July 20, 2020
Atlanta Braves — Will Smith has overcome his entanglement with COVID-19 and should be back before August. Mark Melancon should close for now.
Updated hierarchy: Melancon | Greene | Jackson.
Baltimore Orioles — The shorter season makes it more likely that closer-in-waiting Hunter Harvey will start out with a chance to claim the job. We’ll hedge with the committee asterisk, but Harvey is absolutely the class of this bullpen.
Updated hierarchy: *Harvey | Givens | Bleier.
* = closer-by-committee
Boston Red Sox — Josh Taylor has been cleared to rejoin workouts after a bout with COVID-19, but we’ll slide him off the hierarchy for now.
Updated hierarchy: Workman | Barnes | Hembree.
Houston Astros — The strong Astros bullpen is a source of real concern, as neither Roberto Osuna (conditioning) nor Ryan Pressly (blister) are throwing off a mound right now, and Joe Smith is likely to opt out of the season. Chris Devenski and Bryan Abreu are the healthiest options at the moment, with Brad Peacock battling shoulder inflammation. We’ll keep Osuna up top because he could be ready for Opening Day, but don’t be surprised by some unusual early usage.
Updated hierarchy: Osuna | Pressly | Devenski.
Kansas City Royals — The Royals traded away lefty reliever Tim Hill. Also, manager Mike Matheny has said that he wants to move away from a designated closer and take an outside-the-box approach. This is not good from a fantasy perspective and we will keep an eye on how it all plays out.
Hierarchy remains: Kennedy | Barlow | Holland.
Milwaukee Brewers — The Brewers bullpen got stronger heading into the shortened season thanks to the return of Corey Knebel, who has recovered from Tommy John surgery. While Knebel’s usage will certainly need to be monitored, he has a good chance of seeing some save chances when Josh Hader is unavailable.
Updated hierarchy: Hader | Knebel | Suter.
New York Yankees — Aroldis Chapman is likely to miss some time after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. While he’s away from camp, perhaps in his new bulletproof, six-wheeled Jeep, expect Zack Britton to get the first shot at Yankees save chances.
Updated hierarchy: Britton | Ottavino | Kahnle.
Philadelphia Phillies — Seranthony Dominguez will miss this season and probably the next after Tommy John surgery.
Updated hierarchy: Neris | Morgan | Alvarez.
Pittsburgh Pirates — Keone Kela won’t be the Pirates closer when the 60-game season starts on July 24, as the team placed him on the 10-day injured list. Derek Shelton said Friday that the Pirates will mix and match during Kela’s absence. The most likely candidate to close is Kyle Crick, who originally projected to set up Kela. Crick was bad on Saturday but will get another chance to pitch on Monday. After Crick, there’s a lot of buzz surrounding fireballer Nick Burdi, who also struggled on Saturday. Burdi is inexperienced but he hits triple digits, has nasty stuff, and has mostly impressed in both spring and summer training. After Crick and Burdi, you’re looking at roller-coaster rides like Michael Feliz and Richard Rodriguez.
Updated hierarchy: *Crick | Burdi | Rodriguez.
San Diego Padres — Andres Munoz is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March.
Updated hierarchy: Yates | Pagan | Pomeranz.
Seattle Mariners — With Yoshihisa Hirano hitting the IL, the Mariners expect to employ a closer committee that will include Matt Magill, Austin Adams, Dan Altavilla, and rookie lefty Anthony Misiewicz.
Updated hierarchy: *Magill | Adams | Altavilla.
* = closer-by-committee
St. Louis Cardinals — When Carlos Martinez got tabbed as the Cardinals’ fifth starter on Monday, the news came with an additional surprise: his main competition, Kwang Hyun Kim, would be moving to a high-leverage bullpen role, likely as the primary closer. This bumps Giovanny Gallegos and Andrew Miller down a peg.
Updated hierarchy: Kim | Gallegos | Miller.