Bullpen Report: September 18, 2012

Apologies for a shorter Bullpen Report tonight, but here’s the latest…

• Out since late August after suffering from an irregular heartbeat, Kenley Jansen is now cleared to play for the Dodgers.  Jansen will need to have offseason surgery but he’s now able to play for the rest of this season and should immediately take over the closer’s role from Brandon League. When healthy, Jansen and his terrific stirkeout ability (13.66 K/9) make him one of the best closers in fantasy baseball – make sure he’s active on your roster and/or pick him up if he’s available in your league.

•  For the second night in a row, Addison Reed recorded a save while entering the game in the middle of an inning. Reed is still the closer, but with Thornton seeing some time in the ninth inning the last couple of nights, don’t be shocked to see Ventura use him for a save if the matchup dictates it.

• Steve Cishek struggled in the ninth inning tonight, letting three runners reach base while only recording one out. Mike Dunn came on to relieve Cishek but proceeded to blow the lead. Heath Bell pitched a clean 10th inning (receiving the win) and while one might wonder if Ozzie Guillen will go to Bell again, Cichek’s pitched well enough of late and should hold onto the job for the remainder of the season.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Rafael Soriano (NYY) vs. TOR

I recommended this matchup yesterday and with the Yankees now playing a double-header tomorrow (after tonight’s game was postponed), there is an even greater chance that Soriano receives a save opportunity tomorrow.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	Off 25-Man
Arizona	J.J. Putz	David Hernandez	Takashi Saito
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Eric O’Flaherty	Jonny Venters
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Pedro Strop	Darren O’Day
Boston	Andrew Bailey	Vicente Padilla	Junichi Tazawa
Chicago (NL)	Carlos Marmol	James Russell	Shawn Camp
Chicago (AL)	Addison Reed	Brett Myers	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Vinnie Pestano	Tony Sipp
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Matt Belisle	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Octavio Dotel
Houston	Wilton Lopez	Wesley Wright	Fernando Rodriguez
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Kevin Jepsen	Scott Downs
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Brandon League	Ronald Belisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	Heath Bell	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	John Axford	Kameron Loe	Francisco Rodriguez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Alex Burnett	Matt Capps
NY (NL)	Frank Francisco	Bobby Parnell	Jon Rauch
NY (AL)	Rafael Soriano	David Robertson	Boone Logan
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Antonio Bastardo	Josh Lindblom
Pittsburgh	Joel Hanrahan	Jason Grilli	Chris Resop
St. Louis	Jason Motte	Mitchell Boggs	Edward Mujica
SD	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer	Brad Brach	Huston Street
SF	Sergio Romo	Javier Lopez	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Stephen Pryor	Charlie Furbush
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Kyle Farnsworth
Texas	Joe Nathan	Mike Adams	Alexei Ogando
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Brandon Lyon	Darren Oliver
Wash.	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen	Sean Burnett

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]