Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report (3/27)

Welcome to the first edition of the Bullpen Report, companion to the Bullpen Report. It’s a bit like Timett son of Timett, but it helps you with relief pitcher decisions rather than disemboweling your enemies.

Every week I’ll use the Bullpen Report article to delve deeper into the past week’s relief pitcher news and notes and track each team’s saves and holds leaders. When applicable, there will also be recommendations for save specs and short profiles of rising relief studs.

The article format may evolve some as I figure out what works best, but I’ll always seek to provide the most detailed information possible.

Saves are still the dominant reliever stat used in fantasy baseball leagues, though holds have gained traction in recent years. Each team’s summary will begin with their saves leaders, but I’m also including eighth- and seventh-inning holds as separate categories. This delineation will show us how the bridge to the ninth inning is most frequently aligned.

If a team’s reliever hierarchy appears to change or injury strikes, the Bullpen Report tool will be the go-to source for the most current information. Then in each weekly article, I’ll follow up with an in-depth review of the situation in that team’s section.

For this first week, let’s break down where each team’s bullpen stands on the eve of Opening Day…

Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report

Spring Training Bullpen Summaries

Thanks to MLB’s international series, we already have two regular season games in the books. The Dodgers defeated the Cubs in both contests at the Tokyo Dome, with each producing saves for our records. To the victor go the spoils, and the first bullpen summary of the year.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Saves – Tanner Scott (1), Alex Vesia (1)
Eighth-Inning Holds – Blake Treinen (1), Kirby Yates (1)
Seventh-Inning Holds – Ben Casparius (1)

Tanner Scott got the bag in the offseason (4 years, $72M) and predictably received the Dodgers’ first save chance.

Blake Treinen set him up with a clean hold in the eighth inning, our first hint that he is the primary set-up man and ahead of Kirby Yates.

Ben Casparius impressed with a seventh-inning hold, but this likely isn’t the dawning of the Age of Casparius, considering Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips will eventually be part of the Dodgers’ mix as well.

Yates pitched with a three-run lead the following day, but it curiously occurred in the eighth inning. Manager Dave Roberts used lefty Alex Vesia to close out the game in the ninth for his first save. Assuming Roberts never intended for a reliever to pitch back-to-back in mid-March, it was fair to expect Yates would be reserved for the ninth inning if Scott and Treinen weren’t available, yet that didn’t happen.

Were matchups the reason? Yates faced the 6-7-8 hitters in the Cubs’ lineup, but three of the first four were RHB, so maybe that was the case. Roberts could have had an eye on Vesia facing tough lefty Kyle Tucker in the ninth inning and forcing a pinch-hitter for lefty Michael Busch behind him. It’s too early to tell, but those who drafted Yates will want to see he’s more interchangeable with Treinen than simply in the mix behind both Scott and Treinen.

Chicago Cubs

No saves
No holds

Nothing unexpected happened in the Cubs’ two losses in Japan. Middle relievers finished things off after Shota Imanaga left the first game, and the primary bullpen weapons – Porter Hodge and Ryan Pressly – pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to get some work in down three runs in game two.

Pressly was a little wild, walking three batters in his inning, but ultimately did not allow a run and should still see the majority of save chances early on. Hodge remains second in line.