Archive for Braves

The emergence of Gerrit Cole as a top-10 starting pitcher and top-three pitcher for strikeouts was one of the more notable developments in fantasy in 2018. As unexpected as Cole’s emergence may have been, he did have a history of being an above-average strikeout pitcher, particularly in his second and third season with the Pirates. Just as noteworthy was a cohort of starters who catapulted themselves well above the major league norm for strikeout rate after having been average or below-average strikeout pitchers prior to this past season.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Hot Stove Season has not really begun in earnest yet, but with the Nationals reaching an agreement with Kurt Suzuki on a two-year deal on Monday morning, we have our first fantasy-relevant player movement since the five-player swap between the Mariners and Rays back on Nov. 8. The move could bode well for Suzuki’s value in 2019, as he currently has less competition for playing time in Washington than he did in Atlanta. Reportedly, his deal will pay him $10 million over the two years, so it is conceivable that the Nationals could have the resources to dip back into the catcher market for more help.
Read the rest of this entry »

Although most of the focus within this column caters to the saves chasers, with just over a week remaining in the season, teams will need to protect ratios as well. Owners of Josh Hader realize this through the value he provides in strikeouts and his ERA which dropped below two last night along with his 0.74 WHIP in 77 innings this season. Hader’s been a heater but his consecutive strikeout streak ended on Friday when Colin Moran lifted a pop fly to left field caught by Christian Yelich. However, Hader recorded 16 straight outs via strikeout over five outings to set a major league record. He also set a record for all southpaw relievers for strikeouts in a season with 136 so far with a chance to add to this in Milwaukee’s last eight contests. In September, Hader’s registered a strikeout minus walk percentage of 60, produced a 24.2 swinging strike percentage and allowed only 54.4 contact through 10 innings with a ridiculous 23:2 K:BB with a 0.50 WHIP. A different southpaw remains on the waiver wire in many leagues due to his lack of saves production, but Taylor Rogers extended his scoreless streak to 23.1 innings in Oakland last night. Since July 30th, spanning 25 games, Rogers has faced 80 hitters giving up only nine hits and three walks with 27 strikeouts. Yes, saves matter, but so do southpaws like these two who can ratio erasers to preserve spots in the standings. Read the rest of this entry »

With Hurricane Florence nearing landfall, please be safe if in its path. Bullpens continue to be volatile as the season approaches the final 16 games for most teams. Some good news regarding the return of injured relievers Aroldis Chapman and Brandon Morrow could cheer up their owners, but in varying degrees. Chapman threw an encouraging side session according to reports detailed in this article by Bryan Hoch. With the Yankees heading home, Chapman will meet the team to throw another side session and the simulated game hoping to return to action next week. This would allow the Yankees to reset their bullpen hierarchy and return Dellin Betances to the eighth inning where he dominates. Stay tuned. As for Morrow, he threw 35 pitches in a bullpen session and details it in this video courtesy of Jessie Rogers. Given the delay in Morrow’s return along with how well Pedro Strop’s pitched, there’s no guarantee Morrow would return to the ninth inning if he makes it back.

One day after recording his first major league save, Yoshihisa Hirano allowed a two-run walk-off home run to D.J. LeMahieu. Baseball’s an unforgiving game. This snapped Hirano’s eight game scoreless streak and became the first earned runs he’s yielded since August 21st. On a positive note, it seems as though Hirano’s the new preferred option in Arizona’s fluid bullpen, so he should bounce back from this outing. Hirano does not own any glaring splits within his batted ball profile, just the occasional gopher ball which occurred in Colorado last night. He’s working in a setup role, but Brad Ziegler did secure his seventh hold with Arizona last night. Ziegler’s been scoreless his last eight (6.2 innings) and owns a 1.31 ERA his last 20 appearances.

