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Fantasy baseball waiver wire: 5 sneaky relief pitcher adds

By Brad Berreman

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 20: Dylan Floro #36 of the Miami Marlins pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the ninth inning at Oracle Park on May 20, 2023 in San Francisco, California. The Marlins won the game 1-0. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 20: Dylan Floro #36 of the Miami Marlins pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the ninth inning at Oracle Park on May 20, 2023 in San Francisco, California. The Marlins won the game 1-0. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Heading into a new week, here are five sneaky relief pitchers to take a look at on the waiver wire in your fantasy baseball leagues.

In fantasy baseball, in terms of relief pitching, saves is the sexy and generally most valuable (as in points) category. It can lead to other categories, or even red flags in deeper metrics, to be ignored. Holds have, pardon the pun, taken hold as a category to expand the universe of usable relievers in fantasy.

It’s also valuable to know who would be next up for saves if the current closer went down to an injury. Maybe that guy has current value anyway, and would take off if he was first in line to close games. Better teams obviously yield more save chances, but high leverage relievers and closers on bad teams shouldn’t be ignored.

Heading into a new full week, here are five sneaky relief pitchers who should be on your radar on the fantasy baseball waiver wire.

Note: Rostered rates are as of the morning of Mon. May 22, with stats through Sun. May 21.

Fantasy baseball waiver wire: 5 sneaky relief pitchers to add

5. Hunter Harvey, Washington Nationals

Kyle Finnegan leads the Nationals with nine saves. But Harvey picked up save on Sunday, and the numbers show he’s been the better pitcher.

Harvey: 3.00 ERA (3.24 FIP), 10.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.95 WHIP
Finnegan: 5.00 ERA (6.13 FIP), 8.5 K/9, 5.0 BB/9, 1.72 WHIP

Harvey has blown three saves, but he also has eight holds and two wins. Outside of two rough outings, where he has allowed five runs over a total of 2.1 innings, he has allowed zero runs in 16 of his other 18 outings so far this season.

Harvey might be more of a watch list guy than a slam-dunk must-add, outside of the deepest leagues. But he’s hovering around taking over the closer role in Washington.

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Yahoo! Ownership: 7%

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