Archive for Fantasy relievers

Plenty of teams are likely to enter 2019 with question marks at the back end of their bullpen, but the Orioles don’t figure to be one of them. Mychal Givens waited his turn to be their closer for three years, and after inheriting the role late in 2018, he did nothing to give new manager Brandon Hyde a reason to demote him.

This is not to say that determining Givens’ value in preparation for draft day will be easy. He compiled a 2.25 ERA and an 0.63 WHIP after becoming the Orioles’ full-time closer, and he could be a valuable fantasy closer if he maintained that role for an entire season. With the Orioles poised to fall out of the AL East race quickly, he would be one of the team’s most sought-after trade targets prior to the trade deadline. Givens would be a great compliment to an incumbent closer on a contending team.
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With New Year’s Day rapidly approaching and Pitchers-and-Catchers-Report Day less than eight weeks away, plenty of closer situations are still in flux. Potential contenders like the Cardinals, Phillies and Twins have reportedly been in the closer market and look like strong candidates to add to the back ends of their bullpens. Rebuilding teams are less likely to do so. If anything, they could be sellers in the coming weeks.

So while teams that are long shots to contend in 2019 may not have their bullpens completely set just yet, they are more likely to ultimately settle their closer situations by turning to in-house options. It is premature to speculate on the value of someone like Jordan Hicks, who could inherit the Cardinals’ closer role, but could also find himself setting up for a free agent signee like Zach Britton. It is not too early, though, to start scoping out the fantasy value of potential closers for non-contenders.
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I’m bending the rules a bit to include Taylor Rogers in our Half Season Heroes series. He spent all of 2018 in the Twins’ bullpen, appearing in 72 games and tossing 68.1 innings. However, he wasn’t really the same pitcher he was in August that he was in April. Rogers did not start throwing a slider until May 31, and two-and-a-half months later, his curveball went from good to nearly unhittable. While Rogers was still a work in progress around the time of the All-Star break, fairly early on in the second half, he had transformed into a dominant reliever — arguably the most dominant reliever in the majors. It’s this version of the lefty who will be the focus of this column.
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An extraordinarily deep and effective bullpen was a key part of the Brewers’ run to the NLCS and coming within a win of going to the World Series. While they got just 20.1 innings from their starting pitchers in their series against the Dodgers, Josh Hader and Corey Knebel each tossed at least seven innings apiece, allowing a combined one run between them.

Jeremy Jeffress was as much a part of that vaunted bullpen throughout the regular season, but he faltered in both the NLCS and the NLDS against the Rockies. Despite collecting 11 strikeouts in eight postseason innings, Jeffress allowed six runs on 16 hits (including two home runs) and four walks.
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