Save number eight for Jose Alvarado in a clean outing with two strikeouts. Alvarado’s given up only one hit his last 12 games (9.2 innings) with 16 strikeouts versus only three walks. In the second half, Alvarado’s worked 20.2 innings with a 1.30 ERA and has a 1.14 ERA over his last 37 contests dating back to June 12th. While our chart will still consider this a committee, Sergio Romo’s only pitched once over the last 15 games for Tampa Bay. It’s probably too late to handcuff Romo with Alvarado, but keeper league owners and those preparing for drafts next season should not ignore Alvarado’s recent surge in performance.

Not akin, but worth noting, Atlanta used Jonny Venters for the save on Wednesday despite A.J. Minter’s last outing being on Monday. Minter’s been battling back soreness and may not have been available, so his owners should track this closely. As for Venters, he remains one of the best comeback stories of 2018 notching his third save of the year, and second since joining the Braves with a 1.66 ERA in 20 games. Dan Winkler garnered the win in relief walking one and striking out one.

After intimating a committee in Minnesota following the Fernando Rodney trade, it’s been Trevor Hildenberger working as the primary closing option. Hildenberger notched his sixth save last night giving up a hit and striking out during a 1.1 inning appearance. He’s been scoreless his last seven games and converted six straight save chances. Teammate Taylor Rogers struck out the only batter he faced extending his scoreless streak to 19.2 innings spanning 18 games. During his streak, Rogers has seven holds, two saves and 18 strikeouts.

Former Twins reliever, Ryan Pressly, recorded his first save with Houston firing a clean ninth inning with a strikeout. Flying below the radar due to Roberto Osuna’s arrival, Pressly’s been scoreless his last 15 outings with a win, seven holds and this save in them. As an Astro, Pressly owns an impressive 0.96 ERA, 1.50 FIP, 0.54 WHIP, 25:1 K:BB, 59 percent ground ball rate, a swinging strike percentage of 16.9 and 64.1 percent contact allowed. If anything were to happen with Osuna in the future, keep Pressly in the memory bank.

In a pivotal match-up with the Cubs, the Brewers bullpen thrived on Wednesday night. Corey Knebel allowed his first hit since his recall on September second but struck out two in 1.1 innings of work. Knebel’s retired 20 of 21 hitters faced over his last six outings with 12 strikeouts. Josh Hader did yield a hit while striking out the side. He faced 10 hitters in three innings in Chicago with nine strikeouts and raised his season total to 130 strikeouts in 74.2 innings. For perspective, Jake Arrieta has 127 strikeouts in 159.2 innings this year. Jeremy Jeffress did not get a save chance when Milwaukee added to its lead in the ninth inning, but he did throw a clean ninth with a strikeout as he remains entrenched as the primary closer in a surging bullpen.

Quick Hits: A return to action for Kenley Jansen, a clean inning with a strikeout. It’s been a week since he pitched in a live game and has been scoreless his last five appearances with six strikeouts.

A much needed scoreless outing by Shane Greene with only a walk against him. Greene’s struggled of late giving up runs in three of his last five contests.

Felipe Vazquez held on for his 22nd consecutive save, and 32nd of the season, allowing three hits, an earned run and striking out two in St. Louis. Vazquez now owns the longest save streak in the National League this year, breaking a tie with Jansen, and owns a 1.36 ERA over his last 39.2 innings with 56 strikeouts.

Once again, a non-save appearance for Will Smith and he yielded two hits and an earned run to take the loss. This snaps a four game scoreless streak for Smith who lacks a save in September.

Save number nine for Kirby Yates despite giving up two hits, including a home run, with a strikeout. Yates has converted nine of 10 save chances since the Brad Hand trade, including his last four in a row. Hopefully he will be able to mitigate the gopher ball which plagued him in late August.

While Boston continues to audition pitchers for the eighth inning, Craig Kimbrel’s rounding into form. Kimbrel notched his 39th save and has only allowed one hit over his last eight appearances (31 total batters faced). He’s only given up one run over his last nine games and struck out 25 in his last 13 appearances.

