Today we’ll be digging deep into the depths of the middle reliever player pool to identify some lesser owned middles that could positively impact your fantasy baseball team, for now. There is one exception to rule noted above, 15% owned Jean Machi, who has been off to an incredible start to the season for the San Francisco Giants. I felt obligated to toss him into today’s discussion since we haven’t talked about him yet.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.
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–Francisco Rodriguez’s grasp on the ninth-inning role in Milwaukee may have grown little tighter this evening, without even throwing a pitch. The Brewers’ former closer, Jim Henderson, who had been lurking in Rodriguez’s shadows waiting for another shot to close games, imploded in the eighth-inning of a tie-game and took his first loss on the year. Henderson yielded five earned runs on four hits and an intentional walk, while striking out one in his two-thirds of an inning, 18 pitch effort. Prior to tonight’s implosion, Henderson was 2-0 with two holds and a 3.38 ERA (1.22 WHIP). He’s been striking out more (37.2% K%) and walking less (7.0% BB%) batters than he has in the past despite the velocity on his two primary offerings being down a tick. Henderson sat 91-94 on the 4-seam fastball tonight, while his sliders came in at 84-85. Rodriguez is a perfect 13-for-13 in save chances this season with a 0.00 ERA. All green here for the time being.
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Four rainouts and a few blowouts leave us with just a few items to discuss in this evening’s Bullpen Report.

–Greg Holland dished a (pretty) clean ninth-inning to notch his seventh save of the season in a 4-2 Royals victory over the Blue Jays tonight. He induced two quick outs off the bats of Josh Thole and Jose Bautista before surrendering an Edwin Encarnacion double to deep center. But Dioner Navarro flied out to left stranding Encarnacion at the keystone sack and ending Toronto’s comeback bid. The Royals’ closer ends April a perfect 6-for-6 in save situations with a 2.70 ERA (1.68 xFIP).
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-Welp, Daisuke Matsuzaka earned a save today — the first of his career — in a 1-2-3 top of the ninth-inning for the Metropolitans. Glad I didn’t make the “I’ll eat my hat bet” with Dice-K never earning a save, like I almost did last evening. Not sure how well I’d digest a brim. Anywho, Matsuzaka needed just 15 to pitches to retire Allen Craig, Daniel Descalso and Peter Bourjos to give the Mets a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals in Flushing. He now owns a 1.69 ERA (2.16 xFIP) in 5.1 innings on the hill. But don’t go racing to the waiver wire to put in your claims just yet, Kyle Farnsworth is still the go-to man for Terry Collins in save situations, thankfully. It’s just nice to know that the skipper considers Matsuzaka a sturdy backup just in case Farnsworth is unable to go, for whatever reason. Please pass the Tums.

–Jonathan Broxton notched his fourth save of the season as the Reds sunk the Pirates, 2-1. The burly right-hander needed just twelve pitches to seal the deal in a clean inning of work in the bottom half of the ninth. Broxton is doing a fair job of keeping the closer’s chair warm for Aroldis Chapman, who is slated to toss another live bullpen session this weekend in Atlanta. This time, Chapman will go without the screen, then head off to a rehab assignment if all goes well. Seems like a speedy recovery for what appeared to be a disastrous injury. It’s unlikely that you can pry Chapman from his fake owners if they’ve been waiting on him this long, but hey, maybe it’s worth a shot?

–Addison Reed made quick work of the Cubs in the home half of the ninth-inning today. The former crosstown rival fanned Mike Olt, then induced a Welington Castillo pop out and a groundout off the bat of Ryan Kalish on just ten pitches to clinch his fifth save of the young season. Reed is now 5-of-6 on the season in save chances with a 3.27 ERA (3.61 xFIP) and a 26% K%.

–Glen Perkins picked up his fifth save of the year in a 9-7 Twinkies victory over the Rays. Perkins has two strikeouts in five of his nine appearances. Not bad. Joe Nathan walked one, but struck out two en route to his fourth save of the season. As I noted in earlier versions of the Bullpen Report, Nathan’s velocity and ability to induce swings-and-misses are down a tick in the early part of ‘14. Hopefully those numbers creep back up as the season wears on. Huston Street surrendered a leadoff double to Bryce Harper, but escaped a bit of a jam to grab his eighth save of the season.

