Fantasy bullpen report featuring concerns for closers Devin Williams, Raisel Iglesias
Another week has passed, and volatility remains the theme for high-leverage relievers this season. Luke Weaver was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained hamstring and could miss four weeks or more. This opens the door for Devin Williams as the preferred save option. Can he make the most of this second opportunity?
Advertisement
Since my last post, David Bednar has recorded his team's past three saves, so the Pirates' leverage pathway has been adjusted accordingly. Cubs manager Craig Counsell has not named a closer and could try easing Ryan Pressly back into save chances, but Daniel Palencia has made his case for an extended look as his bullpen's anchor.
Tanner Scott has had some rough outings as a result of his four-seam fastball placement, which was ill-fated timing with a bevy of leverage relievers on the injured list. Reinforcements could be en route in the form of Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates. Both completed live batting practice and may be active this weekend in St. Louis. Kopech posted a 3.00 WHIP with 10 strikeouts versus 11 walks across nine appearances (6.1 innings) during his rehab assignment.
With this in mind, the leverage pathways have been updated. Here are our high-leverage pathway identifiers. Each team will receive one of the following labels:
Access The Athletic's guide for abbreviations used in fantasy baseball.
Reid Detmers (LAA): He's amid a seven-game scoreless streak, during which he has posted four holds and one save, with a 1.142 WHIP and 10 strikeouts against three walks (25.9 K-BB%) through seven innings.
Devin Williams (NYY): He converted his first save chance with Luke Weaver on the injured list but allowed an earned run on two hits against Cleveland. He has a 2.37 WHIP and a 12.10 ERA in the ninth inning across 11 games, spanning 9.2 innings, compared to a 0.78 WHIP with a 38.3 K-BB percentage through 10 appearances over nine innings in the eighth. Can he translate his recent gains as a set-up reliever to the closer role with the Yankees?
Ronny Henriquez (MIA): He hasn't been scored upon in 11 of his previous 12 appearances with a 0.69 WHIP, recording 20 strikeouts against four walks (32.6 K-BB percentage) through 13 innings since May 7.
Randy Rodríguez (SF): He owns a 14-game streak without allowing a run, during which he has two wins, a save and four holds with a 0.54 WHIP, tallying 23 strikeouts versus three walks (40 K-BB%) and a robust 20.3 swinging strike percentage.
Advertisement
Raisel Iglesias (ATL): Since May 3, he has allowed at least a run in seven of 12 appearances with a 1.63 WHIP across 12.1 innings. He has a 1.37 WHIP through his first 24 games (23.1 IP). His struggles with contact have persisted, even after ditching his slider. His current ERA (5.79) is accompanied by a 2.99 SIERA and a 5.33 xERA. There is time to turn his season around, but the pressure mounts with each sullied appearance. As his rolling graph indicates, this may be as good as it gets:
*Multi-inning or bridge relievers who can vulture wins and help protect ratios.
Statistical Credits (through games played on May 28): 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 Devin Williams: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
14 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Odd Lots: A Major American Egg Farm Just Lost 90% of its Chickens
Egg prices have come down a lot since their recent record and bird flu has largely faded from the headlines. But the epidemic is still raging and, per one farmer, risks becoming endemic in the US. Glenn Hickman is president of Hickman's Egg Ranch in Arizona, one of the largest egg producers in the US. You might remember him from our series last year, Beak Capitalism, in which we explored some of the thorniest issues facing the US economy through the medium of chickens. Well, news from the Hickman farm since then hasn't been good. A bird flu outbreak has led to the destruction of 90% of Glenn's chicken stock. We talk about the impact on Glenn's business, egg prices, and why the US isn't vaccinating its chickens.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dollar General Stock Just Popped, but Is the Worst Really Behind It?
Dollar General is starting to benefit from more affluent customers trading down on their shopping choices. However, its core customer base remains under pressure. The stock, meanwhile, is no longer in the bargain bin after a strong rally. 10 stocks we like better than Dollar General › Dollar General (NYSE: DG) has struggled in recent years, as inflationary pressures hurt its lower-income consumer base. However, the stock staged a strong rally following its fiscal first-quarter earnings report. As of this writing, it is up 50% in 2025. Let's take a closer look at its most recent earnings report and commentary to see whether this rally is sustainable or if the worst is not really behind it just yet. On the surface, tariffs would seem to be a big negative for a company like Dollar General. After all, the retailer's core customer base was already feeling pressure from higher prices due to inflation, and it looked like it was losing share to big-box price leader Walmart (NYSE: WMT). However, the company has begun to see more higher-income consumers frequent its stores in search of value. The retailer said it plans to minimize the impact of tariffs on its gross margins as much as possible without raising prices, although it could increase prices as a last resort. It plans to do this by working with vendors to cut costs, moving some manufacturing to other countries, and tweaking its product lineup by making changes or swapping out certain items. It noted that a mid- to high-single-digit percentage of its overall purchases are directly imported from China, but about double that percentage comes indirectly from the country. The inroads with higher-income consumers contributed to a 2.4% increase in same-store sales in the quarter. While traffic fell by 0.3%, its average checkout ticket rose by 2.7%. Growth came from gains in the food, seasonal, and home & apparel categories. Same-store sales is a very important metric for Dollar General, as it has said in the past that it needs to grow its comparable-store sales by around 3% for it to leverage its expenses and grow its earnings. However, the composition matters, and growth from high-margin areas, such as seasonal items, helped power its earnings higher. This appears to be largely a reflection of higher-income consumers shopping at its locations, as well as its efforts to improve the customer experience and offer better merchandising in categories such as seasonal decor and home items. The company also said that its