Benefiting from Hirano’s walk-off home run, Wade Davis won his third decision of the year throwing a clean ninth inning with two strikeouts. Davis has only yielded one earned run his last 12 games on five hits and two walks with 17 strikeouts.

Still no clarity in the White Sox bullpen but, Hector Santiago recorded his second save in extra innings. Juan Minaya gets his second win working two innings giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Ian Hamilton pitched a clean eighth inning and Jace Fry struck out two in the ninth. It seems like they prefer Minaya’s ability to work multiple innings, so hone in on the Hamilton to Fry bridge but nothing’s guaranteed with this bullpen.

Thursday’s slate was short on games — just four of them — but it was not totally devoid of closer developments. Two of the contests went to extra innings, and in the case of the Braves-Diamondbacks game, closer failure played a role in the game going beyond regulation. The Braves rolled into the bottom of the ninth inning with a 6-4 lead, but Brian Snitker did not have A.J. Minter to close out the game, since he had thrown 36 pitches in Wednesday’s loss to the Red Sox. Instead, Snitker turned to Jesse Biddle, who entered with a streak of nine straight appearances without an earned run, covering 8.1 innings.
Read the rest of this entry »

In what seems like the most volatile August in recent memory for closers, the attrition continues with Aroldis Chapman officially landing on the 10-day disabled list due to tendinitis in his knee. Luckily for the Yankees, their full stable of veteran pitchers stocked with closing experience along with the “Terminator” in the eighth, Dellin Betances should be able to survive Chapman’s absence and allow him to rest his knee, an injury which dates back to May. Due to the Yankees loss last night, there’s no clear blueprint to how Aaron Boone will handle high leverage going forward, but according to this tweet, plan on David Robertson (135 career saves) and Zach Britton (139 career saves) to be in the mix with Dellin Betances (32 career saves):

Boone said Yankees will “mix and match” with Britton, Robertson and Betances when it comes to closing games. With a deep and versatile pen, Boone feels Yanks are “equipped” to handle Chapman’s DL stint.

— JackCurryYES (@JackCurryYES) August 22, 2018

Recent usage suggests Boone may prefer to keep Betances in the eighth inning where he’s been a dominant force of late recording at least one strikeout in 31 straight games fueling his 0.58 ERA over his last 32 outings with 53 strikeouts. Robertson’s nursing a sore shoulder, which allowed Tommy Kahnle to record the save on Tuesday, but should be available going forward. Look for the Yankees to mix and match the ninth inning with the two veterans with “closing experience” while Chapman tries to get healthy.

It’s tough to pile on a struggling pitcher, especially one returning from an irregular heartbeat and the birth of his child, but Kenley Jansen suffered his second loss in the span of three days allowing three hits, two earned runs (on a home run by Paul DeJong) and struck out one during his appearance Wednesday night. Jansen’s given up home runs in back-to-back appearances twice this season after only doing so once his prior eight seasons. Also, Jansen’s served up nine home runs in 2018 in 56.1 innings which matches his total from the previous two in 137 innings. With the velocity and effectiveness of his cutter vacillating this season, Jansen’s struggles exposes the entire Dodgers bullpen. During the second half, Jansen’s saved five games with the two recent losses, produced a 4.50 ERA in nine games with a 5.96 FIP but 15 strikeouts against two walks with a 1.20 WHIP. His 33.3 home run per fly ball rate should stabilize but only if the 44 percent hard hit percentage subsides. It’s a tenuous time to own Jansen, in fantasy and real life.

