Bullpen Chart
Below, you’ll find bullpen charts for each team. Bullpens are a messy business to track, but the purpose here is to highlight each team’s closer(s) and setup men. Middle and long relief pitchers will not be listed. You can more or less expect the chart to read left-to-right in order of importance, but again, it can be a fluid situation day-to-day, week-to-week (looking at you, Tampa Bay Rays!). So, not only are we highlighting saves options, we’ve got you saves+holds folks covered, too!
For stats/rankings/projections, see all the fun links below.
Please note: For injuries, I will only be listing lengthier ones. Quick stints on the COVID-IL, bereavement leave, etc. will be ignored.
Check out the Player Rater and filter by “RP” to see rankings!
Check out Season, Last 7 Days, and Last 30 Days stats pages and filter by “RP” to see stats!
Subscribers: Check out the Relievonator for today/tomorrow projections!
* denotes LHP
| AL West | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closer | Setup | Setup | Injured | |
| Angels | Carlos Estevez | Ryan Tepera | *Matt Moore | |
| Astros | Ryan Pressly | Rafael Montero | Bryan Abreu | |
| Athletics | Trevor May | Zach Jackson | *Sam Moll |
|
| Mariners | Paul Sewald | Diego Castillo | Penn Murfee | |
| Rangers | Jose Leclerc | Jonathan Hernandez | *Will Smith | |
| AL Central | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closer | Setup | Setup | Injured | |
| Guardians | Emmanuel Clase | James Karinchak | Trevor Stephan | *Sam Hentges |
| Royals | Scott Barlow | Dylan Coleman | Taylor Clarke | |
| Tigers | Alex Lange | Jose Cisnero | Will Vest | |
| Twins | Jorge Lopez | Griffin Jax | *Caleb Thielbar | |
| White Sox | Kendall Graveman | *Aaron Bummer | Joe Kelly | Liam Hendriks |
| NL East | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closer | Setup | Setup | Injured | |
| Braves | *A.J. Minter | Joe Jimenez |
|
Raisel Iglesias |
| Marlins |
|
*Steven Okert | Matt Barnes | Anthony Bender |
| Mets | David Robertson | Adam Ottavino | *Brooks Raley | Edwin Diaz |
| Nationals | Kyle Finnegan | Carl Edwards Jr. | Hunter Harvey | Tanner Rainey |
| Phillies | Craig Kimbrel | *Gregory Soto | Andrew Bellatti | |
I’m waiting for the Holds Chart Thread. Do you know when is it gonna be up? Thanks in advance. :)
Thank you for doing this chart.
I’m thinking of joining a 12 team saves/holds league for the first time. Can you give me your thoughts on when to draft a relief pitcher? It seems that closers won’t go as early in drafts with each MLB team having a “holds” guy as well. The league rules are 9 pitchers active for each week so would it be 6 SP’s and 3 RP’s or 7&2? I could be totally wrong on my thinking, please pass along the strategy of drafting a pitching staff. Thanks again.
Hey Pack (can I call you Pack?),
I’m always a bats-early type of drafter, though I do like a starting arm by round 5 probably. Kind of just depends how the draft is going and all that.
Is this a league with SVHD as a category or separate SV and HD categories? If it’s the former, you can wait on RP for a good while, cuz that just broadens the field considerably. If it’s the latter, then that changes things a little. I do like the idea of securing a top closer or two as opposed to just “guys in the mix.” I’m not against paying a single-digit round price for a Helsley or a Williams or a Romano. My usual strategy is to grab one of those types then wait til the end for a couple speculative types, like Herget or Hughes or Graveman this year.
On the other hand, you can just outright punt RP if you want. Slot RP-eligible starters in there. If it’s a points league, I wouldn’t recommend that, cuz a steady stream of saves/holds will add up. If it’s cats or roto, you can straight punt if you like.
Pack is fine…..lol
It’s a roto league, 12 teams, save/holds is one category.
So you are saying the draft strategy would be to get an established closer then I can wait for further closers and hold guys?
It’s a pretty hefty entry fee so I want to enter but have never played SVHD cat before. There is FAAB so there is always that too.
I draft bats first as you said so that doesn’t change.
Roto is a bit different beast, so I still like to get at least one of the elite-er guys cuz they help keep your ERA, WHIP, K, etc. in check. I bet you see Diaz and Clase go in like R3 or R4 at the latest. Don’t think you need to go paying that, especially in SVHD. But a Helsley, Doval, [Scott] Barlow, Bednar type…they’re going later and should still give good coverage across the board.
So yeah, my advice would be to grab one of those later guys in R7 or R8, just depending on if there’s been The RP Run in your draft yet (seems like all drafts have one), and then wait a bit more for a Leclerc, Sewald, Munoz, Fairbanks type. Those guys are high-upside but a tad volatile cuz they aren’t 100% closers and/or consistent and/or are injury risks.
Also, setup guys always come out of nowhere. There will be gems on the wire throughout the season.
So to sum up: secure a very good closer/setup man like Helsley, Barlow, Duran, Bautista, Bednar, etc. a tad earlier, then fill in with Jose Leclerc, Alexis Diaz, Jorge Lopez, Seranthony Dominguez, Alex Lange etc. types later. And keep an eye on the wire for guys rising to higher-leverage situations. My weekly SAGNOF Bullpen Report will do its best to highlight guys like that!
Great, thank you. I think I’ll give it a shot.
The baseball season is such a grind and you can tell when some fantasy players in the league take a week off or more. Gives us guys who stick it out a better chance for key pick ups on the wire.
Thanks JKJ!
Will look do Deal Bautista.
