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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Not a large schedule of games today but a few bullpen bullet points to mull over this evening or in the morning with your coffee…

• Joakim Soria closed his fifth door of the year tonight, pitching a perfect inning against the Yankees. Meanwhile Joe Nathan is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday but will likely “need a simulated game or rehab appearance in the minor leagues to get up to game speed.” So, the same Joe Nathan that was horrible in 2014, horrible in Spring Training and hurt himself immediately upon the start of the season is coming back soon and last we heard he was going to reclaim the job from Soria immediately. I’m tempted to call BS on Ausmus putting Nathan over Soria right away, but we might have to take the manager at his word as he makes the call. However, even if Nathan returns at closer I don’t like his chances of holding it for the rest of the year. Soria is the better option and I’m betting still ends the year with more saves. If Nathan is sitting on the wire, it’s worth picking him up and flipping him if/when he’s the closer again, but other than that hold onto Soria.

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After the Bullpen Report posted last night, Fernando Rodney blew a save against the Dodgers. Given that he allowed four runs and six base runners in his previous outing on Sunday, my baseball writer-heavy Twitter feed was awash with the names Danny Farquhar and Yoervis Medina with the pseudo-hipsters of the group bringing up Carson Smith’s name.

Some seem to think Rodney has already lost the closer’s job or will imminently, while others simply think he won’t last the year with the job. Given that he has 133 saves in the last three years and saved 48 games last year while blowing just two, I’m not as convinced that his job is in much danger. But to get a better idea, I want to take a look at Lloyd McClendon’s history dealing with struggling closers.  Read the rest of this entry »

• As some of you brilliant readers noticed last night, Mark Melancon was missing several mph off of his fastball. While I don’t believe his job is in danger due to performance, his decreased velocity could signal struggles to come, in which case Tony Watson and co. could replace him in the ninth inning. After averaging 92 mph on his fastball last year, Melancon sat at 89 mph last night. That’s obviously not a good sign but doesn’t signal a changing of the guard quite yet. Melancon will have ample opportunity to remain closer but closer monitoring of his velocity, coupled with any struggles could signal a future change.

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Darren rounded up last night’s closer news this morning, I’ll just hit up on what we have seen so far today.

• LaTroy Hawkins‘ recent implosions has led to his removal from the ninth inning in Colorado. According to Walt Weiss, Hawkins is getting a “break” but the feeling here is that it will be an extended one. It’s rare that struggling 42 year old relievers on bad teams lose their job to more talented relievers and get it back. If you’re in a deep, deep league I guess you can hold onto Hawkins, but I think it’s safe to give him the axe.

Adam Ottavino was long expected to fill in for Hawkins at some point this year but it looks as though Rafael Betancourt could have the closing duties for now. Betancourt received the save opportunity today and nailed it, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts in 16 pitches. Adam Ottavino was unavailable to pitch, and is the best reliever in the pen, but after Betancourt’s outing, he should get another chance. This one might be a coin toss with a slight lean towards Betancourt getting the next few opportunities, but both are must owns in all leagues.

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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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Neftali Feliz and LaTroy Hawkins both picked up their first saves of the season last night. Per ESPN’s live draft results, Feliz was drafted as the 25th reliever off the board on average and just inside the top 200 overall. Hawkins was drafted 38th among relievers and went at pick 226 overall. These are a couple of the names you wound up with if you chose not to pay for saves.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I assume the plan if you own guys like Feliz and Hawkins is to ride them out as long as they hold on to the closer’s job and squeeze as many saves out of them as you can. I ascribe to the “don’t pay for saves” philosophy and scrounge around late in drafts and on the waiver wire to acquire my saves. Typically when I get a guy who has the ninth inning job, I ride it out until he loses the job. But it occurs to me, as it may have occurred to you, that maybe it’s better to cash in that asset after a string of un-blown saves. Read the rest of this entry »

There isn’t any particularly breaking news today, but a few important updates on some previous bullet points discussed yesterday.

• Jenrry Mejia had a MRI today and although there was no structural damage, Mejia was placed on the DL with elbow inflammation. Jeurys Familia is the new closer and although a healthy Mejia is the better pitcher, there isn’t a particularly big difference so if Mejia is out for an extended period of time, Familia can hold onto the job. If he falters Carlos Torres and Rafael Montero are right behind him. Mejia can’t throw for at least the next 10 days after which he might feel no pain and be back in the ninth inning before we know it, but it’s still an unknown.

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Opening Day is here and the closer carousel is in full swing.

• Colin touched up on the Craig Kimbrel trade fall out last night and as expected Jason Grilli was tabbed as Kimbrel’s replacement. Grilli threw a perfect inning today with two strikeouts for his first save of the year. Grilli’s fastball topped out at 97 mph today and he was consistently hitting 95 mph which is actually better than in his heyday as the Pirates closer. The options behind Grilli aren’t too appealing so if Grilli pitches reasonably well he should have no problem holding on to the job. Strangely enough, in some sense the better Grilli pitches the worse his job security would be as he would become an intriguing trade commodity for competing teams considering the Braves have clearly played their hand on not competing this season. Either way, I would advise you to run to the waivers to put a claim on Grilli and don’t be afraid to spend a lot of your FAAB budget on him as well.

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It’s still March and the season has yet to start but that doesn’t mean the closer carousel isn’t in full swing. From here on out, as teams whittle down their major league rosters and we get more information on bullpen usage, we will be updating the BR regularly.

• Red Sox closer Koji Uehara has been on the shelf with a hamstring injury lately and it acted up again in a bullpen session Monday. While Uehara’s injury isn’t major, he’s still 39 years old without a clean medical bill. Uehara won’t be out for too long but it’s important to note Uehara said “I don’t know when I’ll be back […] It’s a day-to-day process. I have to do what I have to do to get ready.”  In Uehara’s place, expect Edward Mujica to take over the ninth with a little Junichi Tazawa thrown in. Mujica should now be owned in all leagues, even shallow ones. He can’t be relied upon for particularly strong ratio help or strikeouts, but saves are saves and Mujica will be tallying them in the first month of the season.

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