SAGNOF: Kirby’s Saves Land

What’s poppin’, Razzpimples?

Remember to bookmark that Razzball Bullpen Chart, y’all! I update it obsessively.

Also, if you’re a sub (you should be a sub…it’s great value), you get access to RP Projections and the super badass Relievonator Game Log tool, in addition to all the other awesome tools we have to offer. Hittertron and Streamonator, etc.

Let’s do it to it.

Note: All stats and Player Rater values are accurate through Sunday’s games.

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Player Rater Top 15 (5×5 Standard)

#	Name	Team	Pos	$	$/G	PS	PA/IP	$W	$SV	$ERA	$WHIP	$K	R%
1	Craig Kimbrel	BAL	RP	37.7	18.6	11.2	9	14.1	10.8	2.9	7.5	1.4	100
2	Reed Garrett	NYM	RP	29.2	28.9	8.8	11	14.1	-1.2	6.3	3.1	6	0
3	Kirby Yates	TEX	RP	25.6	10.8	7.8	10	7	4.8	5.9	7.5	-0.5	91
4	Jason Foley	DET	RP	24.6	7.3	7.5	10	7	13.8	5.9	-1.9	-1.2	99
5	Clay Holmes	NYY	RP	21.6	3.3	6.6	11	0	19.7	6.5	-3.2	-2.5	100
6	A.J. Minter	ATL	RP	19.8	4.5	6.1	10	14.1	-4.2	1.3	7.5	0.1	4
7	Robert Suarez	SD	RP	19.7	7	6.1	10	0	16.8	3.4	0.4	-1.8	100
8	Ryan Helsley	STL	RP	18.5	1.6	5.8	11	0	16.8	-0.2	0.8	0.1	100
9	Emmanuel Clase	CLE	RP	17.3	1	5.4	11	0	13.8	4.3	-0.5	-1.2	100
10	Yimi Garcia	TOR	RP	17.2	3	5.4	10	0	1.8	3.8	9.2	1.4	14
11	Shelby Miller	DET	RP	15.8	7.3	5	10	14.1	-4.2	1.5	5.2	-1.8	37
12	Justin Slaten	BOS	RP	13.6	5.7	4.4	14	0	-1.2	6.4	7.9	-0.5	8
13	Kyle Finnegan	WSH	RP	11	-0.7	3.6	9	0	16.8	-1.4	-2.9	-2.5	100
14	Nick Sandlin	CLE	RP	10.8	-3.7	3.6	11	7	-4.2	1.8	3.1	2.1	0
15	Bryan Hudson	MIL	RP	7.4	1.2	2.6	12	0	-4.2	4.7	5.8	0.1	0

Player Rater Top 15 (6×6 w/ Holds)

#	Name	Team	Pos	$	$/G	PS	PA/IP	$W	$SV	$ERA	$WHIP	$K	$HLD	R%
1	Craig Kimbrel	BAL	RP	33.7	26.5	11.6	9	13.8	13.3	2.3	6	2.2	-4.9	100
2	Clay Holmes	NYY	RP	26.6	15.6	8.9	11	2.4	26.1	5	-2.2	-0.8	-4.9	100
3	Jason Foley	DET	RP	25.3	17.5	8.4	10	8.1	17.6	4.5	-1.2	0.2	-4.9	99
4	Kirby Yates	TEX	RP	23.2	18.2	7.6	10	8.1	4.8	4.5	6	0.7	-1.9	91
5	Robert Suarez	SD	RP	23.1	19.2	7.6	10	2.4	21.8	2.6	0.5	-0.3	-4.9	100
6	Ryan Helsley	STL	RP	22.1	13	7.2	11	2.4	21.8	-0.2	0.9	1.2	-4.9	100
7	Reed Garrett	NYM	RP	19.4	30.5	6.1	11	13.8	-3.6	4.9	2.6	5.6	-4.9	0
8	Emmanuel Clase	CLE	RP	19.4	11.5	6.1	11	2.4	17.6	3.3	-0.1	0.2	-4.9	100
9	Kyle Finnegan	WSH	RP	16.4	11.9	5	9	2.4	21.8	-1.1	-1.9	-0.8	-4.9	100
10	Yimi Garcia	TOR	RP	14.5	9.9	4.3	10	2.4	0.6	2.9	7.3	2.2	-1.9	14
11	A.J. Minter	ATL	RP	13.2	9	3.8	10	13.8	-7.9	1	6	1.2	-1.9	4
12	Justin Slaten	BOS	RP	11.2	12	3	14	2.4	-3.6	4.9	6.3	0.7	-0.4	8
13	Raisel Iglesias	ATL	RP	8.7	11.8	2.1	7	-3.3	17.6	-0.4	1.1	-2.3	-4.9	100
14	Shelby Miller	DET	RP	8.6	11.1	2	10	13.8	-7.9	1.2	4.3	-0.3	-3.4	37
15	Evan Phillips	LAD	RP	8.4	9	2	9	-3.3	13.3	2.1	0.5	-0.3	-4.9	100

 

Weekly Saves Leaders

I’ve spruced up the format a little bit this week, pardners. Spruced it up right proper. And yes, you do sense a little twang about my vernacular once again this week, as I’m still thinking back fondly to my reading of True Grit. I declare every red-blooded American should read it, yessir!

