Paul’s Call to the ‘Pen: August 19

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  • By Paul Williamson

    In this re-re-revamped Call to the ‘Pen, I will talk about the bullpen arms that are actually available for you to pick up.

    For saves leagues, I list a number of arms that are likely to get save chances and are under 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues. I list them in order of priority. 

    For the holds league section, my roster% bar is 10% or under. I highlight some of the top arms to consider for your holds leagues. I chose such a small % as many of the top setup men all have double digit roster rates. I want to focus on arms that are realistically available.

    NOTE – Read the blurbs for each as I note some speculative adds and describe their value.

    Closers under 50% rostered (Yahoo) – listed in order of priority

    Tanner Scott (45%) – Dodgers – Edwin Diaz is back on the IL and that opens the door for Scott to be the closer for one of the best teams in baseball and is a must-add everywhere.

    Yoendrys Gomez (35%) – Twins – The Twins are in the thick of a playoff hunt and the acquisition of Jeff Hoffman has not effected the value of Gomez. The metrics are not pretty (high BB%, low SwStr%, high fly ball and barrel rates) but it is hard to argue with the results now.

    Brandyn Garcia (16%) – D’Backs – Yes, Justin Martinez is back and yes, he is a speculative add but I’m holding Garcia everywhere and I’m still adding him as, it is my guess that he will remain the closer until he gives it up. Garcia has a 2.52 ERA and 30.6% K% to go with a 6.0% BB% so he has been nails and deserves to keep the job.

    Mason Montgomery (13%) – Pirates – After harping on Luke Weaver, the Pirates turned Mason Montgomery for the first true save chance since the trade deadline on Tuesday. And both arms were available. Montgomery has shown the skills to be the closer all year and I’ve written about him in these articles alot. But better late then never and making me wear egg in the process. Weaver can be held in deeper formats as this still could be a committee. It was just one save chance. But, Monty is the priority in this ‘Pen.

    Kodai Senga (26%) – Mets – The Mets are on one right now and Senga has been a lock down closer in the absence of the struggling Devin Williams. As a reliever he has a major uptick in velocity that has allowed him to return a K% north of 30% with tons of swing and miss. He has a signature whiff pitch with his forkball that should allow him to be a great closer. If I was confident in the Mets as a team I would have him at the top.

    Grant Taylor (29%) – White Sox – So this has turned into a mess of a committee but Taylor is the leader of it and should get most of the saves but Sean Newcomb, Bryan Hudson and Jordan Hicks hold deep league value as really any of them can come out. Remember, when the ChiSox struggled over the last couple of years, they had a committee approach to the ‘pen so don’t expect that to change now.

    Clayton Beeter (17%) – Nationals – His 12% SwStr% denotes more K-upside than his current 24.4% K% but his walks will hold him back, as well as the declining team context.

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    August 19, 2026, 8:00 am