Happy Friday, everyone! We’re another week closer to summer officially beginning, though I’ve already ran my air conditioning several times.

On today’s agenda:
1. Zack Wheeler’s strong start
2. Jaime Garcia is looking good
3. Josh Collmenter cruises
4. More homers for George Springer and Edwin Encarnacion
5. The Daily Five

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-Over the past week here at the Bullpen Report, we’ve suggested that Jason Grilli would regain the closer role in Pittsburgh sometime in the near future. Well, that sometime in the near future turned into today, when Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle officially named Grilli the team’s ninth-inning man prior to their contest at Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers. Grilli needed just two appearances to be eased back into his former role. In two innings since returning from the disabled list, Grilli faced eight batters, surrendered one hit, one walk and struck out four. Mark Melancon will fall back into the set-up role for the Bucs, and although it appears he won’t be saving many games going forward, I’d hold onto him until we see Grilli back in the swing of things. If by chance you have room to keep Melancon rostered, do it. He’ll potentially contribute to four of the five traditional categories and is one of the better insurance policies in the business. Late edit: Grilli did in fact get the save chance tonight in Los Angeles. He surrendered a hit, but came away with his sixth save of the year on 15 pitches.
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Episode 122

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is now live! Eno Sarris and Nicholas Minnix discuss Adam Ottavino, Ronald Belisario and Daniel Webb, John Axford, Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia, Tommy La Stella, Rougned Odor, Ryan Zimmerman, Jordan Zimmermann, Chris Young, Collin McHugh, Austin Jackson, Oswaldo Arcia and Eric Hosmer and KC’s change at hitting coach.

As usual, don’t hesitate to tweet us any fantasy questions you have so that we may answer them on our next episode.

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With roughly a third of the 2014 mLB season in the books, our reliever tiers deserved to be examined. In an effort to develop said tiers for those in holds or solds leagues, I looked for pitchers who appeared in about 15 or more games, accumulated a minimum of three holds, owned a worthy K-BB% and posted fine ratios. Mind you, like everything else in life, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, Brian Matusz, Jared Burton and Brian Schlitter don’t have the greatest K-BB% or ratios, but they do have seven holds a piece. Therefore, they were included. Also, I felt obligated to write the name Schlitter a few times, which is probably the real reason I included him.

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It’s time for another Dallas Keuchel update. He’s been this season’s breakout star on the mound, aside from Masahiro Tanaka who kind of doesn’t count. He’s received his share of attention here at RotoGraphs, and FanGraphs (Uno, Dos). Amazingly, he’s still available in 24 percent of Yahoo leagues, which is just a travesty.

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Agenda

1. Injuries
2. Thin Thursday DFS
3. Friday Picks
4. Table

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I hope that I’ve been giving it to you straight. On that note, these recommendations aren’t the most inspired. Oh, look: a guy who hit two bombs yesterday. Check it out: a recent call-up who was raking while in the minors.

Which kind of brings me to a larger point: It’s not often that I find players inspiring enough to recommend. Obviously, I’ve done it. I’ve been doing it for years … sometimes well, sometimes not so much. As far as the players go, I mean. Perhaps I’m just feeling particularly cynical or depressed.

What kind of recommendations do you want to see? I second-guess just about any name I come up with because of the multitude of league formats out there and, as a result, the usefulness of a rec. To me, there’s never enough context. I’d love to see what kinds of things readers want in a list of recommendations.

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The Toronto Blue Jays have hit 44 home runs at home this season, six more than any other team and 33 percent more than any other American League outfit. Somewhat surprisingly given their success, they also rank tied for second in home runs surrendered at home with 30, just four behind the league’s leader. Add it up and 77 home runs have been hit at Rogers Centre, even though the Jays have split their games evenly between home and road.

Relevant to those statistics is that the dome was open for three of the past five games, during which 10 home runs were hit (19 percent more than the dome-closed average this season). Except…the status of the dome doesn’t really matter.

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In his first half season in the majors, Wil Myers was impressive. He hit .293/.354/.478 with 13 home runs and five steals, handily winning the AL Rookie of the Year despite not playing a game before June 18.

This year has been a different story for Myers. He’s hitting just .227 with an OBP barely clear of .300. His four home runs and one steal are well short of the paces he set in 2013. His strikeout rate, walk rate, and batted ball profile are very similar to last season. There’s no obvious culprit, but Myers has been bad.

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Starting pitchers need to be treated like stocks. Perceived value is more important than inherent value. When a stock becomes overvalued compared with your valuation estimate, you sell it, even if the company is a good one. The same goes for pitchers. I’m a fan of Scott Kazmir, think he will remain a good pitcher and solid fantasy option and I continue to be in awe at his career revival. But, it’s time to sell. And that’s precisely what I did yesterday in my local 12-team mixed league.

**Keep in mind that I am typing this before his start last night.

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