Well, Kirby Yates has hit the ground running as the new Rangers closer. Fired off five scoreless this week, picking up a dubbelyew, 3 SV, and 6 K, all while allowing just 1 H and 1 BB. Almost looking like peak vintage Yates from his elite Padres days. Thought this chap’s career was close to over not too many moons ago and here he is proving my ass hella wrong. Love to see it. His CSW% isn’t among the very best in the league, but his O-Swing% and xERA are closer to the top than not.

Raisel Iglesias bagged 3 SV in just 2.1 IP of work, with one walk being the only ding to his stat line. Had 2 K and allowed no hits/runs.

Don’t look now, but those who have patiently waited for Tanner Scott to turn the corner are finally daring to smile. Collected 3 SV this week, and “only” walked a pair! The 33.3 CSW% looked nice, too.

Joel Payamps roped in 2 SV and a win this week, tossing 3.1 hitless/scoreless. Just might have the edge in the ninth for the time being, but I don’t exactly expect him to run away with the Poor Man’s Devin Williams job just yet. Trevor Megill is back and quite capable of doing nice work himself.

Kyle Finnegan earned 2 SV and 1 W, posting a 0.00 ERA and 0.00 WHIP along the way. So underappreciated, yet so reliable. Not an elite kind of reliable, mind you, but the saves should be there ROS.

Robert Suarez continues to outperform a good deal of premium-priced RP, adding two more saves to his season tally in 1.1 scoreless innings of work this week. Only Holmes has more SV than he does.

You can see the names of the other folks who had 2 SV this week. Alvarado may be pulling ahead again for the Phils, but it’s kinda tough to gauge that situation at the present moment. Hoffman is still worthwhile for SV-only until noted otherwise. Warms the heart to see Romano come back after a serious scare and do what you drafted him to do. McArthur still looking mighty, mighty fine. Shoutout to Doval for a 6:0 K:BB and 21.4 SwStr%.

Out of the not-pictured, 1-SV crew, it’s a lot of vulture guys for the most part, and some guys I’ll talk about later. I wanna mention Josh Hader, who was crappy yet again: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. No reason to worry about his job security, it’s just gotta be grindin’ your gizzard if you drafted this feller, cuz I know what price you had to pay to get him. I’ll try to lift your spirits with a few metrics, eh? How do a 14.9 K/9, 14.9 SwStr%, and 3.35 xERA sound? And his 115 Stuff+ rating is better than most. I attribute bad luck to a good portion of results thus far. He ain’t been a lick near his 2023 self, but he also ain’t been as a bad as it all seems, either.

 

Weekly Holds Leaders

 

Well cover me in honey and dip me in a sack of chicken feed, Tyler Rogers led everyone with 4 HLD this week. I had some questions in my Dee Ems and whatnot about whether he’s worth the while for holds after a slow start. I reckon he answered them questions after this week. That pard is one boring son of a gun, but dammit if those holds don’t just come on in by the wagon load when it’s all said and done.

Next best with 3 HLD was my main man, Bryan Abreu! That’s more like my #1 setup man, yeehaw! Struck out five in 4.2 scoreless, with an 18.3 SwStr% and 29.6 CSW% for good measure. Could very well be he’s on your wire after his atrocious start. Scoop that rascal right on up.

JoJo Romero added another 2 HLD to his 2024 totals. Good lookin’ 32.4 CSW% and 14.7 SwStr% as well. If those ding dang Cardinals would hit better, he might even have more holds at this point. Thought this guy was kind of a buster, not gonna lie, and once again I love to see that I’m proven wrong.

Fernando Cruz should be rostered in every holds format under the sun. Had 2 HLD and 5 K this week after pitching 2.1 scoreless. He has gobs of strikeouts already and has the grossest splitter this side of the Milky Way. Wanna know how gross? You know you do. Here’s how gross. He’s thrown it 68 times (45.6%), it hasn’t been hit once, it has a 0.026 xBA, and has been whiffed on exactly 75% of the time. SEVENTY. FIVE. PERCENT. I can’t stress how gross that is. It’s grosser than lappin’ horse piss out of a hoof track.

