This is part one of a two-part trade deadline edition of the Closer Carousel. In today's part one, you'll find the usual "Who Earned Saves This Week?" section at the start and the Closer Grid at the end, but the typical middle sections of this article have been replaced by a look at every trade involving a reliever in the last week.
Tomorrow's part two will take a look at all the remaining reliever trades, including every deadline day deal Monday as well as any potential late-night Sunday trades which take place after this article is published.
Normal Closer Carousel service will resume Friday.
Who Earned Saves This Week?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Rico Garcia (5), Andrew Kittredge (4), Tyler Wells (4) | Rico Garcia (5) | Wells may have been unavailable for Garcia's save Monday, having pitched on two of the previous three days. Andrew Kittredge pitched in the eighth inning. Garcia's blown save Wednesday came in the 11th inning after Wells pitched a pair of scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th. Kittredge picked up the save in that game after recording one out in the 12th. |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman 3 (27), Greg Weissert (1) | none | Weissert's save Wednesday came in the 10th inning after Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth to keep the score tied. |
| New York | David Bednar 4 (24) | Paul Blackburn (2), Camilo Doval (4) | With Bednar unavailable Wednesday after pitching on back-to-back days, Blackburn blew the save in the eighth inning in |
This is part one of a two-part trade deadline edition of the Closer Carousel. In today's part one, you'll find the usual "Who Earned Saves This Week?" section at the start and the Closer Grid at the end, but the typical middle sections of this article have been replaced by a look at every trade involving a reliever in the last week.
Tomorrow's part two will take a look at all the remaining reliever trades, including every deadline day deal Monday as well as any potential late-night Sunday trades which take place after this article is published.
Normal Closer Carousel service will resume Friday.
Who Earned Saves This Week?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Rico Garcia (5), Andrew Kittredge (4), Tyler Wells (4) | Rico Garcia (5) | Wells may have been unavailable for Garcia's save Monday, having pitched on two of the previous three days. Andrew Kittredge pitched in the eighth inning. Garcia's blown save Wednesday came in the 11th inning after Wells pitched a pair of scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th. Kittredge picked up the save in that game after recording one out in the 12th. |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman 3 (27), Greg Weissert (1) | none | Weissert's save Wednesday came in the 10th inning after Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth to keep the score tied. |
| New York | David Bednar 4 (24) | Paul Blackburn (2), Camilo Doval (4) | With Bednar unavailable Wednesday after pitching on back-to-back days, Blackburn blew the save in the eighth inning in what would have been a five-out save chance before Doval blew it again in the 10th. Doval was dealt to the Pirates three days later. |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker 3 (31) | none | |
| Toronto | Louis Varland 3 (24) | none |
*A pitcher can earn a blown save if he enters in what is technically a save situation prior to the ninth inning and blows the lead. For fantasy purposes, we don't really care about blown saves where a reliever was clearly being used as a setup man and coughed up the lead. What matters to us is when a reliever was genuinely being given a chance to save the game but blew it. Therefore, for the purposes of this article, I'm only going to report blown saves of that variety.
