-for-12 in save chances for the Yankees this season. Following Pearce, Miller sat down three straight Orioles including strikeouts of Ryan Lavarnway and Caleb Joseph to notch the save and secure the 4-3 victory. Dellin Betances also dished a clean frame in today’s contest to maintain his perfect 0.00 ERA (1.30 FIP) in over 16 innings on the bump this season. Miller and Betances are anchoring a Yankees’ bullpen that was tops in the league in strikeouts (107) and fifth-best in ERA (2.19) entering today’s action.
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Welcome back to “Scheming for Relief.” Again this week we’re looking to for a handful of players that you could slot into your relief pitcher slots in holds or solds (saves + holds) leagues, but this week we’re going to dig a little deeper. Knowing that most standard leagues may not value holds or solds (holds + saves), I looked for players owned in one percent or less in both the Yahoo! and ESPN games.

To qualify for the chart relievers needed at least five appearances, at least one hold, a K%-BB% greater or equal to 10%, an ERA under 4.00 and a WHIP under 1.50.

As always, I’ll list ownership in both Yahoo! and ESPN, simply because those are the outlets I frequent the most.

Here’s three of the names that search uncovered that we have yet to speak about and could be available in your leagues:

Evan Scribner | Athletics | 1% Y!, .1% E
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Alright fake baseball folks, this is the late-inning pinch-hit version of the Bullpen Report.

Adam Ottavino landed on the 15-day disabled list three days ago with what the Colorado Rockies referred to as “triceps inflammation.” But on Tuesday, results of an MRI conducted on Ottavino’s pitching arm indicated that the inflammation actually appeared to be closer to his lower arm in the vicinity of his elbow. Ugh. There will be no further speculation or diagnosis by the team until they return from their road trip and the right-hander gets a chance to meet with team doctors on Monday, but Ottavino admitted that “he was worried.”
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The beginning of the fantasy baseball season can be a crucial time for those looking to make adjustments to their teams courtesy of the waiver wire. With that said, we’ll be looking at a few more middle relievers this week that may be on your league’s wire and could be a steady source of holds and strikeouts going forward.

As always, I’ll list ownership in both Yahoo! and ESPN, simply because those are the outlets I frequent the most. Knowing that most standard leagues may not value holds or solds (holds + saves), I looked for players owned in three percent or less of leagues on each aforementioned outlet. Relievers with more than one save, no holds or a K-BB% at zero or in the negative failed to qualify.

Beware of small sample sizes.

Aaron Barrett | Washington Nationals | 2% (Y!), 0% (ESPN)
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At this point, most are aware that Joe Nathan left a rehab appearance yesterday in Toledo after just 10 pitches holding his elbow. And as Colin noted in last evening’s Bullpen Report, Nathan was quoted as saying “he felt like he broke his arm.” The good news for Nathan is that the arm isn’t broken. The bad new for the Tigers’ closer is that he did indeed tear the ulnar collateral ligament and flexor pronator, which will require season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair.
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For the first time in a couple of seasons the San Diego Padres have a healthy Yonder Alonso on their hands. And for the first time in as long as I can remember, the Padres have mortgaged a decent portion of the farm in attempt to win now — or, at least put more of a competitive product on the diamond and around Alonso in the lineup. The former first-rounder’s health along with the idea that these newly acquired stars could be reducing some of the pressure from the Friars’ first baseman could be a recipe for the breakout season we’ve been waiting for.
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Just a couple of newsworthy bullpen tidbits from tonight’s short six-game slate in Major League Baseball…

Up five runs in the final frame, the Twins called on Brian Duensing to close out the Royals in a non-save situation. But after inducing a leadoff flyout off the bat of Alcides Escobar, Duensing surrendered a couple of consecutive doubles and a single that yielded two earned runs before being pulled in favor of closer Glen Perkins. Perkins started his outing with a wild pitch that advanced Eric Hosmer to second base, but induced two infield groundouts to secure his second save of the season and the Twins 8-5 victory over the Royals.
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A new baseball season is upon us, so it’s time to start mining those bullpens in search of middle and late-relief arms that will provide value for those in holds or solds (saves +holds) leagues, as well as those who run out relievers regularly in deeper mixed or “only” formats to pad strikeout or ratio categories.

Just a few quick notes about this column. I’ll typically rotate topics between waiver wire considerations, tiers and tier updates and arms with both starting pitcher and relief pitcher eligibility among others. If there’s anything you’re looking to be covered or have feedback on the column, please drop a note in the comments or hit me up on Twitter.

Lastly, I typically provide two ownership percentages for each player discussed. For the purpose if this column I will note Yahoo! followed by ESPN’s ownership rate, simply because those are the outlets I find myself on the most.

For today I looked for a couple of younger middle relievers that were owned in 2% or less in leagues that could contribute in at least the holds and strikeout categories.

Roberto Osuna | Toronto Blue Jays | 2% (Y!), .2% (E)
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