Plenty of bullpen-related news and notes on a busy Sunday afternoon. A few noteworthy items from Saturday are mixed in as well…

• With a 5-3 lead against the Nationals, Brad Hand struck out one in a scoreless eighth, and Brandon Maurer retired Trea Turner, Daniel Murphy, and Anthony Rendon consecutively in the ninth to secure his sixth save of the season. Maurer was temporarily removed from the close’s role, during which time Hand filled in respectably, but at least for today things went back to normal. Although Maurer has a 6.52 ERA on the season, his peripherals suggest he’s been much better than that. He has an excellent 2.59 FIP and 2.66 xFIP on the season thanks to the fact that he’s only allowed four walks and two home runs in 20 innings this year, to go along with 23 strikeouts. While Hand is an excellent reliever in his own right, Maurer still appears to hold the edge in save opportunities, at least for now. If Maurer falters, however, it appears that the Padres are willing to pivot to Hand at a moment’s notice. As such, Hand worth targeting for those speculative on saves, and he’s certainly worth owning in holds leagues, as he’s on of the better set-up men in baseball.

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We decided to push the waiver wire pod this weekend for the holiday, but I wanted to write up a little something about pitchers to keep an eye on tonight.

TWO-START ARMS

Shallow:

• Matt Moore – v. WAS, at PHI
• Jeremy Hellickson – at MIA, v. SF
• Jordan Montgomery – at BAL, at TOR
• Chris Tillman – v. NYY, v. BOS

Moore has been rounding into form a bit over his last four starts with a 3.28 ERA and 21 Ks in 24.7 IP, but he does have a 1.49 WHIP and I might be careful with that Washington start. Hellickson has a 1.7 K:BB and 1.6 HR/9 so I just can’t see starting him anywhere right now. I like Montgomery, but he’s been markedly worse on the road with a 16% K rate and 1.3 K:BB, compared to 27% and 3.4 at home. I’d probably start Tillman if I have him, but I’m not sure I’d seek him out on a waiver wire.

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Welcome to the weekend Grind. Prices listed are for FanDuel

AGENDA

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

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The New York Mets have turned into the poster child of bad luck this season. I wish I had good news for you Mets fans, but when it comes to La Potencia, he’s facing yet another setback.

Yoenis Cespedes felt some soreness in his right quad while running the bases during his rehab assignment in Class-A and he was removed from the lineup. He hasn’t played on the active roster since the end of April.

On the Agenda

1. News and Notes
2. Adjusting Astros
3. Moose
4. Fare thee well

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Jake Lamb cannot be stopped.

@KleinschmidtJD Rake Lamb

— Kalvin Lowry (@KoLow710) May 27, 2017

He hit home run number 14 Friday night against the Brewers and is now hosting a .282/.373/.586 line with a career-high .292 ISO.

Lamb struggles big time against lefties with just eight hits in 48 at-bats. The team is continuing to be patient with him and exposing him to more southpaws (much like what the Marlins were planning on doing with Justin Bour). When Lamb spoke hesitantly on the subject it was pretty clear Torey Lovullo and the team is making sure he sees those opposite arms more. So don’t expect him to ride the pine pony when a lefty starts on the bump.

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While there was no shortage of saves Friday night, there weren’t any performances that threatened to shake up any team’s bullpen order. That was not the case on Thursday, when Edwin Diaz received his first save opportunity since being removed from the closer’s role, just nine days earlier. He successfully preserved the Mariners’ 4-2 lead over the Nationals, allowing just a single in his inning of work. Even so, manager Scott Servais told MyNorthwest.com he was not ready to make Diaz the official closer just yet, saying he “just happened to be the guy at the end today.”

It’s understandable that Servais may want to see a little more consistency from Diaz, given the he threw nine of 18 pitches for strikes and walked two batters in the inning he pitched against the Nationals on Wednesday. Still, it’s hard to imagine that someone with Diaz’s swing-and-miss stuff won’t reclaim the job. Read the rest of this entry »

Sonny Gray | 3.34 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 23% K, and 7% BB in 29.7 IP

Gray has only made five starts, but he’s looking as sharp as ever. He missed all of April, but he certainly looks health right now. His velocity is at a career-best 93.4 mph (94 w/the four-seamer; 93 w/the sinker). Here’s what else I’ve seen in the stats and video of his last two starts:

• He’s using the sinker more than ever and working both fastball iterations down in the zone at a career-high clip, too.
• His fastballs are down in the lower third of the zone 52% of the time and they are fueling a career-best 59% groundball rate.
• The slider has always been a weapon, but it’s been a plus-plus monster and generated 9 of his 11 strikeouts on Wednesday.

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Dinelson Lamet (Padres)

Note: The camera angle was a little off, so my takes on his horizontal breaks may be off also.
The 24-year-old righty throws out of a high 3/4 arm slot. He’s a maximum effort guy and at times falls off to the mound’s first base side.

• Fastball (4-seam): 95-98 mph and straight. For such a basic pitch, it is not even near the strike zone at times and he threw too many away. I’ve read several souces the pitch breaks late break but I could never see it.

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Chat transcript is below. Lots of Dinelson Lamet questions, so be sure to check out Jeff’s Quick Look at him, too.

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The baseball season is just about two months old and early hot/cold performances are starting to stabilize, and “pop-up” waiver options are something every ottoneu owner should be keeping a very close eye on. Let’s take a look at the most added players over the last seven days and the last 30.

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