We close out the American League bullpens with the AL West. It feels like all of these teams have something to offer either in closer speculation or high wattage non-closers. Remember the golden rule of the saves chase: don’t overpay for closers. Opportunities come if you’re active on the wire.
I didn’t realize how upset I was about the sign-stealing scandal until I started writing this. If you’re an Astros fan and I’ve offended your delicate sensibilities below, you can go and discard them along with your stolen championships.
AL East | AL Central | AL West
NL East | NL Central | NL West
| Houston Trash-stros | Razzers | |
| Closer | Roberto Osuna – I’ll spare you my thoughts on him as a person and the Astro’s assessment that he was a distressed asset worth obtaining. Actually, I lied, both are trash. Trash that belongs in the can the team’s A/V club bangs on to cheat. He’s solid as a saves source in our fake game, though. |  |
| Setup | Ryan Pressly – Pressly became the middle reliever wunderkind over the last two seasons with elite ratios and Ks galore. A balky knee kept him from reaching such great heights last year. He was still rock solid and should be healthy entering 2020. | |
| Useful Arm | Josh James – If you got as burned as I did by darts thrown at James during 2019 draft season you may have missed his quality effort down the stretch (16.2 IP, 29 K, 3.24 ERA). That rotation is also going to need plenty of bandaids. | |
| Saves Dart | Joe Smith – Joe Smith is as electric as his create-a-player name. He’s solid year in and year out, though. He also has 30 career saves. | |
| LA Angels | Razzers | |
| Closer | Hansel Robles – The butt of many “That Hansel, he’s so hot right now” jokes was indeed hot then often. He was one of 2019s best sources for free saves. Sadly, Joe Maddon has relocated to SoCal and may wreak havoc on the closer hierarchy. It figures to be Robles’ job to lose, though. | |
| Setup | Ty Buttrey – Buttrey couldn’t recapture his 2018 magic, often alternating blow-ups and clean outings. He’s probably the most effective reliever out of the rest, though. | |
| Useful Arm | Keynan Middleton – The 26-year-old flamethrower came back from TJS with a couple ticks less velocity. It was a victory just getting back onto the field. I’ll be keeping an eye peeled for his spring radar readings. | |
| Saves Dart | Cam Bedrosian – I’ve spent two straight seasons being disappointed by Bedrosian’s lack of save opps. Maybe a new manager will help him find that bulldog gear when he’s so good. | |
| Oakland Athletics | Razzers | |
| Closer | Liam Hendriks – Another walking billboard for the “Don’t pay for saves” mantra. Hendricks was good enough to chase 2018 reliever supreme, Blake Treinen, out of town (Treinen was pretty bad in his own right). Hendricks seems poised to run with the role. With an ADP just past 100 will he be a 2020 Jose Leclerc or Kirby Yates? | |
| Setup | Yusmeiro Petit – Petit is another in the mold of older, dependable, battle-tested A’s reliever. | |
| Useful Arm | Jake Diekman – A shrewd acquisition by the A’s here. Diek is a hard-throwing lefty that any pen can use. The Ks and ratios can play in deep formats. | |
| Saves Dart | Joakim Soria – Old man Soria (checks age/sees I’m older/cries with lights off) will hang around for a little while longer. He’s a guy with tons of closing experience and Oakland loves that in their bullpen. | |
| Seattle Mariners | Razzers | |
| Closer | Matt Magill – Really Seattle? Really? You’re really going with this same scrap heap bullpen again? I know you aren’t trying to spend money until your prospects are ready but damn. | |
| Setup | Brandon Brennan – Apologies to Matt Magill for wasting his blurb. I can make up for it here since he and Brennan are similar in that they’re JAGs. No frills, just saves. | |
| Useful Arm | Carl Edwards Jr. – Seattle is great at reclamation projects, though. It’s not a stretch (see, he’s tall and wiry) to have some hope one of the formerly bright young relievers of the game gets his groove back. | |
| Saves Dart | Sam Tuivailala – I’m a huge Tuivailala supporter. The team rightly took it slow in his return from an Achilles rupture. My gut says that continues unless they run out of options. They should run out of options sometime mid-summer. | |
| Texas Rangers | Razzers | |
| Closer | Jose Leclerc – Man, I was so into Leclerc coming into 2019. Luckily, the market pushed him beyond what I’d pay for a closer and was bitterly disappointed turned surprisingly relieved. On the surface his second-half numbers were decent. The walks were still too high for my comfort zone. He’s affordable in 2020, though. | |
| Setup | Rafael Montero – The Rangers had to shore up their bullpen with all kinds of options last year. It feels like all of them have moved on besides Montero. Anyone in high leverage roles is a must know here. | |
| Useful Arm | Jesse Chavez – Chavez can go multiple innings as a former (and occasional) starter. In some deep formats, volume is what matters. | |
| Saves Dart | Nick Goody – Brought in to offset some of the losses of last year’s pen, Goody is a sneaky option to crack the ninth if Leclerc le sucks again. | |
