What’s poppin’, Razzpimples?
Week 9 is in the books. SAGNOF Bullpen Report time!
Don’t forget to keep that there Razzball Bullpen Chart bookmarked. It’s been totally revamped into this awesome, dynamically-updated masterpiece! The calendar view of usage patterns is just pure gold.
Subscribers: Check out the Autopen for today/tomorrow projections (vulture SVHD, anyone?), which also has the same look at the Last 7 Days usage patterns. Another great tool is relief game logs from the last 14 days! Filter/sort/export to your needs.
Player Rater Top 25 (5×5 Standard)
Player Rater Top 25 (6×6 w/ Holds)
2026 SVHD Leaders
Weekly SVHD Leaders
Weekly Notes:
Note: All stats and Player Rater values are accurate through Sunday’s games.
Quick note on the note above…usually I submit these Monday before games are finalized, but today’s was written the morning of.
Richard Lovelady, 2 SV, 1 HLD, 2:1 K:BB. Welp, the Gus Bus has officially been parked around back. Hasn’t had a save in ages, while this guy Dick Lovelady has had two in the span of a week and three since May 15. So yeah, he’s clearly the guy now for whatever reason. The reason is probably that 2.35 ERA, which isn’t backed up by a 4.49 FIP, and then a 1.57 WHIP and meager 5.8 K-BB% also suggest rockier roads might lie ahead. Lovelady doesn’t really deserve to be a headliner, but I’ve shifted my philosophy on what I want these headliners to be. Either someone so dominant they deserve a lengthier blurb, or someone making waves for good or bad reasons. Right now, Lovelady fits the bill of “add if you’re desperate!”, a boat which I know many folks are paddling for their lives in these days. It’s rough out there. Mr. Lovelady has very average stuff but excels in generating weak contact, especially grounders. You’re going to give up exactly zero long balls if you can do that all the time. I mean, he’s not doing it all the time, but he’s doing it at a well-above-average clip. Plug him in and hope for the best! Still out there in 91% of Fantrax leagues, sadly my RCL not being one of them. Probably cuz all these cool cats read Razzball every day and they know they’re battling the bullpen guy.
Cade Smith, 4 SV, 6:0 K:BB. Sweet baby Jesu Cristo this guy has been on a tear. He’s been Mason Miller, just named Cade Smith! Over the last 30 days, he’s the #14 overall pitcher.
Jeff Hoffman, 2 SV, 1 HLD, 6:0 K:BB. Well well well, if it isn’t Mr. Michael Jeffrey Jordan Hoffman. Is that a 6:0 K:BB I see, along with 3 SVHD? And two of those being saves?? I don’t know that Hoffman is back in the 9th just yet, cuz those saves came after days where Varland pitched a ton. Both those guys have been very busy. Monitor closely, and if you’ve got room to add Hoffman in SV-only, might as well.
Bryan King, 2 SV, 1 HLD, 2:0 K:BB
Taylor Rogers, 2 SV, 1 HLD, 2:0 K:BB
Hunter Gaddis, 1 SV, 2 HLD, 4:1 K:BB. Sabrowski hit the IL this week with dreaded throwing-arm-elbow inflammation. Gaddis figures to take a big step forward in holds value.
Jose A. Ferrer, 1 SV, 2 HLD, 5:0 K:BB. Slow start to his Mariners career but is starting to settle in some. The WHIP is still higher than I’d like.
Bryan Abreu, 1 SV, 2 HLD, 2:2 K:BB. I want to believe in him again, but I don’t. I wouldn’t blame if you if you added him, hoping for a return to form. Even with 4 SVHD, his last two weeks line still looks bad to me: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 1 K. Yeah, no runs in that time, but still. The stuff isn’t stuffing like it used to. He ain’t the same.
Andrew Morris, 1 SV, 2 HLD, 1:4 K:BB. The Twins fans I’ve come across in my circles of the internet have high hopes for this kid. Might turn into something, but for now I’m seeing a backwards K:BB and a bad H/9 and fading.
Jason Adam, 3 HLD, 3:1 K:BB
Enyel De Los Santos, 3 HLD, 2:0 K:BB
Tim Herrin, 3 HLD, 3:2 K:BB. Herrin was on my radar once upon a time. With no more Sabrowski, he could be the lefty specialist. Has 4 HLD over the last two weeks, but also lots of baserunners. Only worthwhile in deep formats if’n you ask me.
Paul Sewald, 1 W, 2 SV, 3:0 K:BB. The implosion hasn’t happened yet! Still cookin.
Louis Varland, 2 SV, 6:0 K:BB. Been one of the best all year and showing no signs of slowing down. Oh how wrong I was in preseason.
Aroldis Chapman, 2 SV, 2:0 K:BB.
Bryan Baker, 2 SV, 2:1 K:BB. Ever think you’d see a Tampa reliever with 14 SV (and a HLD) before May is through? This Rays team is so much better than expected.
Mason Miller, 1 L, 2 SV, 3:3 K:BB. What’s this, an even strikeout to walk ratio?! Horrible!
