If you're going to make up ground in saves at all, the time to do it is now. There are a finite number of them, after all, and with just three lineup locks remaining, you can only move up so much. Fortunately, the closer role has seen enough turnover lately that an ample number of saves can still be found on the waiver wire.
Mason Montgomery remains the best choice wherever he's available. The left-hander has become the undisputed closer for the Pirates, dominating with a 0.75 ERA and 16.1 K/9 over his past 25 appearances. You won't find him listed here because I featured him in my last Bullpen Report, and nothing about his role has changed since then.
Here's my look at the 10 bullpens most in flux. 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). A week ago, I thought better than to address the Athletics closer situation, not wanting to get sucked into Elvis Alvarado again.
Sure, he had recently recorded a save, but left-hander Hogan Harris, the team leader with 13, had notched one just a day later. Well, now Alvarado has three of the Athletics' past four, closing out consecutive games Aug. 25 and Aug. 26, and his usage for the past week-plus would seem to signal that he is indeed the top choice to close, with each of his past four appearances coming in the ninth inning to finish out a game. We've been down this road before with Alvarado, which is why I was wary of getting sucked in again, but he is the Athletics' most talented reliever, capable of hitting 102 mph with his fastball.
He's also been on a nice run lately, putting together a 1.06 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 10.1 K/9 over his past 19 appearances. It took a while for the Diamondbacks to land on a replacement for Paul Sewald, who has since departed to the Blue Jays, but they may finally have their man in Juan Morillo. The portly right-hander has notched back-to-back saves, with the latest coming Wednesday, and in between, he also closed out a four-run win.
An eighth-inning appearance Monday gives some reason for pause. Kevin Ginkel worked the ninth in that game (a one-run loss, notably) and got a save as recently as Aug. 23. But of the two right-handers, Morillo has the closer-caliber numbers, putting together a 2.15 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 10.3 K/9.
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