Yency Almonte is another to watch in the holds landscape. Wasn’t even on my radar entering the year, but now that Alzolay’s been demoted (more on that in the section below), he could see a bump in holds with Neris likely taking primary closing duties. At least while Merryweather is out, which is now at least until June (moved to 60-day IL this week). Mark Leiter Jr. also had 2 HLD, and last week I said Almonte is probably behind him. But again, now that Neris likely closes, both these guys could be viable on a team like the Cubs. That’s assuming Alzolay has been relegated to non-high-leverage for the time being, which I assume to be the case.

Hunter Gaddis has kept ’24 breakout going strong. Two more holds this week in three innings of hitless/scoreless ball, striking out four and walking just one. I daresay this pard is my favorite holds source for Cleveland now. Gotta be on every holds roster. To his credit, Scott Barlow cooked this week: 1 SV, 1 HLD, 5 K, 25 SwStr%, and 45.8 CSW%. Gaddis seems to be the 8th-inning guy now, though. Barlow’s save came in extras.

Yimi Garcia had 3 SVHD this week and no walks. Can’t ask for too much more than that. Of course Swanson is the top setup dog, but Yimi still strikes me as a fringe guy in most formats and a definite must-own in the deep formats. The metrics are looking downright dandy. Go peep that Statcast. Man’s got a 0.79 ERA, 0.35 WHIP, and 15 K in 11.1 IP on the year.

Let’s talk Reed Garrett, who is now the #2 RP on the 5×5 Player Rater. That total $ valuation is of course inflated by random wins, but let’s not discount what this outlaw has done so far in 2024: 3 W, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.39 FIP, 0.89 SIERA, and 21:3 K:BB in just 10.2 IP. And here are some more numbers: 51.2 K%, 7.3 BB%, 19.3 SwStr%, and 38 CSW%. Simply put, folks, he’s been damn near the best reliever thus far. Reckon you could argue the very best, indeed. Now, Brooks Raley‘s hurt, and Garrett did collect a random vulture save this week in a game that Diaz also pitched (got a hold in the 8th), so that looks to me like Garrett has leapfrogged all the way to #2 in this pen behind Diaz. That makes him a must-own in most formats. Maybe all of em! Cuz if there’s a chance at saves while he’s dishing out these kinds of strikeouts and ratios…wellllllll, pard, I don’t see a lick of sense in letting him sit on your wire if you need a boost. Now, I say all that, but I also want to say that this could just be a flash in the pan kind of sitch-ee-ayshun. And not only that, but Raley is also only expected to be out the minimum after a positive MRI. But then again, maybe Garrett pitches so well that Raley coming back doesn’t mean diddly. I don’t rightly know. I guess if you’re of a mind, just add Garrett while the going’s good and sort it all out later if need be. I didn’t mean to write this long of a blurb about this guy, dang.

 

Weekly Blown Saves Leaders :'(

 

As I mentioned, Adbert Alzolay has lost his job as Cubs closer. Blew two saves this week thanks to 3 H, 3 ER, 2 HR, and 3 BB in 3.1 IP. Hector Neris figures to be the next man up, but this could just be a committee kind of deal for the time being. Either way, Neris needs to be added anywhere that saves are needed.

Ryan Pressly may have blown two saves while allowing 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, and 1 BB in 3 IP, but you can also see how strong the metrics were. Inexplicably, that entire Astros pen has started off terribly. We’re still not even a month into the season, though. I can’t get too bent outta shape when the underlying numbers are still looking pretty good. That goes for Hader/Abreu/Pressly.

Andrew Nardi found himself with another BS this week, but overall he’s looking so much better than he was at the start of the year. Both Scott and Nardi are trending in the right direction. And for that matter, Anthony Bender is trending the opposite way (1.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K this week). Kinda always expected that…Bender ain’t very good.

Shelby Miller doesn’t show in the pic above but he took two losses this week despite no walks and a very good 35.7 CSW%. Should still be a solid SVHD guy moving forward.

 

Injury Updates

• Pete Fairbanks hit the IL with a nerve problem. Some nerve he’s got, amirite?! Jason Adam is the SV-only arm you want, while both Colin Poche and Phil Maton should come by more holds. Maybe even Garrett Cleavinger as well.
• Robert Stephenson is done for the year. Matt Moore is worth owning in most holds formats. Adam Cimber in deeper ones.
• John Brebbia was activated from the IL yesterday. He kinda figures into the holds mix if you’re in dire straits.
• Trevor Megill is also back and should be a good SVHD guy for the next good while. Still could see some saves, but Payamps has been pitching pretty well.
• Jhoan Duran is starting rehab today! He ain’t far away.
• Ditto for Paul Sewald!
• Matt Brash is very close to starting rehab. Maybe today? Maybe not? Very soon, regardless.
• Already mentioned Brooks Raley above.

 

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading. Leave me a comment below so I feel all warm and fuzzy.

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