For an overview of every team’s closer situation, check out our Fantasy Baseball Closer Depth Charts.

As last week’s Closer Report was being edited and prepared for publication, one of the biggest closer-related events of the season occurred. Dellin Betances, the world’s best setup man by far, became the New York Yankees’ closer due to an injury to Andrew Miller. Miller had been outstanding, pitching to a 1.03 ERA and 0.68 WHIP in 26.1 innings while amassing 17 saves without blowing any chances. Miller had a strong 14.70 K/9 and was contributing in every conceivable category as a relief pitcher. Betances, in the meantime, has been putting up “video game” numbers all season. In 35 innings, Betances has a 0.26 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP. His K/9 is 14.66 and he has now collected 4 saves. As great as Miller was, Betances might be even better. Betances is automatically a top-tier closer while Miller is out, and manager Joe Girardi will have plenty of thinking to do once Miller returns from his injury. Working in Betances’ favor is the fact that he throws right handed, but he actually performs better against lefty hitters (.061 BAA vs. lefties, .132 BAA vs. righties). Miller has similar reverse splits, allowing a .188 BAA vs. lefties and a .069 BAA vs. righties. Both pitchers are absolutely dominant and would be top-tier options for any team, so Girardi certainly has a great “problem.” Making Miller’s return to the closer role more likely is the makeup of the Yankees’ bullpen. They have plenty of lefties in their pen, so having Betances available to come in earlier than the ninth inning may prove to be more effective than having Miller available for the same role. Miller will likely regain his role as closer once he is healthy, but Betances should hold it down for a while and will still maintain mixed-league value upon Miller’s return due to his outstanding strikeout numbers.

Closer News Around the League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Despite manager Chip Hale’s insistence that Opening Day closer Addison Reed would get his job back, Brad Ziegler continues to rack up saves and strikeouts while Reed works earlier and earlier in games. During an outing where Ziegler had pitched too many days in a row, Hale went with Daniel Hudson for the save instead of Reed. That’s pretty telling as far as the Diamondbacks’ closer totem pole. Also, Reed allowed a few runs as the eighth inning setup guy and may have lost that role to Hudson as well. For now, Ziegler seems like he’s holding down the job, at least until he falters. Owners of Reed may have to accept their loss and let him go. If Ziegler is still available, this would be a great time to snag him off the wire.

Philadelphia Phillies

Jonathan Papelbon is quietly having one of the best seasons of his career. The saves aren’t coming in bunches since he’s pitching for a team that doesn’t win much, but his peripheral stats have been great. Papelbon has a 1-1 record with 13 saves. His 1.01 ERA/0.97 WHIP are nice, but it’s his 10.52 K/9 that is most impressive. Papelbon has lost a few miles per hour from his fastball, but he’s still been able to pick his spots and mix up his pitches, leading him to the fourth best strikeout rate of his career. There is almost no doubt that “Paps” will be traded by the deadline. Assuming he moves to a team where he will immediately step into the closer’s role, he could become quite valuable right away. For now, his situation as an excellent closer on a bad team brings him down a few tiers since he won’t have the opportunity to earn many saves. As soon as he is traded, his value will jump as he will presumably continue providing strikeouts and a low ERA/WHIP combo, but will then add saves in bunches to his stat sheet.

San Diego Padres

Craig Kimbrel used to be one of those guys who when you would look at his stat sheet, you would have to look again and make sure you weren’t just imagining things. He was another closer who put up “video game” numbers year in and year out. Kimbrel’s career ERA is 1.63, while his career WHIP is 0.94. His career strikeout rate is 14.69 K/9. He has had an amazing career already, and he’s only 27 years old. This season, however, his first as a Padre, has not been quite as kind. Kimbrel has 17 saves and has only blown 1, so he’s been great in that regard. His ERA and WHIP, though, are not very Kimbrel-like. His 3.67 ERA is almost triple his career average and his WHIP is 1.33, the first time since his rookie year that it is over 1.00. Regardless of the numbers he’s put up, he’s still an excellent closer and will likely go on some ridiculous run soon to prove all doubters wrong. While he may temporarily slide out of the top tier into tier 1b, he’s still an absolutely excellent closer option. Check who in your league owns Kimbrel and try to buy low before he goes on a run.