Jhoan Duran, 1 L, 2 SV, 4:0 K:BB. Not the best H/9 over the last two weeks but oh well. Still mostly dominant.
Ian Seymour, 1 W, 1 SV, 1 HLD, 3:0 K:BB. Trifecta alert! Seymour is massive in a league that has SP slots and counts holds.
Anthony Banda, 1 SV, 1 HLD, 1:0 K:BB
Mark Leiter Jr., 1 SV, 1 HLD, 2:1 K:BB
Caleb Kilian, 1 L, 1 SV, 1 HLD, 4:0 K:BB. He’s a fringe guy who might see saves for now so you gotta roster him if you need those. Metrics are pretty good other than BB%, but his FIP is almost two full points higher than ERA.
Hogan Harris, 1 SV, 1 HLD, 3:4 K:BB
Eric Orze, 1 W, 2 HLD, 4:1 K:BB
Sam Bachman, 1 W, 2 HLD, 5:1 K:BB. Guy is up to 9 HLD now on the year and has been pitching pretty well. Worth a look in deep formats.
Tyler Wells, 2 HLD, 1:0 K:BB
Eduard Bazardo, 1 W, 2 HLD, 5:2 K:BB
Brent Headrick, 2 HLD, 3:0 K:BB
Tyler Rogers, 2 HLD, 1:1 K:BB
Fernando Cruz, 2 HLD, 5:2 K:BB. Walks are keeping him from being one of the better assets in the league. Has 10 HLD and 30 K now, but also 14 BB in 21.2 IP.
Taylor Clarke, 2 HLD, 1:1 K:BB. Not sure why the script has flipped, but he’s the DBack to own for holds now. Morillo hasn’t had one in weeks.
Graham Ashcraft, 1 L, 2 HLD, 5:0 K:BB
Brennan Bernardino, 1 L, 2 HLD, 3:1 K:BB
Brandyn Garcia, 2 HLD, 1:1 K:BB
Erik Miller, 2 HLD, 3:4 K:BB. Been rusty since returning from injury. Still love the upside here if he can get control back — almost has a walk per inning.
Tayler Saucedo, 2 HLD, 1:0 K:BB
Steven Okert, 2 HLD, 4:0 K:BB
Yohan Ramirez, 1 L, 2 HLD, 2:2 K:BB
Brooks Raley, 2 HLD, 2:3 K:BB
Mason Fluharty, 2 HLD, 3:2 K:BB
Brock Burke, 2 HLD, 2:0 K:BB
Ryan Zeferjahn, 1 L, 2 HLD, 1:4 K:BB
Notable bummers for the week:
Juan Morillo, 2 BSV, 2:2 K:BB, 18.00 ERA, 5.00 WHIP. Clearly not the favorite anymore. Drop everywhere.
Anthony Nunez, 2 BSV, 1 L, 1 SV, 3:1 K:BB, 13.24 ERA, 1.76 WHIP
Tim Hill, 1 BSV, 1 L, 1 HLD, 4:3 K:BB, 10.00 ERA, 2.59 WHIP. Never really expected him to keep his early season pace.
Riley O’Brien, 1 BSV, 1 L, 2:2 K:BB, 7.83 ERA, 1.74 WHIP. Back-to-back stinker outings for ROB. Not on the hot seat by any means…yet.
Matt Gage, 1 BSV, 1 L, 4:0 K:BB, 7.83 ERA, 1.30 WHIP
Lucas Erceg, 1 BSV, 1 L, 1:0 K:BB, 22.50 ERA, 4.00 WHIP. Been saying for weeks now that I don’t like Erceg. The quality isn’t there. Sell high if you can.
Kenley Jansen, 1 BSV, 1 L, 1 HLD, 1:3 K:BB, 13.50 ERA, 2.00 WHIP. Really is gettin rough out there.
Justin Slaten, 1 BSV, 1 L, 1 HLD, 3:1 K:BB, 21.18 ERA, 2.94 WHIP. Was completely and utterly dominating until the day I decided to add him for his blowup.
Juan Mejia, 1 BSV, 1 L, 1 HLD, 2:4 K:BB, 11.25 ERA, 2.50 WHIP. Mejia has been pretty good of late but overall his season numbers don’t inspire. He’s, like, an NL-only type of guy.
Garrett Whitlock, 1 BSV, 1 L, 2:0 K:BB, 6.92 ERA, 1.54 WHIP.
That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading. Leave me a comment below so I feel all warm and fuzzy.
Odds are quite good I was drinking either black coffee, dark beer, or some form of bourbon while writing what you just read. In the daylight hours, I’m a high school English teacher. I have completely left X/Twitter, so you can find me on Bluesky: @jkj0787.bsky.social, where I serve up daily bullpen recaps to my loyal tens of followers.
12 team, 5×5 roto (saves only)
I currently have Megill and Beeter at the end of my bullpen. Would you speculate on Daniel Lynch or Finnegan/Vest over either of them?
Nah just hold tight for now