Have Helsley(10) and Bautista(10) and Bednar(4) I know keeping closers is not usually wise. Would you keep Severino(10) or Luis Garcia (5) or Pablo Lopez(6)
or Gleyber(10) over any of these closers?
Standard 5×5 $260
9 keepers
Hey Eric,
With the way saves are these days, I’m not against keeping the elites. Helsley and Bednar both qualify in my book. Wouldn’t keep Bautista even with how impressive he was. I’ll ping Blair, our resident SP expert, to chime in on which arm to keep over Bautista, but my call would be PabLo.
I would keep a wild raccoon in my bathroom over keeping a closer.
With 9 keepers per team I imagine others will be doing the same. I say keep them saves lest you spend the season scraping the wire and lamenting what you could have held onto!
Haha
Reyes is being stretched out as a starter, to take Carlos Martinez’ spot in the rotation. I suppose it’s possible they leave him in a setup role, which would probably be their wisest decision. But Mozeliak has publicly stated their intentions to put him in the rotation.
Do you really see Puk filling a legit role this year? Deciding whether to keep him or not in an 18 team dynasty league.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
I’ll say first and foremost I don’t trust him to stay healthy. That aside, I think he could be a kickass fireman type RP if they want to use him that way. A Tejay Antone clone perhaps.
They also could just sign a guy or two and fatten up that pen, cuz it suuucks right now.
I’d call Puk a tentative hold at the moment. Pun intended.
Oh! Forgot I have Ken Giles $10 on my roster as well! So that’s FIVE “sort-of” closers. Yeah, bullpen pain indeed.
Giles is too risky for me to spend a keeper on. Just get him back in draft if you can.
As things stand right now, I might only keep Barlow and Rogers given they’re the surest bets of that crop. I don’t trust Soto very much, and while I love Sewald, I can’t trust him either for steady saves.
Thanks very much, JKJ!
I totally agree about Giles, and that Barlow and Rogers are the best bets – it makes me feel better to get some confirmation from you, so thank you!
I do worry about Rogers being a FA after this year and may well be trade bait at some point, I’d guess. And MIN seems to like a committee. But Rogers is pretty damn good while it lasts, certainly worth $6.
Barlow does seem like a decent bet to keep his job, and the Royals are up and coming.
Soto is on another team whose mgr doesn’t seem to have an exclusive closer. His poor command scares me, and he has Fulmer and Lange breathing down his neck. But he’s cheap at $7, so IF I keep 3, he’d be the third.
Sewald was insanely great last year.10W, 10SV, 104K, 3.06/1.02!! But he’s also got terrific competition between Castillo, Steckenrider, Giles and Andres Munoz, and Sewald came out of nowhere – was he a flash in the pan? So yeah, I’ll toss him back and hope to get him again for $5 or so.
Sounds like a plan!
I’m in an AL-only keeper leagues, and I have too many keepers. If I can only keep 2 or 3 of these four, which ones would you suggest?
Taylor Rogers $6
Gregory Soto $7
Scott Barlow $10
Paul Sewald $10
Thank you for your thoughts!
If healthy Ken Gils does not close?
I see your reply below. Thanks
I’d guess Ken Giles does close…JKJ what is the meaning of this?!
Let me go ask my Mariners sources…oh wait I don’t have any — I’m just a freelance bullpen nerd. SORRY.
It’s very possible he does. Maybe even likely. I’m taking the conservative approach for now.
put on your big boy pants and do some big boy ranks! (I really think Giles is in the lead if he’s healthy, which he should be, but just my two cents)
Yes, sir! I have a draft of ranks already in the works, sir!!!
Thanks JKJ!
You bet! Very excited to be covering bullpens and not injuries this year haha.
JKJ! Loving your first baseball post for 2022, for the newly flavored site. This is something that will likely make or break my teams this year.
Looking forward to all the help you, Grey, and the whole gang will be providing me this year.
Jolt
Yay! More to come soon. Got RP ranks on the way.
It’s weird how happy it makes me to see this, knowing each of these guys will cause me so much agony
Ain’t no pain like bullpen pain.
Ha, I was thinking the same thing! Great write up JKJ — this really does make me smile at the promise ahead, and want to cry at my future suffering at the same time. After swearing I wouldn’t touch the Reds or Orioles bullpens this year under any circumstances, I already have shares of both Sims and Sulser and it’s still the middle of January, sigh… they were both so good over the last month of the season that I couldn’t resist. And don’t get me started about the aneurysm I feel like I’m going to have when I try to figure out who’s gonna end up closing in SD…
Should be so much fun!!
I’m not very confident in any of those SD guys tbh. Maybe they sign Jansen or something.
Love the chart. I look forward to referring to it often. Obviously, Kimbrell getting traded and Kenley signing will change things.
Do you anticipate Ian Kennedy being a relevant name for Saves/holds? I have him in a saves+holds dynasty. Names like Wick, Sims, Neris, Fairbanks, and Giles are available. Any of those jump out as 25 plus saves/holds and good K rate?
Yo! Thanks!
I definitely would add Sims. The main concern of course is health — very risky pick put potentially very strong fantasy returns. Borderline elite K rate.
I do see Kennedy as relevant in SVHD formats; it just totally depends who signs him. And I do like Fairbanks for SVHD as well.
Neris and Wick are maybes. Would not prioritize them if it can be helped.
Giles we’ll just have to wait and see how that elbow holds up. Mariners pen is very good already so there may not be a ton of room for him to be steady for SVHD.
Big help! Thank you so much.
I had thought Sims might be a cool late round add in redrafts considering his 14.6 K/9 and 3.01 fip. Hope they let him take the roll and he stays healthy!
Right on. Keep an eye out for my RP rankings (SV-only formats) dropping soon! I’m a fan of Sims.