The trade deadline may have come and gone in our fantasy leagues, but out attempts to improve our teams never end. And, so long as you haven’t punted the category, saves are almost always everyone’s best opportunity to make up ground in the standings quickly at this point.

Despite passing the non-waiver trade deadline, injuries, quirky managerial decisions, and even a waiver trade have resulted in some movement in our closing situation rankings. So let’s see how the landscape looks and if we can make some headway into squeezing out a few extra points with some additional saves.

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The Big Movers

The Yankees take a significant drop with Aroldis Chapman’s recent poor performance (three straight outings allowing at least one run, 3.89 ERA on the season) and the tightness he felt in his hamstring on the final play of Tuesday’s win over the Mets. If you’ve watched Chapman recently, you know that he just doesn’t look right, but Joe Girardi stated that he will stick with the flamethrower so long as he is healthy. Chapman came through his Thursday bullpen session unscathed, so he should get the next save opportunity after Dellin Betances saved Thursday night’s game. But given how he’s performed recently and the strength of the relievers behind him, the situation drops precipitously.

Taking a big leap up are the Braves and Arodys Vizcaino. Since taking over as the primary closer, Vizcaino has converted all four of his save opportunities and has yet to allow a run, including a perfect inning in Colorado to hold a one-run lead. Vizcaino has been extremely solid all season long and has shown both this season and last season that he has no issues with holding down the closer role. He should be a reliable source of saves and solid peripherals going forward.

Random Musings

Now that he’s with the Nationals, Sean Doolittle should change his name to Sean Doo-a-lot, am I right? Ugh, sorry, that was painful for me to even write. Anyway, Doolittle has yet to allow a run in August and has locked down the Nationals closing job. Though Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler have been just as impressive (Madson was just placed on the disabled list with a finger injury anyway), Doolittle should have enough job security now to be deemed a “safe” closer. On a team that wins quite a number of games, Doolittle should be one of the more valuable closers going forward.

It is mid-August, and I still have no idea what to expect from Edwin Diaz. Marc Rzepczynski came into Wednesday night’s game to bail Diaz out of trouble after Diaz had walked three batters, and no closing change has been announced. But it’s really hard to succeed as a closer when you have no idea where the ball is going, and Diaz has now walked three batters in two of his last three outings. As his owners know, Diaz has gone through several rough stretches this year, only to emerge from each one as the closer and pitching well. I have no reason to think that this time will turn out any different, but I’m certainly less confident in the Mariners than I was before.

Mark Melancon has returned from the disabled list and pitched well in two outings, but he admitted that he still felt discomfort in his throwing elbow after Tuesday’s scoreless appearance. Sam Dyson, who was on the verge of being an afterthought in fantasy circles, should remain the closer for now. And really, although the Giants have suggested that this is not a DL situation, why would the Giants push Melancon given their place in the standings? Dyson, meanwhile, has pitched well with the Giants, with nine saves and a 2.13 ERA. Though he doesn’t get all that many opportunities, he’d certainly retain value if Melancon misses more time.

Trevor Rosenthal was throwing around 92 miles per hour in Wednesday night’s game against the Red Sox before leaving the game with arm tightness. Rosenthal was placed on the disabled list on Thursday and, thus, the Cardinals need a new closer. Seung-Hwan Oh is the obvious candidate given his experience, and he had pitched very well before Thursday night’s game (just one earned run allowed in his last 12 appearances). But speaking of Thursday, Matt Bowman pitched the seventh inning while Tyler Lyons got the eighth. Although the Cardinals broke the game open in the top of the ninth, Oh came on in the ninth and finished out the game, albeit in extremely messy fashion (two earned runs, 28 pitches). Given Mike Matheny’s bullpen usage in the game, it’s a decent bet that Oh will get the next save chance, despite the rough outing. But the situation is far from safe.

Mike Scioscia hates fantasy owners, right? After mercifully removing Bud Norris from the closer’s role, the Angels ran off four straight close wins. Those save opportunities went to Cam Bedrosian (ok), Yusmero Petit (why?), Bedrosian again (cool), and then Keynan Middleton (who?). After a few days without a save chance, Bedrosian received and converted a save on Wednesday against the Nationals. Ok, so . . . It appears that Bedrosian is the primary closer, but that Scioscia doesn’t want to use him on back-to-back days often. Right? Either that or he just flips a coin each game to decide on who will close. Assuming Bedrosian is the primary closer, he should still see plenty of opportunities, given how often the Angels are winning now. But if he has a rough outing or two, it’s clear that Scioscia won’t hesitate to go another route.

Finally, although the situation doesn’t move, it’s worth noting that Tyler Clippard’s trade to the Astros opens up the White Sox closing job once again! Aaron Bummer was brought into the game against the Dodgers on Wednesday night with a 4-2 lead, only to give up a leadoff single and get yanked for Jake Petricka. Petricka promptly gave up a double, single, and then a double to blow the game. Yikes. Juan Minaya is the guy with the best “closer stuff” (38 strikeouts in 29 innings), so he’ll likely get a shot at some point. But, I mean, ugh. Hunt for saves elsewhere.

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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.