It was another fun weekend for bullpen activity across the major leagues. There was some all-too-familiar drama for a few teams, an injury to a key closer, and a couple of spectacular performances by an underrated set-up man. Let’s get right into the report:

• Francisco Rodriguez melted down in consecutive games against the A’s this weekend. On Saturday, with a one-run lead and two outs and nobody on in the 9th inning, he issued a walk, a game-tying double, and a walk-off single. On Sunday, also with a one-run lead, K-Rod walked the leadoff man, allowed a game-tying double, then, after a lineout, Ryon Healy hit a walk-off home run. The Tigers closer is now just 7 for 11 in save opportunities, and he’s allowed 19 hits, 11 earned runs, and four home runs in 11 2/3 innings this year. He has a 8.49 ERA/6.55 FIP/4.79 xFIP, and he’s only gotten ground balls on 29.3% of balls in play against him compared to his career mark of 43.3%. Rodriguez’s job should be in jeopardy after the back-to-back blown saves and the overall poor performance this year. Set-up man Justin Wilson has been excellent this season, pitching mostly in the 8th. He has seven holds on the year, and a brilliant 1.32 ERA/1.65 FIP/2.03 xFIP to go along with a 45.7% K%. The situation is “red” in Detroit, with manager Brad Ausmus saying after Sunday’s game that the team is going to discuss its closer situation during tomorrow’s off day, which is usually a strong indication that a change is forthcoming.

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The afternoon slate will be dominated by two distinct lineups – Chris Sale plus scrubs or a Coors Field stack. Good luck navigating the alternatives.

AGENDA

1. Weather Reports
2. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
3. Players to Avoid
4. SaberSim Says…

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Another day goes by and Cody Bellinger is still hitting bombs. After taking over for Adrian Gonzalez who landed on the disabled list Friday, the 21-year-old posted his first major league grand slam and he’s only played in ten games this season.

Take advantage of him in the daily game before he becomes too expensive and highly owned. (Scratch that last part, he will be highly owned).

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5/6/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

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Leading Off: Question of the Day

• How much are you putting on Cody Bellinger this week? (3:20)
  • 81% C, 45% Y!, 35% E

Strategy Section:

SHALLOW (pick 2 favorites)

• Matt Moore at NYM, CIN — 81% C, 44% Y!, 43% E ()
• Jerad Eickhoff SEA, at WAS — 80% C, 73% Y!, 40% E (10:00)
• Kendall Graveman LAA, at TEX — 78% C, 52% Y!, 49% E (11:43)
• Antonio Senzatela CHC, LAD — 72% C, 47% Y!, 49% E (10:26)
• Kevin Gausman WAS, at KC — 71% C, 61% Y!, 61% E (10:50)
• Charlie Morton ATL, at NYY — 64% C, 16% Y!, 14% E (9:30)
• Hisashi Iwakuma at PHI, at TOR — 61% C, 41% Y!, 34% E (11:20)

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If you’re still waking up, the Orioles just gave some pretty bad news from their bullpen. Zach Britton landed on the 10-day disabled list with a left forearm strain.

Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez also landed on the disabled list Friday for the first time in his 14-year career. Cody Bellinger took over responsibilities and went 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBI in the win over the Padres.

He hit two bombs last week and Manager Dave Roberts went on record to say that wouldn’t impact his decision to send Bellinger back to Triple-A. Things are a little different now, obviously. So we get to witness the excellence of Bellinger. Read the rest of this entry »

Things are tense in the Baltimore-Washington corridor these days.

The Nationals’ closer carousel keeps turning, as they placed Shawn Kelley on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a lower back strain. As it was, we hadn’t seen Kelley in a game since April 29 due to being sick, and just as he was healthy enough to return, he started feeling tightness in his back Friday afternoon.

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Transcript is below!!

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Cody Bellinger’s Outfield Defense

As long as Adrian Gonzalez can physically take the field, Cody Bellinger will not be the Dodgers regular first baseman. He will need to be able to play the outfield until the Dodgers part ways with Gonzalez. To find out if Bellinger has what it takes to play the outfield, I will break down his physical traits.  here are his available scouting grades.

First, here are his available scouting grades.

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I haven’t seen any of you since April. Either way, this is one of my favorite times of the season.

Major League Baseball put out the All-Star voting two months prior to the game because that makes sense, our favorite prospects are getting called up, and the disabled list possesses some of the best players in baseball. What a time.

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One month through the season and those playing ottoneu are likely getting a clearer idea of if they are buying or selling. It’s a tricky pendulum, as no playoff structure exists. In determining to sell, owners are likely targeting players who have performed much better than expected over the first month. While there are several ways to determine who these players are, one of the most common ways is to examine projections to see which players have actually improved. Today, I want to look at a couple of pitchers who have improved their projections the most, while examining a couple underlying skill changes that may or may not exist in each of these. The degree of these changes represents my willingness or unwillingness to buy.

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