Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: Kevin Ginkel might be the last man standing in Arizona

Sports

add

It’s been a nightmare season for the Diamondbacks, and their closers certainly haven’t been spared.

Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk have both had elbow surgery and will be out until next season, while Shelby Miller was recently placed on the IL with a forearm strain. We don’t know the extent of that injury at this point, but it seems safe to say he won’t be pitching for a while. And the bullpen beyond those three has been pretty bad, unfortunately, which is part (though certainly not all) of why this team has been so disappointing this season. 

The good news, inasmuch as there is any good news here, is that there is an obviously closer option here, at least. At least … for now. 

Kevin Ginkel has experience as a high-leverage reliever, including 15 career saves for the Diamondbacks, and he got the first save after Miller’s injury, so we feel pretty confident he’s going to be the guy. How confident can we feel that he’s going to remain the guy? That’s a much different question, with Ginkel sporting a 9.00 ERA (and 4.92 xERA, in case you were hoping the underlying numbers painted a rosier picture) since returning from a shoulder injury at the start of the season. 

The track record is much stronger than that, obviously – from 2022 through 2025, Ginkel had a 2.95 ERA and peripherals to match – and we’re dealing with a relatively small sample size so far this season. Still, it hasn’t been good, and Ginkel hardly looks like a slam-dunk closer for Fantasy. He just looks like the best choice in a bullpen full of bad ones right now. 

Here’s a look at some of the other shifting bullpen situations from the past few weeks: 

Note: “Pecking order” refers to rosterability in Fantasy and not necessarily who’s first in line for saves (though it’s usually one and the same).

Anthony Bender got a save Monday at a time when it looked like Ronny Henriquez was emerging as the strong favorite for saves for the Marlins. Still, he has three of the past five, and in one of the two he didn’t get, he pitched the eighth inning of a tied game and got the win, which is usage we’ll take. The Marlins have been mercurial about their ninth inning role all season long, but Henriquez looks like their best reliever and has been getting the high-leverage, late-inning situations for a team that has been much more competitive lately, so I do think this is the first time this situation has actually looked promising for Fantasy this season. 

The last time a pitcher got two consecutive saves for the Phillies was Jordan Romano back in late May, and he hasn’t had a save since. The last time a pitcher got three saves in a row for the Phillies was Jose Alvarado in June … of 2024. This isn’t a case where the Phillies don’t have enough good options; they just don’t like to settle on one closer at a time. Strahm and Orion Kerkering are the clear best options here, and I think Matt Strahm is a step above Kerkering despite a slightly higher ERA this season.

But I do wonder if the Phillies aren’t a prime candidate to trade for an elite closer. They went out and added Carlos Estevez despite a deep bullpen last year, and with Jose Alvarado ineligible for the postseason even when he returns from his suspension, they would probably prefer to have at least one more high-leverage arm they can trust – and Jordan Romano has proven he isn’t that anymore. A reunion with Estevez would make some sense, but would they be willing to take a bigger swing for a true star reliever like Felix Bautista or Mason Miller if they are made available? If not, I think this will continue to be a muddle mess for Fantasy, with Strahm probably the preferred option if you have to pick one. Just don’t expect even 10 saves the rest of the way. 

Aroldis Chapman is the closer here. There’s no controversy, but it also feels inevitable that he’ll be traded at some point before the end of the month, doesn’t it? The Red Sox are three games over .500, but they’re a long shot to actually make the playoffs, and Chapman is on a one-year deal, so flipping him for a long-term piece would make sense. Especially if they think Jordan Hicks can step in and fill in capably, which would make perfect sense.

Hicks has 34 career saves and seems finished with the starting experiment, which is probably for the best – his career ERA as a starter (4.91) is significantly higher than as a reliever (3.77). The Red Sox have already thrown him into some high-leverage spots since his acquisition, and getting a closer out of it would probably help make the Rafael Devers trade look better. Chapman is the closer for now, but I think Hicks might be the better bet to lead the team in saves the rest of the way. 

Luke Weaver hasn’t had a save since coming back from the IL nearly three weeks ago, so I think this one is just back to being Williams’ job … if he can keep it. Devin Williams has a 2.31 ERA with 15 strikeouts and two walks in 11.2 innings of work since the start of June, and his signature changeup is back to generating huge swing and miss rates since an unusually slow start. And his fastball velocity is trending up along with it. All signs point to Williams being an elite reliever down the stretch, but in deeper leagues, I would still hang on to Weaver, because the Yankees have already shown they’re willing to pull Williams out of the role if he isn’t getting the job done. 

Grant Taylor has the explosive stuff necessary to be a closer, and I think the White Sox would probably prefer it if he stepped into that role for good. His fastball is sitting at 99.2 mph on average and generating a massive 37% whiff rate, and his command has mostly been decent, which is never a sure thing for a young fireballer. There won’t be many opportunities for saves here, obviously – as a team, the White Sox have just 11 on the season – so Taylor is probably the only one of these names you actually need to know about for Fantasy. If he falters, Steven Wilson or Brandon Eister probably aren’t good enough to matter for most Fantasy leagues on a bad team. 

I’ve been operating under the assumption that the Braves want Raisel Iglesias to become the closer again, but maybe that’s not the right way to think about it. Iglesias is an impending free agent, and the Braves have incredibly long odds to make the playoffs, so I’m not sure there is actually much pressure to force him back into that role. Iglesias hasn’t allowed a run in a month, with 14 strikeouts over 9.2 innings in his past 11 appearances entering play Wednesday, and he has only had one save opportunity in that time. 

In fairness, Dylan Lee has only had one save in that time, and it actually came before Iglesias’, so Iglesias might already be back in that role – the Braves have just been so bad that they haven’t had any opportunities to test that, with just two wins in their past 12 games. I think I would give Iglesias the edge for saves moving forward, but the truth is, this just may not be a good situation for a closer to be in right now. But you’d probably rather have Iglesias than Lee. 

I guess the question is, does anyone want to be closer in Texas? Chris Martin still looks like the best reliever in this bullpen, but at this point, I just don’t see much reason to think he’s actually going to get the job. It looked like maybe Robert Garcia was starting to emerge as the top option, and then last week he was pulled with two outs in the ninth after giving up a couple of hits, leading to a Shawn Armstrong save. So, could Armstrong be the guy? Well, in his next appearance, Armstrong pitched in the sixth and seventh innings, allowing two runs on three hits to blow a lead.

On the whole, I still think Garcia is the pitcher to roster here. But he has just one save over the past three weeks and just two over the past month, so it’s not like he’s an obvious, must-add option in all Fantasy formats. Especially since managers are often unwilling to fully commit to lefties as their primary closers unless they are obviously elite pitchers. I don’t think Garcia really reaches that level, so his leash is likely to be pretty short. 

Maybe Martin ends up in the closer’s role in the long run, or maybe they continue to give anyone with a pulse opportunities ahead of him. I don’t quite understand the unwillingness to commit to Martin, but it’s been going on long enough that I don’t think it makes much sense to keep waiting around for him. This is a messy situation and a mediocre team, and the juice just might not be worth the squeeze in Texas. 

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Is Haynes King college football’s most underrated QB? Why the Georgia Tech veteran has a strong case

Sports

Next

Arsenal má třetí letní posilu. Z Brentfordu získal dánského záložníka Nörgaarda

Sports