As we get deeper and deeper into the 2023 MLB season, it’s time for the rubber to hit the road — for fantasy baseball teams to decide whether they’re in or out this year, and what they might need for the long summer ahead. This is especially true for bullpens around, the league where injuries and ineffectiveness have laid waste to seemingly scores of top arms. That’s why we’re here to help, with four targets likely available in your league showing signs that they’re in for a big year.
Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Week 13 relief pitcher targets
Giovanny Gallegos, RP, St. Louis Cardinals
Roster percentage: 11%
Ryan Helsley is going to be out for the foreseeable future with a forearm strain, meaning the closer’s job is now Gallegos’ in St. Louis. The righty has struggled lately, most recently blowing a save against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon, but so has just about everyone else in the Cardinals bullpen who might represent competition for the ninth inning. Gallegos has the track record — he pitched to a 3.04 ERA and 11 K/9 across 2021 and 2022 — and the trust of Oli Marmol, and even with St. Louis in a tailspin, it’s not often you find clear-cut closers on the waiver wire.
Kendall Graveman, RP, Chicago White Sox
Roster percentage: 11.7%
Liam Hendriks joined Helsley on the IL this week with a forearm strain of his own, and the White Sox are sure to play it safe with the All-Star after he missed so much of this season recovering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It’s a brutal development to the biggest feel-good story of 2023, but it also means that Kendall Graveman is now the clear-cut choice in the ninth for manager Pedro Grifol. Graveman has been great recently, with a 0.95 ERA, six saves and three holds since the start of May, and with the White Sox playing better of late he should be added in all formats.
Daniel Bard, RP, Colorado Rockies
Roster percentage: 14.5%
Your guess is as good as ours regarding what Bud Black is thinking with his bullpen right now, but we know that Bard earned a lot of trust over the past couple of seasons closing out games for Colorado, and we also know that he pitched the ninth in consecutive tie games this week against the Boston Red Sox. He seems to have fully recovered from his early-season yips, with a 0.87 ERA on the year, and is still our bet to emerge as the closer: Pierce Johnson has been far too flammable to hold the job, while Justin Lawrence has consistently been used in other high-leverage spots.
Scott McGough, RP, Arizona Diamondbacks
Roster percentage: 3.3%
There was a good amount of McGough hype heading into the season, and while he began the year as Arizona’s closer, his struggles quickly required a shake-up in the Arizona bullpen.
But since early May, the righty has turned into a new pitcher, one that may be the best closing option in this bullpen moving forward. McGough has not allowed a run over his last 11.1 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out 17 over that span. With Andrew Chafin, the team’s best lefty, getting used in a variety of spots based on matchups while the other candidate for the job, Miguel Castro, continues to struggle, McGough could emerge as the 1A in this committee — at least for as long as Mark Melancon is out.