Looking past the hot start of Seranthony Dominguez could be tough to do. However, his sluggish second half suggests fantasy owners may need to bench him if the home runs persist. Dominguez started his save chance looking strong recording outs against the first two hitters he faced. Then, Dominguez could not bury a slider enough to get Juan Soto to swing and miss resulting in a foul ball. Soto then hit the next pitch down the line for a double leading to Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off two run home run. Dominguez battled control issues last in July but has not walked a batter in August instead, he’s served up three home runs leading to five earned runs allowed. Like Jansen, Dominguez has seen his home run per fly ball spike since the break to 27.3 percent, his hard hit rate to 37 percent while getting fewer swings and misses (11.7 swinging strike percentage). This equates to Dominguez 6.10 ERA, 6.74 FIP and 1.65 WHIP in the second half. If he can get the movement back on his slider, Dominguez could bounce back, but stashing Pat Neshek (three saves already this season) may be a good idea with the team needing to convert every win possible. Stay tuned.

Although A.J. Minter threw a positive side session on Wednesday, and being available on Wednesday night, manager Brian Snitker wanted to provide him with one more day of rest to get Minter’s back healthy. Jonny Venters notched his second save of the season, and first since May 28th with Tampa Bay, allowing a hit with a strikeout in Pittsburgh. Venters has been terrific since joining the Braves with 8.2 scoreless innings along with three holds and a save his last four appearances. Minter owners can breathe a sigh of relief knowing he will be back in the saddle as the closer going forward.

Owning Robert Gsellman for fantasy must be frustrating. On the one hand, he’s in the midst of a 10.2 inning scoreless streak spanning nine games and struck out two batters in a clean eighth inning last night. However, during this streak, Gsellman’s recorded only two saves with three holds. In the eighth inning, the Mets used Gsellman to work the highest leverage inning remaining facing Buster Posey, Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria. Then, Mickey Callaway cobbled together the ninth inning using Daniel Zamora to strikeout Brandon Crawford and Paul Sewald for the last two outs resulting in his first career save. The good news, Gsellman’s remains Callaway’s most trusted reliever, the bad news, he’s the primary closer but will face teams best hitters when necessary to preserve a win.

Perhaps a sneak preview of coming events for the Astros? Roberto Osuna notched his first save with Houston in a clean ninth inning striking out one in Seattle. One day after the team hinted Osuna’s the primary closer going forward. This marks his first save since May sixth and fantasy owners should act accordingly, but keep in mind A.J. Hinch will play match-ups as well, so as Al Melchior suggested yesterday, cutting Hector Rondon in all formats could be a mistake in leagues where every save matters. Rondon’s converted 14 of his last 17 save chances and could pitch the ninth as he did on Tuesday.

Quick Hits: It appears the Brewers have reverted back to their shared ninth inning duties when Corey Knebel landed on the disabled list with Jeremy Jeffress and Josh Hader sharing the work. Jeffress converted his fifth save striking out one in 1.1 innings on Wednesday.

As the White Sox bullpen turns landed on Juan Minaya pitching 1.2 scoreless innings giving up two hits and Hector Santiago in the ninth allowing a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Still leaning Jace Fry here for the next save, but it’s a mystery.

Jose LeClerc continues to thrive as the closer in Texas. He notched his sixth save despite walking two hitters with two strikeouts. LeClerc’s reeled off 11 straight scoreless outings and owns a 0.79 ERA his last 23 games. Over his last nine games, LeClerc’s held hitters to two hits in 29 at-bats, walked three and struck out 17 converting all six saves and finishing each of the Rangers’ seven wins in this stretch.

Working in a non-save outing, Felipe Vazauez struck out one in a clean ninth. He’s saved 17 in a row and struck out 40 his last 25 innings with a 0.74 ERA his last 24.1 innings.

Sergio Romo saved his 18th game allowing two hits but no runs. Romo’s converted his last five saves and been scoreless his last six. Scouts continue to watch him and Romo could be a waiver deadline trade to a contender. If this happens, stash Jose Alvarado now where available. Alvarado retired the only hitter he faced via strikeout and has struck out seven of the last 12 he’s faced.

Since Bud Norris pitched the two previous games, Jordan Hicks recorded his fifth save striking out the side in Los Angeles. He’s back to striking out hitters with six his last two outings and Hicks along with Dakota Hudson continue to provide depth in the bullpen for the Cardinals.