Lots of yelling and screaming on the Twitter machine regarding Ernesto Frieri’s status in the Angels’ bullpen. His last five appearances have been awful. He’s surrendered six runs on twelve hits in three-and-two-thirds. Some think he won’t hold down the ninth in the near future. And some think whoever said that is just crazy. If you’re not sure what to think but are chasing saves, Joe Smith seems to be the “just in case” add in Anaheim.

Closer Grid:

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

It was brought to my attention last week that I have yet to discuss bullpen arms with both starting and relief pitcher eligibility. So, here we go.

Many fantasy baseball championships are won on draft day. But others are able to raise a flag with shrewd waiver wire moves and smoothly navigating their league’s settings to identify certain loopholes they can use to their advantage.

In some league variations, owners are have a fixed number of starting and relief roster spots to fill each-and-every day, so identifying lesser-owned hurlers with dual eligibility could be more valuable than most imagine. With that said, here is a short list of arms that said owners could slot into either their starting or relief roster spots in an attempt to gain an advantage in needed categories.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.
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–Jonathan Papelbon notched his 4th save of the young season on 14 pitches as the Phillies clipped the Braves 1-0. Pap induced a fly ball to center field off the bat of Braves’ first baseman Freddie Freeman, then fanned both Justin Upton and Chris Johnson to finish off Atlanta in the top half of the ninth.
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This week we’ll take a look at four middle relievers with at least five appearances, a 0.00 ERA and a 25% K% or better. These middles may or may not be owned in your leagues, depending on depth, but they sure can be relevant in holds, solds and standard leagues…

Warning: small sample sizes to follow.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.
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-The Boston Red Sox have shut down their 39-year-old closer, Koji Uehara, for the time being after experiencing tightness in his shoulder after completing a session of long-toss. The right-hander will attempt to throw again tomorrow (Sunday) before Boston’s brass determines if a trip to the disabled list will be necessary for their ninth-inning man. For the Red Sox and fantasy owners, the concern here lies in the comparison Uehara made between the stiffness he felt in the shoulder this Friday and the injury he suffered as a member of the Rangers two years ago. Then, the should stiffness continued to resurface, resulting in a two-and-a-half month stint on the shelf.
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-All of the hypothetical discussion regarding the Oakland Athletics’ closing situation in last night’s Bullpen Report came to fruition this morning. Manager Bob Melvin did indeed pull the plug on Jim Johnson’s ninth-inning role for the time being, leaving Sean Doolittle, Luke Gregerson, Ryan Cook and Dan Otero in a committee for saves. Colin thoroughly discussed each of the aforementioned candidates here, so there’s no need to beat that drum again. If you’re looking to get in on this action, I’d be adding Gregerson, Doolittle, Cook and Otero — in that order.

There obviously isn’t enough room for five names on our grid below, so I’ll simply be bumping both Gregerson and Doolittle ahead of Johnson, while moving the Athletics to red status. Cook will make his way on there by tomorrow, once I figure out the logistics of this chart you all love so much.
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With the exception of all the Jim Johnson concerns, a lot of positive discussion took place in the comments last evening after the Bullpen Report hit the interwebs. Thank you, I/we appreciate the feedback.

-Just when the murky waters in Chicago appeared to clear, Matt Lindstrom surrendered two earned runs on two hits and a walk in a save situation this evening against the Twins. The blown save is the first on the season for Lindstrom, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Nate Jones is ready to take on ninth-inning duties. Jones appeared in the seventh-inning tonight, surrendered free passes to the first two batters he faced, then was immediately relieved of his duties. Maikel Cleto took over for Jones with two on and no out, but couldn’t keep Jones’ two runners from scoring. After the game, both Robin Ventura and Nate Jones himself acknowledged that the reliever experienced some discomfort during the game. Don’t drop Lindstrom just yet.
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