(Belated) Bullpen Report: August 2, 2016

• We mentioned Huston Street’s continued struggles yesterday and it looks like he’s found himself on the disabled list with “inflammation in his right knee.” Street has been the worst closer in baseball this year so it was either going to be an injury or demotion that removed him from the closing chair. In his place goes Cam Bedrosian who got his first career save last night striking out the side. On the year Bedrosian has a 0.90/1.88/2.72 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line, a groundball percentage of 50.5% and a 32.5% strikeout rate. Killing worms and missing bats is generally a great way to be successful as a pitcher and I went aggressive making the Angels situation green. Yes, Bedrosian is a first time closer but he’s far and away the best option and I feel his job is secure.

• Will Harris‘ recent struggles also caught up to him as Ken Giles has supplanted him as closer. I opened the door to this possibility last night but the Astros made the change before seeing another blown opportunity by Harris. Luke Gregerson has pitched great as well so I’m slotting him 2nd in line, behind Giles. The Astros paid a pretty penny for Giles last year and he will now earn his keep in the ninth as the Astros fight for the playoffs. Look past Giles’ 3.80 ERA and you will see he’s the same dominant pitcher he was on the Phillies – his strikeout rate is the 11th best among relievers, his K-BB% ranks 12th, and his 97 mph fastball is among the league leaders. With Bedrosian, Edwin Diaz and now Giles added to the ninth inning, along with the usual slate of dominating closers, we are in the midst of some of the most terrifying closers I’ve ever seen.

UPDATE: With Luke Gregerson on the DL that obviously changes things. Harris is second and Michael Feliz will be added to the grid.

• Speaking of Edwin Diaz, the new Seattle closer didn’t disappoint in his first action, pitching around a walk while striking out three batters for his first save of the year. Diaz is now up to 52 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched. You would think after a few years of  Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances that we have seen it all but Diaz is taking it to another level. If anything Diaz has been unlucky in his batted ball profile and I don’t see how the Mariners will rationalize using Cishek again this year barring a collapse – I upgraded them to green.

• Quick hits: Yesterday was a solid day for new closers as Tyler Thornburg pitched a perfect ninth for his 3rd save on the year and Tony Watson secured his first save of the year for Pittsburgh. Zach Britton can’t pitch every day so Darren O’Day filled in getting four outs for his second save. After a brief DL stint he’s certainly back to his old bad self behind Britton. Rough debut for Will Smith in SF as he gave up two runs without finishing the inning. Sergio Romo wasn’t any better allowing three runs of his own. Hunter Strickland and Derek Law threw scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh innings respectively and could leapfrog Romo if he has another blip. Nobody can be perfect and Seung Oh blew a save – his job is still safe. Roberto Osuna had a day off and Jason Grilli pitched a perfect inning for second save, cementing his role as second in line in Toronto. It’s possible that Aaron Sanchez‘ move to the pen could change that but I think Grilli is safe.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Jake Barrett	Daniel Hudson	Randall Delgado
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Mauricio Cabrera	Chris Withrow	Arodys Vizcaino
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Brad Brach
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Brad Ziegler	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Aroldis Chapman	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Matt Albers
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Raisel Iglesias	Miohael Lorenzen
Cleveland	Andrew Miller	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Carlos Estevez	Adam Ottavino	Jake McGee
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene
Houston	Ken Giles	Will Harris	Michael Feliz	Luke Gregerson
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Peter Moylan	Wade Davis
LAA	Cam Bedrosian	Fernando Salas	JC Ramirez	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Joe Blanton	Adam Libatore	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Fernando Rodney	David Phelps
Milwaukee	Tyler Thornburg	Corey Knebel	Carlos Torres
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Ryan Pressly	Trevor May	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles	Jim Henderson
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard	Chad Green
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Steve Cishek	Tom Wilhelmsen	Nick Vincent
TB	Alex Colome	Xavier Cedeno	Erasmo Ramirez
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jeremy Jeffress	Jake Diekman
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joaquin Benoit
Wash.	Mark Melancon	Jonathan Papelbon	Shawn Kelley

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