If the first two weeks are any indication, this should be a good baseball season. There are fans of some teams that may dispute that claim, and as a Marlins fan myself...well, bullpens have been crazy haven't they?Smart baseball minds have been saying for years that a team's best relief pitcher shouldn't be pigeonholed into the ninth inning, and it looks like teams are finally starting to listen. Guys like Josh Hader and Andrew Miller kind of started the trend, but Raisel Iglesias on the Reds an[...]

Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Shane Greene recorded his MLB-leading sixth save of the season on Saturday as the Tigers topped the Royals. Greene threw a perfect frame and notched a strikeout to secure the victory in Detroit. The veteran reliever has yet to allow a run, has allowed just two hits, and hasn't walked anyone through his first six appearances. The Tigers are off to a surprisingly strong start, and it's not likely they'll keep winning at this pace, but Greene is still the obvious save[...]

Welcome back, baseball. We missed you. Your offseason was mostly boring, so here's hoping you make up for it with a great season. So far, you're off to a good start. Okay, enough.Closers and Saves Report is back for another year of looking over all of the important bullpen news of the week. [...]

Detroit Tigers closerShane Greene took the ball in the bottom of the 10th inning and was asked to protect a two-run lead on Opening Day on Thursday. He did not disappoint. Greene delivered a perfect inning and struck out one to secure the victory for the visiting Tigers. Greene's ERA was an unsightly 5.12 last year, but he was good for 33 saves in 38 chances. He's once again the clear go-to reliever in save situations for the Tigers and is poised for another 30-plus save season.

[...]

If you've played fantasy baseball long enough, you've heard some variation of the phrase "don't pay for saves" before. If you're new to the fantasy baseball community, you'll get used to it soon enough. The long-form version, for those of you who are indeed trying out fantasy baseball for the first time, is this: bullpen usage is volatile (especially these days) and saves are an incredibly arbitrary stat to begin with, so don't sacrifice high draft picks on closers.[...]

Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joe Jimenez is the closer of the future, but Shane Greene remains the closer of the present after finishing fourth in the American League with 32 saves last year. If Greene pitches well in the first half, he could be on the trade block at the July deadline. Despite the 32 saves, Greene was one of the weaker fantasy closers and allowed 12 long balls in 63 1/3 innings. He'll once again be one of the last established closers off the board in deeper leagues.

Despite whiffing on more than half, my 2018 predictions were highlighted by the claim that Christian Yelich would return first-round value. I was also justifiably optimistic about Matt Chapmans breakout and Khris Davis impending title of Home Run King. So, I figured, the best plan of attack for 2019 was to use the same template for some of those accurate predictions: ___ returns first-round value, ___ leads the Majors in home runs and ___ is a top-10 *insert position.*Beyond that, I ran with a f[...]

[...]

Fantasy sports can be just as frustrating as they can be fun, and few positions encompass that more than a fantasy baseball relief pitcher. A reliever can go from a fantasy darling to a completely meaningless name in your lineup overnight. And that's without an injury causing the issue.With the recent trend of not naming a closer and instead going with matchups, it's getting even harder to predict bullpens for fantasy baseball. [...]