Bullpen Report: July 1, 2019

Just as fantasy owners were likely questioning whether Raisel Iglesias would get another save for the Reds, he came through with his first one in three weeks on Sunday. However, the way Iglesias’ performance unfolded raises more questions than it answers.

David Bell brought Iglesias in for a two-inning save after Amir Garrett walked Jason Heyward to lead off the eighth inning, with the Reds out in front of the Cubs, 4-3. Iglesias preserved the lead, and with the Reds scoring four times in the bottom of the inning, he came back out for the ninth. Though he yielded a single and a walk, Iglesias appeared to be headed for an uneventful save, as he had Heyward in an 0-2 count with two outs. That’s when the Cubs’ outfielder pulled an inside fastball into the right field seats to cut the lead to two runs. Iglesias did retire Javier Baez for the final out, but that one swing increased his ERA to 4.41. The less-than-clean finish for Iglesias isn’t necessarily good news for Michael Lorenzen, who recorded the previous three saves for the Reds. Lorenzen entered in the seventh inning with a 4-0 lead, but in allowing an Albert Almora Jr. RBI single and a Kyle Schwarber two-run homer, he let the Cubs get within a run of the lead.

At this point, neither Iglesias nor Lorenzen looks like a good candidate for steady saves, but neither reliever has likely pitched his way out of future save situations altogether.

There is no question that Josh Hader is the Brewers’ closer, but given that he is frequently called on to make multiple-inning saves, it’s worth the time of fantasy owners in deeper formats to keep track of which reliever is in line to be his primary fill-in. While Jeremy Jeffress appears to be moving further away from getting that role, Matt Albers now seems to be its current occupant. He got the final out of the eighth inning against the Pirates on Saturday, setting up for Hader. Having thrown 45 pitches over the previous three days, Hader sat on Sunday, and Albers pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out a 2-1 win, earning his first save of the season.

The outing capped off a spectacular month of June for Albers, who posted a 2.19 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. He finished the month strong, having not allowed a run over his final eight appearances, which covered 7.1 innings. Just as he did two seasons ago with the Nationals, Albers is doing a superb job of limiting hard contact. In June, the only qualified relievers to register a lower hard contact rate were Jordan Hicks and Sam Dyson, and his 88.8 mph average exit velocity allowed on flyballs and line drives was in the lowest 10 percent of pitchers who allowed at least 10 flies and liners combined (per Baseball Savant).

Incidentally, the pitcher who was at the top of that exit velocity leaderboard in June was Julio Urias (83.2 mph). He also wrapped up a strong month with three scoreless innings of relief in the Dodgers’ 10-5 win over the Rockies at Coors Field. The lefty allowed only a single and a walk while notching four strikeouts.

The reliever who ranked just behind Albers in hard contact rate for the month of June was Matt Barnes. Like many of his fellow Red Sox relievers, he had a rough outing in the London Series, facing four Yankees on Sunday but retiring only one of them. Over his last four appearances, Barnes has allowed eight runs on seven hits and four walks in 2.1 innings. Despite his ability to squelch hard contact, poor control may keep him from getting future save opportunities. That could be a good development for Brandon Workman, who not only has the Red Sox’s most recent save, but was also not used in the London Series. The Yankees held comfortable leads in the late innings of both games, which may explain Workman’s absence.

A.J. Minter’s recent string of solid relief appearances was snapped on Sunday night against the Mets. Coming into this game, he had not allowed more than one hit or one run in any appearance since coming up from Triple-A Gwinnett on June 11, and he had a 2.16 ERA and 1.08 WHIP over that 8.1-inning span. Minter also picked up a save on Wednesday against the Cubs. He entered Sunday’s game in eighth inning with two outs and the Braves up 5-4 with runners on the corners. Minter immediately loaded the bases by walking Michael Conforto, and then a total of four runs came in on back-to-back hits by Jeff McNeil and Peter Alonso.

Despite this poor outing, Minter figures to be the most likely member of the Braves’ bullpen to fill in for saves when Luke Jackson is unavailable. This is especially likely, since the Braves placed Anthony Swarzak on the 10-day IL with right shoulder inflammation. The move was made retroactive to June 29.

Owners who recently picked up Liam Hendriks may want to consider their alternatives for saves this week, as the Athletics could activate Blake Treinen (shoulder) from the IL as soon as Wednesday. According to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com, Treinen threw a bullpen session on Saturday and could throw again on Monday in a minor league game.

Quick hits: Edwin Diaz and Brad Hand both bounced back from recent miserable outings on Sunday, as they respectively recorded saves against the Braves and Orioles. While Diaz tossed a perfect frame, Hand had to escape a bases-loaded jam…Alex Colome (18), Sean Doolittle (18) and Ian Kennedy (11) also recorded saves on Sunday…Carlos Martinez made his first appearance in nine days and his first as the Cardinals’ closer. He relieved John Gant with one out in the eighth inning in a 3-3 tie, and he held the Padres scoreless through the end of the 10th inning. Matt Wieters‘ two-run homer in the top of the 11th inning proved decisive, as Tyler Webb and Dominic Leone kept the Padres from scoring in the bottom of the inning. Leone got the save, which was his first of the season.

Source: Fangraphs.com

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