Fantasy baseball bullpen report featuring Cole Sands, JoJo Romero and injury news

Welcome to the stretch run.

If you are reading this, you are still in contention for your league championship and not focused on fantasy football, which is appreciated.

Unfortunately, performance and injuries have wreaked havoc on the high-leverage landscape.

Beginning with injuries, Kyle Finnegan shut down his warmups on Wednesday (Sept.

3) with a tweaked groin and will undergo imaging per The Athletic s Cody Stavenhagen.

If he misses time, Will Vest will be back as the Tigers preferred save share.

Advertisement Trevor Megill will throw a bullpen session on Thursday (Sept.

4) and, if all goes well, will continue his return to play protocol, eying a (near) Sept.

11 return.

On the performance side, its been a rough stretch for those with Cade Smith, Bryan Abreu and Jeff Hoffman on their active rosters.

Also, Pete Fairbanks has not appeared in back-to-back games since Aug.

15-16, which caps his fantasy upside for the remainder of the season.

The team may use this time to evaluate his eventual replacement for next season.

He has a team option, which makes him expensive for the franchise in 2026.

Plus, he has already set career highs in appearances (52) and innings (52.1) this season.

Last but not least, there have been frustrating fluid or shared save situations since the trade deadline.

Here is a quick guide on teams without a clear closer, in alphabetical order, listing how many saves they have secured since Aug.

1, how many relievers have recorded a save and the team leader(s) in saves: Jake Woodford has been the preferred option in recent games, but Arizonas bullpen remains fluid based on matchups.

Still, Woodford and Andrew Saalfrank are the primary targets for those seeking saves until the end of the season.

Keegan Akin and Jordan Leasure have emerged as the preferred options; however, the ninth inning is not guaranteed.

Although Justin Topa has led the Twins in saves since the trade deadline, he has allowed at least a run in four consecutive appearances.

Those trying to get saves in this leverage ladder should target Cole Sands.

Riley OBrien has notched two saves and has not been in a game since Aug.

28 while dealing with shoulder discomfort.

If he continues missing time, Matt Svanson and Kyle Leahy will be in play for ancillary saves when JoJo Romero faces the toughest left-handed hitting pockets in the eighth inning.

With all of this in mind, our leverage pathways have been updated.

Here are our high-leverage pathway identifiers.

Each team will receive one of the following labels: American League leverage pathways National League leverage pathways Updated Tiered Rankings for Saves and SOLDS 2025 leaderboards through September 3 Bryan Baker (TB) Jordan Leasure (CHW) Keegan Akin (BAL) Jordan Woodford (ARI) Kaleb Ort (HOU) Tyler Phillips (MIA) Andrew Kittredge (CHC) Hunter Gaddis (CLE) Matt Brash (SEA) Andrew Saalfrank (ARI) Matt Svanson/Riley OBrien (STL) Advertisement *Multi-inning or bridge relievers who can vulture wins and help protect ratios.

Adrian Morejon (SD) Bubba Chandler (PIT) Aaron Ashby (MIL) Brad Keller (CHC) Statistical Credits: Fangraphs.com, Baseball-Reference.com, BaseballSavant.com and BrooksBaseball.net.

Check out my work at Reliever Recon and Closer Monkey for daily updates.

(Photo of JoJo Romero: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images) Connections: Sports Edition Spot the pattern.

Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle.

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.