newer pOpshelf store concept -- which is meant to provide a fun and affordable shopping experience with a focus on home goods, seasonal decor, and party supplies -- performed well, exceeding expectations. Overall, Dollar General's revenue rose 5% year over year to $10.4 billion, while its earnings per share (EPS) jumped 8% to $1.78. That was well ahead of the analyst consensus of $10.3 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of $1.48. Gross margin increased 78 basis points to 31%, helped by lower shrink and higher inventory markups. Shrink is the amount of merchandise that gets lost, damaged, spoiled, stolen, or just generally can't be sold, and the company has been working hard to improve this metric. Looking ahead, Dollar General raised its full-year guidance. It now expects revenue to grow between 3.7% and 4.7%, with same-store sales increasing between 1.5% and 2.5%. That's up from a prior outlook of revenue growth of 3.4% to 4.4% on comparable-store growth of 1.2% to 2.2%. Meanwhile, it raised the low end of its full-year EPS guidance to a range of $5.20 to $5.80, up from a previous forecast of between $5.10 and $5.80. It said that the guidance assumes that current tariff rates remain in place. Metric Prior Guidance Current Guidance Revenue growth 3.4% to 4.4% 3.7% and 4.7% Same-store sales growth 1.2% to 2.2% 1.5% and 2.5% Earnings per share $5.10 to $5.80 $5.20 to $5.80 Source: Dollar General. The company is also looking to add 575 new store openings in the U.S. this year and up to 15 in Mexico. Dollar General appears to be benefiting from the trade-down effect this year. This is something Walmart has been experiencing for a while, but something dollar stores like Dollar General had previously been missing out on. It was only last year that these companies were talking about how the current environment was one of the most difficult periods in their histories. And for dollar stores' core customer bases, things may actually be worse now with tariffs than they were last year. As such, whether Dollar General can continue to turn the corner likely depends largely on whether it can keep the higher-income customers that have begun to visit its stores and continue to attract new ones. Right now, the company is seeing these new customers visit more often and spend more money per visit. Its remodeling efforts, along with initiatives like its mobile app and own same-day delivery service and partnership with DoorDash, are also likely helping attract more affluent consumers. From a valuation perspective, the retailer now trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20 based on analyst estimates for fiscal year 2025 (ending January 2026). That valuation shows the stock is no longer in the bargain bin. While Dollar General has made a lot of progress -- with its core consumer still very stressed -- I don't want to chase this rally at its current valuation. Before you buy stock in Dollar General, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Dollar General wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $674,395!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $858,011!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 997% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Geoffrey Seiler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends DoorDash and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Dollar General Stock Just Popped, but Is the Worst Really Behind It? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Homes in Franklin County sold for higher prices recently: See how much here
Newly released data from for March shows that potential buyers and sellers in Franklin County saw higher home sale prices than the previous month's median of $259,000. The median home sold for $265,000, an analysis of data from shows. That means March, the most recent month for which figures are available, was up 2.3% from February. Compared to March 2024, the median home sales price was up 4.4% compared to $253,750. sources sales data from real estate deeds, resulting in a few months' delay in the data. The statistics don't include homes currently listed for sale and aren't directly comparable to listings data. Information on your local housing market, along with other useful community data, is available at Here is a breakdown on median sale prices: Looking only at single-family homes, the $263,000 median selling price in Franklin County was down 3.7% in March from $273,000 the month prior. Since March 2024, the sales price of single-family homes was up 2% from a median of $257, single family homes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to zero recorded transactions of at least $1 million in March 2024. Condominiums and townhomes increased by 26.8% in sales price during March to a median of $265,000 from $209,000 in February. Compared to March 2024, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes was up 28.5% from $206,300. No condominiums or townhomes sold for $1 million or more during March. In March, the number of recorded sales in Franklin County rose by 25.8% since March 2024 — from 128 to 161. All residential home sales totaled $61 million. Across Pennsylvania, homes sold at a median of $265,000 during March, up 1.9% from $259,998 in February. There were 9,945 recorded sales across the state during March, down 3.3% from 10,287 recorded sales in March 2024. Here's a breakdown for the full state: The total value of recorded residential home sales in Pennsylvania increased by 18.7% from $2.7 billion in February to $3.2 billion this March. Out of all residential home sales in Pennsylvania, 2.33% of homes sold for at least $1 million in March, up from 2.29% in March 2024. Sales prices of single-family homes across Pennsylvania increased by 1.9% from a median of $260,000 in February to $265,000 in March. Since March 2024, the sales price of single-family homes across the state was up 6% from $250,000. Across the state, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes rose 2% from a median of $255,916 in February to $261,000 during March. The median sales price of condominiums and townhomes is up 6.1% from the median of $245,892 in March 2024. The median home sales price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. The median offers a more accurate view of what's happening in a market than the average sales price, which would mean taking the sum of all sales prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high sale. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu. Our News Automation and AI team would like to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us. This article originally appeared on Waynesboro Record Herald: Homes in Franklin County sold for higher prices recently: See how much here
