Bullpen Report: April 20, 2018

With managers relying more on relievers and less on starters last season, and with the emergence of fantasy-relevant non-closers like Chris Devenski, Chad Green and Archie Bradley, fantasy owners have been taking more interest in relievers who aren’t in line to get steady saves. Andrew Miller has long been on the fantasy radar, and he is currently owned in more than 60 percent of ESPN and CBS leagues. However, Bradley and Adam Ottavino are about as popular as some lower-end closers, as both are owned in more than one-third of the leagues on ESPN and CBS. Devenski, Green and Dellin Betances aren’t far behind in popularity.

On Thursday, the season reached its three-week mark, so we are not quite one-eighth through the schedule. In 2017, only five relievers exceeded 80 innings, but so far this season, there are already 43 relievers who have pitched at least 10 innings. Not everyone in this group will keep up this pace, and it’s not hard to imagine that some who stay on this pace will wear down and may even need some DL time.

Though it represents an accelerated pace of innings, the relievers in the 10-plus innings club have still just pitched the rough equivalent of two starts, so all season-to-date stats can’t be taken with too much weight. Still, it’s worth noting that Jeurys Familia is the only one in the group who has yet to allow a run, and that Ottavino and Josh Hader have strikeout rates above 60 percent. Eddie Butler, Austin Pruitt, Adam Cimber and Jesse Chavez all have pitched at least 14 innings in relief already. While it seems unlikely they will stay on a pace to exceed 110 innings, a total of 90 innings at season’s end seems plausible.

Of these four relievers, the Padres’ Cimber has the lowest ERA (1.93), highest strikeout rate (34.6 percent) and lowest walk rate (5.8 percent). If he had these stats as a starter, he would certainly be drawing far more interest from fantasy owners. As it is, he is only owned in two percent of ESPN and CBS leagues. Given his 81 percent contact rate and modest K-rates in the minors, it seems unlikely that Cimber will continue to pile up strikeouts. However, the 27-year-old rookie has a long and consistent history of being a control artist, and his mid-80s sinker has been effective. Cimber just may be able to stay in the neighborhood of his current 60.0 percent ground ball rate.

Fantasy owners have not received much quantity — or quality — from Ken Giles through the first three weeks, and now he is dealing with a tight back. Giles did not get any work in during the Astros’ 9-2 over the Mariners on Thursday, marking the fifth straight game he was not used. He has been dealing with the tightness at least since Monday, and A.J. Hinch told reporters that he had been unavailable for the “last couple days” prior to Thursday’s game. Giles has just one save and two strikeouts over his five innings. While he said he could be available on Friday, it’s not a given that Giles will get the Astros’ next save opportunity. Devenski, who has one more save this season than Giles, is well-rested, and Brad Peacock’s appearance on Thursday was his first in five days.

Quick hits: Brandon Morrow, Aroldis Chapman and Brad Boxberger all notched saves on Thursday. None has yet to blow a save, and they have a dozen saves between them. However, Boxberger has half of those…Greg Holland pitched a scoreless seventh inning against the Cubs with the Cardinals trailing by three runs. He walked Tommy LaStella, which gave Holland his fourth appearance with at least one walk in five tries. He has thrown only 32.9 percent of his pitches in the strike zone this season…Sam Dyson’s appearance against the Diamondbacks on Thursday night was notable, and not just because he faced Jarrod Dyson for only the second time. Prior to this outing, Dyson had not averaged more than 93.2 mph on his fastball in any of his 2018 appearances, but on Thursday, his average fastball velocity shot up to 95.4 mph. Also, if you’re keeping track, Sam retired Jarrod on a groundout, lowering the latter Dyson’s batting average against him to .500.