One reason you may have clicked here is that Kenley Jansen was removed from his save chance Monday after throwing just four pitches, all of which were missing about 3 mph of velocity.
Jansen said after the game that he was dealing with cramping in his neck and pectoral area and would be available to pitch as early as Tuesday, so it sounds like no major crisis. Left-hander Matt Strahm got a save chance on June 14, but he also been shaky of late. If you have to bet on one Phillies reliever, he the one.
It looked like things were trending back in Raisel Iglesias direction after a brief digression to Pierce Johnson and then Dylan Lee. After all, Iglesias had allowed just one baserunner in his four appearances in lower-leverage spots, striking out four over 3 1 3 innings, and Lee previous two appearances had come prior to the ninth inning. He not a bad choice for the role, having put together a 1.77 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 9.3 K 9 this season, and Iglesias performance in the eighth inning Monday didn inspire much confidence. The Braves best lefty apart from Lee is Aaron Bummer, and Snitker seems reluctant to use him in high-leverage situations.
While Luke Weaver was given a 4-to-6-week timetable for his strained hamstring, he ended up needing less than three weeks, returning to the mound Friday with a shaky two-thirds of an inning. I kind of look at him and Devin like we have two elite guys, manager Aaron Boone said prior to Weaver Friday appearance. He only lost it because of his uncharacteristic struggles in April, but over his past 18 appearance, about half of which were spent back in the closer role, he has a 1.62 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 13.0 K 9. Another couple weeks without Weaver might have crystalized it further, but I don honestly foresee Boone departing from Williams much at this point.
Jeff Hoffman blew his fourth save Sunday, renewing concerns that were finally beginning to subside. One complication is that the Blue Jays don have a viable alternative for Hoffman, but with Yimi Garcia shoulder impingement beginning a rehab assignment, that could change in short order. My guess is that if Hoffman struggles continue beyond Garcia return, Schneider might give him a break to clear his head. Hoffman could still put all of this to rest between now and then, though.
The Rangers bullpen may be the hardest of all to figure out right now, in part because manager Bruce Bochy has been so tight-lipped on the matter. Their latest save chance Saturday went to Chris Martin, who remains their best reliever and most logical choice to close, but that was true at the start of the year as well. Might it suggest that Martin has overtaken him in the pecking order? That my presumption here, though Im still giving the edge to the left-handed Robert Garcia, who likely was unavailable for that Saturday contest after pitching both Thursday and Friday. It may be just be a matter of time, though, before Martin overtakes him as well.
Aroldis Chapman has been money as the Red Sox closer this year, putting together a 1.41 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 12.7 K 9. By others, I mainly mean right-hander Greg Weissert, who has recorded three of the Red Sox past seven saves. Furthermore, his 15 saves are tied for 11th in all the majors, which raises the question of whether we ever had reason to worry.
The Dodgers, juggernauts that they are, offer enough save chances to sustain a top closer and then some. Sure, it annoying when Roberts brings in Scott prior to the ninth inning — which has happened three times this month, two of which resulted in a save for someone else — but it doesn happen with enough frequency to doubt whether he the top dog. The Dodgers other saves in June have gone to Alex Vesia, another left-hander, and Kirby Yates, a right-hander. Yates was himself an All-Star closer last year, and his right-handedness makes him less redundant.
Do the White Sox finally have a worthy front-runner for saves? The team second-round pick in 2023 barely spent any time in the minors, splitting it between starting and relief, but his stuff has been deemed best suited for this role. That remains to be seen, but Sunday outing was a necessary first step.
For as bad as the Marlins are, their closer may well matter for Fantasy if they could just commit to one guy. He recently turned to Calvin Faucher for five consecutive save chances, raising our hopes that he had finally settled on him as the ninth-inning option, but the Marlins last two saves have gone to someone else — two someones, in fact. This unexpected run of success, though, has indeed confirmed that Halvorsen is the Rockies guy, at least until he blows it. His numbers aren so special that you can assume he won .
Curiously, Jacob Bird has some of the best numbers that weve seen from a Rockies reliever in quite some time — entering this week with a 2.06 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 11.5 K 9 — but he tends to be used more in the middle of games than at the end.,
