Congrats, guys. It took us until early May, but we finally reached a week where zero closers lost their job. Heck, we even gained back a closer, with Zach Britton returning from the disabled list!

Let’s not undersell it. This was a monstrous feat. I mean, let’s run through all the minefields we had to navigate through to make this happen:

• Bud Norris had TONS of chances in the ninth inning, and nearly converted them all;
• Fernando Rodney gave up eleventy-billion runs but Torey Lovullo stuck with him;
• A Phillies reliever blew a save and Pete Mackanin didn’t change closers (he almost did, but whatever)

So let’s throw back a beer, or in my case, an appletini (long story, but the quick version is that I lost a fantasy football bet to my wife and she gets to pick my drinks for all of 2017 – story for another time), and enjoy some non-drama. Not to worry, there’s still plenty to discuss. But it just won’t make you as queasy as usual.

Bookmark our Closer Depth Chart for updated coverage throughout the season

 
Well, we’ve got movement pretty much everywhere this week, so let’s break it all down.

The Big Movers

Cody Allen, welcome to the upper echelon of closers. It doesn’t feel right to have him all the way up at seven, but seriously. A 0.82 ERA, the highest strikeout percentage of his career (48.9%), the lowest walk percentage of his career (6.7%), seven saves already, pitches for a great team. Not enough for you? How about a -0.14 FIP? Yes, a negative FIP. According to the underlying metrics, he’s been so good that he should have been able to take away a run another Indians pitcher gave up. Don’t ask me how – it’s just science. But seriously, the worry with Allen was that Andrew Miller would snipe some saves. He isn’t. He’s just dominating the seventh and eighth innings and leaving the ninth to Allen. Enjoy it!

Ditto with Greg Holland, who nailed down his league-leading 11th save on Thursday. Sure, this isn’t peak Holland – the velocity and strikeouts aren’t quite there – but it doesn’t need to be for him to be an incredibly valuable asset. The Rockies are legitimate this year, and they’re going to win a lot of games. Holland should be there for the majority of them.

I’m not going to lie, Edwin Diaz has me a little nervous. The things you want to be up (strikeouts and velocity) are down and the things you want to be down are up (walks, ERA, WHIP). While the entire fantasy community was going gaga over Diaz this preseason, everyone just sort of glossed over that he had been a starter in the minors and just flat out skipped Triple-A. And there are some decent arms behind him, like Tony Zych and Steve Cishek. I’m not selling Diaz or anything, but he’s dropped down to that second tier of closers, and he’ll stay there until he can get back on track.

Random Musings

I resisted moving Craig Kimbrel up last week, but I can’t do it any longer. He is basically pitching as well as he ever has, and is striking out 50% of batters he faces. Yowza. He really wants to threaten Chapman and Jansen for the top spots.

Mark Melancon is still elite, but the lack of strikeouts and his early season hiccups drop him down just a tad behind some other relievers with elite strikeout rates. Not much to be worried about.

If you own Brad Brach, hold him, at least for another week or two. Although the underlying indicators suggest that Britton should be fine (normal velocity and ground ball rate), he just doesn’t look right and hasn’t all season. I own Brach in several leagues and don’t plan on dropping him until Britton runs off three or four Britton-esque outings in a row.

No, I’m not entirely comfortable with Seung-Hwan Oh, but I’m also not adding Trevor Rosenthal just yet. Oh hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last seven appearances, though he did give up a three-run homer in that span (the runs were unearned). Mike Matheny doesn’t want to make a change, I’m sure, and Oh is going to need to have at least a few more rough outings to be in serious danger.

Fernando Rodney will lose his job when he’s good and ready, and not before. Pay no attention to the ugly ERA, the grotesque WHIP, or the askew hat. This is your Diamondbacks closer for the foreseeable future.

Bud Norris did blow a save the other day (thanks Jarrod Dyson and your distracting speed), but he’s been great otherwise as the closer. Yes, he still walks too many batters, but he has Mike Scioscia’s trust, and there is a completely realistic chance that Scioscia opts to keep Cam Bedrosian as the set-up man where he can use him in a multi-inning role when necessary. Either way, Norris is absolutely serviceable until Bedrosian comes back.

I hereby petition the Reds to just use Raisel Iglesias as their normal closer. No more multi-inning outings. Just keep him with those one-inning saves like you did on Thursday, and have him available more often. Thanks!

Poor Pete Mackanin. I’ve never seen a manager want to change closers more after every blown save than he does. I think Hector Neris should be safe. But someone get Mackanin some Xanax or something.

Santiago Casilla and the A’s may move up significantly next week if Bob Melvin just turns the closer’s role over to him entirely now that Sean Doolittle has (yet again) hit the disabled list. I actually expect that to happen, but I’ll remain cautious for now because, well, it’s the A’s.

I have no idea what is happening in Washington. My guess is Koda Glover takes over as the closer when he returns from the disabled list next week, but I continue to believe what I’ve always said – the leader in saves for the Nationals is not currently on the team.

Until next week, friends. Let us hope to continue with some stress-free ninth innings, a lack of injuries, and for my wife to pick a more manly drink next time.

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Dan Harris is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter at @danharris80.