September 20, 2016
Oakland A’s – Ryan Madson continued his free fall last night, getting touched up for two runs on three hits and taking the loss. He has struggled mightily in September, going 1-3 with a 7.71 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP. While this is terrible news for Madson owners during fantasy playoffs, it is an opportunity for those owners desperate for saves. Both Ryan Dull and Sean Doolittle are good speculative options should Bob Melvin demote Madson.
Hierarchy remains: Madson | Dull | Doolittle.
San Francisco Giants – Another day, another Giants bullpen meltdown. Following a sterling performance by Madison Bumgarner, where he surrendered only one hit in seven innings, the bullpen gave up five hits and two runs while only recording three outs before Hunter Strickland gave up the walk-off double to Adrian Gonzalez to end the game. We have no answers here, and neither do the Giants.
Hierarchy remains: * Law | Strickland | Romo.
* = closer-by-committee
St. Louis Cardinals — Reminder: vulture saves win fantasy championships! As we predicted yesterday, Kevin Siegrist snagged his third save of the season, filling in for an unavailable Seung Hwan Oh.
Hierarchy remains: Oh | Siegrist | Bowman.
Miami Marlins – A.J. Ramos locked down the save after giving up a lead-off double to Wilson Ramos, and the Marlins are still in the wild card chase, albeit four games back. With Miami engaged in a race for the playoffs, we expect Ramos to be the clear number one option for saves for the rest of the season.
Hierarchy remains: Ramos | Rodney | Phelps.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Ryan Dull/Sean Doolittle, Oakland A’s – In addition to his recent struggles, Ryan Madson has went 1.1 innings last night. Seems like a good time for some rest.