| American League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | none | none | |
| Cleveland | Cade Smith (30) | none | |
| Detroit | Kenley Jansen (13) | none | |
| Kansas City | none | Alex Lange (3), Matt Strahm (4) | While it was Strahm who was charged with the blown save Thursday, it was Lucas Erceg who was given the ball in the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He got the first two outs but then allowed the next three batters to reach base before being pulled for Strahm, who let them all score on a walk-off grand slam by Kody Clemens. |
| Minnesota | Yoendrys Gomez (14) | none |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | Hogan Harris (9) | none | |
| Houston | Josh Hader 3 (15), Bryan Abreu (7), A.J. Blubaugh (1) | none | Abreu's save Wednesday came with Hader unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. Blubaugh entered Sunday's game with two outs in the eighth inning and a four-run lead, but it was technically a save situation with a runner on base. He remained in the game for what was no longer a save situation in the ninth inning. |
| Los Angeles | Ryan Zeferjahn (4) | Sam Bachman (3) | Zeferjahn got the last five outs to pick up the save Sunday after Bachman got just one out in the eighth inning. Kirby Yates may not have been available, having thrown 22 pitches Saturday. |
| Seattle | Andres Munoz (19) | Andres Munoz (6) | |
| Texas | Jacob Latz (21) | none |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Raisel Iglesias 3 (24), Elieser Hernandez (1) | none | Hernandez's save Friday was of the three-inning variety. |
| Miami | Pete Fairbanks 4 (17), Lake Bachar (2) | none | Bachar's save Saturday was a three-inning save. |
| New York | Devin Williams 2 (16) | none | |
| Philadelphia | none | Jhoan Duran (2) | |
| Washington | Clayton Beeter (11) | none |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Aaron Civale (1), Caleb Thielbar (3) | Trent Thornton (1) | Thornton's blown save Wednesday came in the 10th inning. Civale got the last two outs of the 10th inning to pick up the save Thursday after Jacob Webb pitched a scoreless ninth and got the first out of the 10th. |
| Cincinnati | Emilio Pagan (11) | none | |
| Milwaukee | Trevor Megill (18) | none | |
| Pittsburgh | Gregory Soto (14) | none | Mason Montgomery, who might be moving ahead of Soto on the Pirates' closer depth chart, was unavailable for Soto's save Saturday, having pitched on back-to-back days. |
| St. Louis | none | none |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Brandyn Garcia 2 (3) | Paul Sewald (3), Kevin Ginkel (1) | Sewald and Ginkel's blown saves came in the same game Tuesday, with Sewald blowing the save in the ninth and Ginkel doing the same in the 10th. Sewald's blown save was the last strong for manager Torey Lovullo, who announced Wednesday that Sewald had been removed from the closer role. Garcia's first save of the week came later that day. |
| Colorado | Jordan Romano (5) | none | |
| Los Angeles | Edwin Diaz (5) | none | Diaz was thrown immediately into a save situation the day he was activated from the 60-day injured list Wednesday. He shut the door successfully but not before allowing a run to cut the lead to two. |
| San Diego | Mason Miller (28), German Marquez (1) | Mason Miller (1) | Marquez's save Friday was of the three-inning variety, or in this case, five innings. Miller's first blown save of the year didn't even see him allow any runs of his own. He was given the chance at a five-out save but allowed a pair of runners inherited from Jeremiah Estrada to score in the eighth inning. He wound up pitching a scoreless ninth and picking up the win after the Padres walked it off. |
| San Francisco | Erik Miller 2 (4) | none | Caleb Kilian was likely available for Miller's save Monday. He pitched in the seventh inning prior to Miller's save Thursday. |
Reliever Trades
Wednesday
The Rangers acquire C Logan O'Hoppe and RP Chase Silseth from the Angels in exchange for minor-league SS Angel Arredondo.
Closer changes for the Rangers: None for now. Jacob Latz remains firmly the closer, but if he were to get hurt, Silseth should be in the mix for saves with his 2.66 ERA. That mark comes with a less impressive 3.76 SIERA, but that would still make him one of Texas' top relievers behind Latz. There's no guarantee Silseth would get save chances ahead of Jakob Junis (adductor), Chris Martin (shoulder), Cole Winn or Tyler Alexander should something happen to Latz, however.
Closer changes for the Angels: None. While Silseth was one of the Angels' more effective relievers, he wasn't in the mix for saves, so we can't even say this makes it meaningfully easier for someone like Ryan Zeferjahn to claim a true closer role for the final two months.
Thursday
The Twins acquire RP A.J. Minter from the Mets in exchange for minor-leaguers 3B Billy Amick and 2B Bruin Agbayani.
Closer changes for the Twins: None, unless something happens to Yoendrys Gomez, who has deservedly settled into a true closer role after the team used a committee at the start of the year. Minter has been very good this season, with a 2.22 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 25 appearances, so if an injury to Gomez causes the team to return to a committee approach, Minter will likely be a key part of the plan.
