Fantasy Baseball Closer Report: Week 6

Jose Leclerc was one of the most-hyped closers in fantasy baseball coming into the 2019 season, and for good reason. He is straight-up filthy when on his game and was one of the few names widely seen as capable of taking the next step into the elite tier of closers this season. Unfortunately, Leclerc also has plenty of control issues in his past, and those issues caught up to him recently and helped cost him his job — at least temporarily.

I’ll break down the closer situation in Texas and much more in this week’s Closer Report. But first, here are this week’s rankings.

View the Closer Depth Charts for all 30 teams

Big Movers

Minnesota Twins
Blake Parker may not have a ton of job security, but the only times he hasn’t been called up to close in recent weeks was when he was under the weather. Parker is currently sporting both a 0.96 ERA and WHIP and is pitching for a team that is winning a lot of ballgames, so he deserves a bump up the rankings this week. Just be aware that his middling strikeout rate and bloated walk rate suggest the good times may not last forever.

Atlanta Braves
A.J. Minter has been the Braves’ default closer ever since they lost Arodys Vizcaino to a season-ending shoulder injury, but Minter’s ugly 8.38 ERA and 1.86 WHIP don’t instill a ton of confidence that he’ll hold down the job all year. Minter actually has nine scoreless appearances on the year, but he’s allowed a whopping nine earned runs in his other three outings. His 12.10 K/9 rate suggests he has the stuff to succeed, but he is generating fewer swings and misses this season, and walks have also been a problem in the early going.

It’s a little unfair to overreact to three poor outings, but Minter likely doesn’t have a terribly long leash on a team with postseason aspirations. There is no obvious plan B currently in the bullpen, so it’s possible Atlanta looks outside the organization for help if Minter continues to struggle. Jacob Webb picked up a save on Monday.

Texas Rangers
The biggest closer-related news of the last week was undoubtedly Rangers manager Chris Woodward removing Leclerc from the closer role, for now. Woodward named Shawn Kelley and Chris Martin as the favorites to see save chances while Leclerc attempts to find his footing in lower-leverage situations. Kelley and Martin are both good adds in saves-hungry leagues.

Leclerc dominated for Texas last season, but his past problem throwing strikes has reared its ugly head again this year, as he’s already issued nine walks in just 10 2/3 innings of work. That, combined with some unfortunate batted-ball outcomes, has led to disaster for Leclerc, but there’s still every reason to believe he can return to dominance if he can just throw more strikes. The Rangers handed Leclerc a four-year, $14.75 million contract extension this spring, so they presumably have plenty of incentive to return him to the closer role once he shows he’s ready. I wouldn’t drop him.

Random Musings

Oakland A’s
Blake Treinen had a game to forget north of the border last Sunday, giving up four runs in his second inning of work as the A’s fell to the Blue Jays in extra innings. The ugly outing inflated Treinen’s ERA from 0.68 to 3.00, but his season-long outlook hasn’t changed in the slightest. It’s just a reminder that one bad inning can make a big impact on a reliever’s numbers at this stage of the season.

Milwaukee Brewers
Josh Hader has been uncharacteristically hittable of late, surrendering six earned runs (including four home runs) over his last 5 2/3 innings of work. But 16 of the 17 batters he did retire over that stretch came via the strikeout, so it’s safe to say he still has his stuff.

Hader is still operating as the Brewers’ closer for the time being while Jeremy Jeffress continues to work his way back to last season’s form. Jeffress entered in the eighth inning last Saturday with Milwaukee up three, but he proceeded to give up a walk and two hits before being pulled for Hader, who closed the game. Jeffress has only been used in games the Brewers were trailing since then.

St. Louis Cardinals
Jordan Hicks has been everything fantasy owners were hoping he would be so far, posting an excellent 2.13 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and 11.37 K/9 rate. Most importantly, the Cardinals have used Hicks in a fairly traditional closer role, something that wasn’t guaranteed heading into the season. Hicks sneaks into the top 12 of the closer rankings for the first time this week, and he’s likely to continue ascending if he keeps pitching this well.

Chicago White Sox
Alex Colome has been quite fortunate to have allowed a .143 BABIP while stranding 97.2 percent of his baserunners. While that suggests some regression is coming, the most important thing is that he has built up a good bit of job security ahead of Kelvin Herrera. At this point, it looks like Colome could close for the Pale Hose all year unless he’s traded.

Philadelphia Phillies
Hector Neris has four saves for the Phillies, including the last three, while no other Philadelphia reliever has more than one. So we’ll tentatively call Neris the closer here even though Gabe Kapler can’t be trusted to stick with him for long. Neris is pitching well enough to be quite a fantasy asset if he can hold onto the job — his FIP, xFIP, and SIERA all support his 2.63 ERA.

Los Angeles Angels
With Cody Allen losing his job and then heading to the injured list with a stiff back, the Halos are currently splitting closer duties between Ty Buttrey and Hansel Robles. Buttrey is probably the better pure talent, but as we’ve seen across the league, Angels manager Brad Ausmus appears intent on using Buttrey in a more flexible fashion than just saving him for the ninth inning.

On Tuesday, Buttrey pitched the eighth and Robles earned the save, and on Wednesday Buttrey pitched the final two innings for a save of his own. Then on Thursday, Buttrey rested while Robles pitched the ninth of a game the Angels won by four. Both of these guys are clearly going to get some save chances in the immediate future, and possibly much longer than that if Allen is unable to eventually reclaim his job.

Kansas City Royals
According to David Benson of the Royals’ official MLB.com blog, Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters on Monday that Wily Peralta will close with righty Ian Kennedy and lefty Jake Diekman serving as setup men. So why do I still have this listed as a committee? Well, Peralta has a 7.07 ERA, more walks than strikeouts, and just a single save. Kennedy, meanwhile, has far superior numbers– including a 10.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio — and two saves.

Who closes games is obviously the manager’s prerogative, but you have to think Peralta is on the verge of losing his exclusive hold on the job — if he ever really had it to begin with.

Baltimore Orioles
Mychal Givens was Baltimore’s logical choice to close heading into the season, but four other Orioles relievers picked up a save before Givens finally got his first one. Save chances in Baltimore are few and far between, but Givens now has the last two. I’ll no longer designate this as a committee situation if he gets the next couple saves as well. Givens is not going to be a huge help in the non-saves categories other than strikeouts, but he is pitching decently enough to be an OK add for fantasy managers who are really hurting in saves.

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