Injury Updates

St. Louis Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal missed a few games, opening the door for Kevin Siegrist to pick up a few saves. Rosenthal had “upper-arm discomfort” and hadn’t pitched since June 13th, but it doesn’t seem like a serious concern, as he was reportedly available for Wednesday’s game even though he didn’t end up pitching. In the meantime, Siegrist was able to show that he’d be a solid ninth-inning option if anything more serious were ever to happen to Rosenthal. Siegrist now has three saves on the season to go with a 1.78 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Rosenthal is the better arm here, and he should have no problem holding onto his job if healthy, but Siegrist would be worth an add if Rosenthal were to ever require a DL stint.

Interesting Tidbit

The Texas Rangers finally named Shawn Tolleson as their closer. Tolleson has nine saves and has been closing games in Texas since May 20th, but manager Jeff Banister hadn’t bestowed the official title onto Tolleson until this week. He’s fared well, saving all nine games he’s had a chance to close out while posting a 2.61 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He won’t be a top-tier guy, but he’ll provide saves and a decent number of Ks. Now that he’s been officially named closer, his job should be secure as well.

Top Performers 6/11/15-6/18/15

Aroldis Chapman – CIN – 3 IP, 2 SV, 8 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP

Mark Melancon – PIT – 4 IP, 3 SV, 2 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP

Huston Street – LAA – 4 IP, 3 SV, 3 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

A.J. Ramos – MIA – 3 IP, 2 SV, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP

Another week, another set of top performers who did not allow a single run. Chapman tossed only three innings but was able to tally two saves and a ridiculous eight strikeouts. Chapman got nine outs this past week, and eight of them were strikeouts. Recent reports of him being on the trading block should be taken with a grain of salt, but any team that grabs Chapman would be acquiring an elite pitcher to end games.

Melancon had a slow start to the season, but his manager Clint Hurdle believed in him and gave him a vote of confidence. Since then, he has saved 19 straight games and has looked like an excellent bet to keep his job for the long term. His strikeouts are down, but he picks up saves in bunches and keeps runs off the board.

Street had a solid week, contributing four scoreless innings and picking up three saves and three strikeouts. He allowed a base runner per inning, but managed to keep them from scoring. Street is not an elite arm, but is a good closer on a team that should win more games in the second half of the season than they did in the first. He’s a solid, if unspectacular, fantasy option.

Ramos earned the Miami Marlins’ closer role by being a dominating reliever for the past few years. His only problem, the thing keeping him from being elite, was his walk rate. He led the league in walks per nine innings last season, but has really learned to control his pitches and developed one of the best changeups in baseball. Ramos had an excellent week, picking up two saves but pitching three scoreless innings with five strikeouts while only allowing one base runner.

Spec Picks for the Upcoming Schedule

Drew Storen vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (Friday, June 19-Sunday, June 21) – Drew Storen has been outstanding this season, posting 19 saves and a 2.16 ERA. The Pirates are playing great baseball of late, but the Nationals are the better team on paper. This will likely lead to a series full of close games ending with save situations for Storen or Melancon. The Nats are more likely to have a lead in the ninth, so Storen is the pick for this series, but Melancon isn’t a bad choice.

Dellin Betances vs. Detroit Tigers (Friday, June 19-Sunday June 21) – Betances is ridiculous, as covered earlier. The Yankees and Tigers should play a series of close games, and Girardi has shown he is not afraid to use his new closer for multiple-inning appearances. Betances is almost a guarantee for at least one or two strikeouts each appearance, even more if he pitches more than one inning. He was worth owning before he could pick up saves.

We welcome any comments and suggestions you have to make the report as useful as possible for your fantasy team’s needs.

David A Marcillo is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from David, check out his archive and follow him @DavidMarcillo77.