Closer changes for the Mets: None. Minter was exclusively used in a setup role for the Mets and wasn't in the mix for save chances. The only potential fantasy impact here is that the deal takes Minter out of the conversation for a potential closer if the Mets deal both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver before the deadline. Brooks Raley and Huascar Brazoban now look like the favorites if that happens.
Saturday
The Pirates acquire RP Camilo Doval from the Yankees in exchange for minor-leaguers C Omar Alfonzo and OF Luis Cruz.
Closer changes for the Pirates: A previous version of Doval might have been favored to win the Pirates' closer job over the last two months, but this year's version has struggled to a 4.65 ERA and 1.40 WHIP while striking out a career-low 22.0 percent of opposing batters, well below his career average of 28.0 percent. Unless the Pirates can make a tweak or two that returns Doval to peak form, the best he can hope for is likely to be a minor part of a closer committee led by Gregory Soto and Mason Montgomery.
Closer changes for the Yankees: None. David Bednar has a firm grip on the Yankees' closer job, and Doval's struggles this season left him as little more than a middle reliever. If something happens to Bednar, Fernando Cruz would likely step into the ninth inning, though that was already the case prior to this deal.
The Guardians acquire RP Craig Yoho and OF Blake Perkins from the Brewers in exchange for C Bo Naylor and RP Codi Heuer.
Closer changes for the Guardians: None. Cade Smith remains clearly the closer in Cleveland, though if he were to get hurt, Yahoo could potentially be in the mix for saves, though Erik Sabrowski and Colin Holderman would likely be ahead of him.
Closer changes for the Brewers: None. Yoho wasn't pushing Trevor Megill for saves and neither will Heuer. If Megill gets hurt, Abner Uribe is the clear next man up.
The Mariners acquire RP Seranthony Dominguez and minor-leaguers OF Nolan Jones and C Boston Smith from the White Sox in exchange for SP Luis Castillo.
Closer changes for the Mariners: None unless Andres Munoz gets hurt, and even in that case, Dominguez would likely be behind Jose Ferrer and Matt Brash (lat), as well as potentially Gabe Speier and Eduardo Bazardo. Dominguez may have opened the year as the White Sox's closer, but his 3.99 ERA and 3.84 SIERA fit best in middle relief.
Closer changes for the White Sox: A month or two ago, this would have upended the White Sox's closer depth chart, but Dominguez has since pitched his way out of the closer conversation, with his last save coming back on June 14. Since that date, Grant Taylor has three of the team's seven saves. This trade guarantees that Dominguez won't get his job back, which does marginally raise Taylor's fantasy stock, but that was already a long shot.
The Nationals acquired RP Yovanny Cruz, RP Jake Bird, and minor-leaguers RP Ben Grable and SP Jack Cebert from the Yankees in exchange for 1B Luis Garcia Jr.
Closer changes for the Nationals: Probably none. Clayton Beeter increasingly looks like a true closer for the Nationals rather than merely a committee leader, and while he's hardly convincing (3.58 ERA, 4.19 SIERA), none of the relievers acquired here looks like an immediate threat to his job. Cruz has potential but has thrown just 5.1 career big-league innings, while Bird's 3.69 SIERA comes with a 5.93 ERA. They should add depth to the Nationals bullpen but are unlikely to see save chances. Grable could add depth as well, though he's so far only reached Double-A.
Closer changes for the Yankees: None. None of the pitchers dealt away here were throwing high-leverage innings for the Yankees.
Closer Grid
This article will be published twice a week through the season, taking a look back at the previous series' top closer news. For more closer updates, check out the RotoWire Closer Grid, which changes daily.
Here's how the whole thing looks as of Sunday evening:
*part of a committee
Questions about any of the closers covered above or any relievers you're considering picking up off the waiver wire? Let me know in the comments below.
