The Bullpen Call:

Welcome to our first in-season edition of this running segment. We’ll be covering everything bullpen wise including looking at saves adds, holds adds, ration reduction adds, and speculative relievers with value to watch list or fire up.

Your fantasy pitching side can be strategized in many ways, but filling active roster slots with quality arms (good whip/era, solid K rate) can be a boon to your overall point system or category coverage. While saves and holds are premium (depending on format), quality arms such as Giovanny Gallegos or Erik Swanson can also help weekly with your ratios. For example, Jason Adam was a top 100 player in 2022 without garnering a linear closer role. Bullpen fantasy rats love finding the next reliever up, so we’ll be sure to have you guys covered throughout 2023! The most unique part of this segment will be deep dives on non-closing relievers after going through saves adds.

First, let’s look at some of the most common save wire pickups early in the season. These are guys not universally owned in draft season and the start of the season.

Tier 1:

1-Andrew Chafin: Chafin had some competition from McGough and Jameson early on, but he’s gotten the lion’s share of saves recently. Due to Chafin’s ratios and ratio upside, we have him as the primary saves wire target early on if he’s available. Chafin has a 3.68 era with a 0.95 whip and 3 saves in 7 innings. His K rate has been solid, adding 10ks in his 7 innings of work. Chafin put up a sub 3.00 era and sub 1.20 whip in 2022. The D-backs are winning some games, so my Chafin is sure to be off your wire if he’s still hanging there. Go smash the add button.

2-A.J. Puk: What we want from saves adds are guys with solid K rates, ratios, and some track to linear saves. Puk hits all three, so let’s get him up high on this list. Puk was a solid reliever for the A’s, and had some save opportunities, but he never grabbed a linear role. Now with the Marlins, he’s been used in save situations, and he has some competition with Dylan Floro (who has started out great). Puk has a 1.13 era with 3 saves and a 0.88 whip with 8ks in 8 innings so far in 2023. In 2022, Puk put up a 3.12 era, 1.15 whip, and 76ks in 66 innings. Yes, Puk may not be elite, but he’s what you’re looking for in an early-season saves rush. He’s a saves add currently.

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