One injury update. Brandon Morrow continues to target September for a return but reports suggest it’s realistic and optimistic? Morrow’s been on the disabled list since Juley 18th and will undergo further testing on Friday for a clearer picture on how to proceed with his rehab and perhaps a timetable will emerge then.

After more than a month of not getting many swings and misses and getting dealt a pair of blown saves in the last two weeks, it seemed like Hector Rondon’s days as the Astros’ closer were numbered, particularly in light of the deadline deal that brought Roberto Osuna over from the Blue Jays. On Tuesday morning, A.J. Hinch announced that, indeed, Rondon was out as the team’s primary closer and that Osuna was in.

Hinch was quick to add, however, that Osuna could still occasionally pitch in situations prior to the ninth inning, and one of those occasions arose on Tuesday night. He called for Osuna to warm up in the seventh inning with the top of the Mariners’ order due up, and while the former Blue Jay was not used then, he did come out to pitch the eighth inning with a two-run lead. Osuna did get all three outs by way of strikeouts, but he also allowed three singles, the last of which drove in Denard Span to cut the lead down to 3-2. For at least one night, Rondon got to stay in his accustomed role, closing out the Mariners on nine pitches.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re noting a greater sense of urgency in this week’s Two Good Starts, Two Bad Starts, that’s because it features a pair of pitchers set to make their next starts in mere hours upon publication of this piece. Many owners will have likely been anticipating Kevin Gausman’s Tuesday night start, as he is among the most-added pitchers in ESPN and CBS leagues. After a mediocre Braves debut back on Aug. 4, Gausman responded with two much better starts. While that may have been reason enough to pick him up, is it reason enough to start him right away?

Fantasy owners have not been holding Jose Berrios‘ two-game slump against him, as the vast majority of his owners (at least in CBS and Fantrax leagues) have him active — quite likely for his scheduled two-start week. An analysis into his recent starts will help us to see if that looks like the right call.
Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a fine line between stubborn and obstinate, and Bud Black seemingly walks it each year with struggling closers. It’s encouraging to see he trusts his ninth inning arm, but in the midst of a playoff chase, can he afford to keep providing save chances to Wade Davis? Davis blew his second straight save on Friday night in Milwaukee culminating on a three-run walk-off home run by Eric Thames. With the knowledge Davis converted 11 straight saves prior to these implosions, one can make the case for Black to stand by his man. However, Davis has blown six saves this year and giving up wins in the spotlight applies more pressure to his now tenuous hold on the closer role. Especially with Adam Ottavino thriving in the eighth inning.

Colorado could give Davis a couple of mental days off or let him work in lower leverage for an outing or two to get him back on track without removing him from his present role. On the surface, he’s giving up eight percent more contact, to be expected with half of his games in Coors, and generating fewer swinging strikes (down five percent compared to last year). During the last 30 days, Davis has pitched in 12 games (11.1 innings) with a 12:5 K:BB, 7.94 ERA, 4.67 FIP and 1.24 WHIP. Hardly inspiring. Ottavino’s not allowed an earned run over his last 14 outings (15 innings) and secured his last three saves along with eight straight holds since June 28th. Suggesting a change from the outside looking in can be easy, seeing how the Rockies respond to Davis’ recent struggles remains to be seen. Read the rest of this entry »

Brad Brach’s most recent reign as the Orioles’ closer came to an end after just five days, as they traded him on Sunday to the Braves for $250,000 in international slot money. It is not yet clear what role Brach will fill with the Braves, though given how well A.J. Minter has settled into the closer’s role, he appears to be destined for work in the seventh and/or eighth innings.

With Brach and Zach Britton both gone, Mychal Givens would be the obvious heir apparent to the closer’s role in Baltimore, though his tenure could be shorter than Brach’s. Givens, too, has been the subject of trade rumors. Earlier in the month, he had been tied to the Indians, and more recently, he has been floated as a possibility for the Pirates.
Read the rest of this entry »