(Belated) Bullpen Report: August 8, 2016
• Carlos Estevez blew his second save in a row last night after allowing three earned runs while only recording one out. Over his last two outings, Estevez has retired two batters while giving up seven runs in the process. His ERA now stands at 5.18, and while a 3.71/4.11 FIP/xFIP tell a slightly different story, Estevez was never considered the long term answer at closer in Colorado. Adam Ottavino on the other hand often was considered the future in the ninth, but his return from TJ and Estevez getting saves was in his way. After the game Walt Weiss said “I’m not going to be talking about roles after the game” but this author certainly will. I’m going to go ahead and make the change on the grid, putting Ottavino ahead of Estevez. While Weiss didn’t anoint a new closer, he didn’t really defend Estevez either. Ottavino was always the better pitcher and now that Estevez blew the last two saves in terrible fashion I’m going to assume Ottavino gets the next opportunity.
• No team picked up Jim Johnson at the deadline and all he’s done of late is close games, including last night. Over his last eight appearances Johnson has thrown eight scoreless innings picking up seven saves and twelve strikeouts in the process. He’s a bottom tier closer on a bottom tier team but he will be picking up saves here on out. It’s possible he’s moved in August but there haven’t been any rumblings there either. Consider his job safe.
• Interesting things in Seattle. Edwin Diaz of course threw a scoreless inning for his fifth save but strangely didn’t record a strikeout. However, that’s not what is interesting. Arquimedes Caminero who was recently acquired from Pittsburgh threw a scoreless eighth inning and could be moving up the chain. Drew Storen, who was acquired from Toronto was seemingly in the mix but Caminero likely jumped him so he’s been added to the grid. Of course the likelihood of him seeing saves is quite small with Diaz pulling off his Dellin Betances impression, but Caminero has always had great stuff and if he can harness it in Seattle he could be a solid source of holds and strikeouts.
• Tony Cingrani did an admirable job of late making us forget about the Reds closing situation but he gave up a five spot last night against the Cardinals, receiving the loss. As we all know the choices behind Cingrani are largely forgettable so I think they will excuse this one keeping him in the ninth. In theory Raisel Iglesias could slip into the closer’s chair but they are using him for multiple innings at a time and I don’t believe they are trying to now install him as closer, hurting the chances of him returning to a starting role in the future.
• Jake Diekman closed the game for the Rangers but don’t expect him to replace Sam Dyson as he and Jeremy Jeffress both threw in the previous two games. Jeffress hasn’t been too impressive in his first few innings in Texas, so Diekman could spell Dyson in the future for a vulture save or two but I’m not making any change to the grid here as of yet.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
When he's not focusing on every team's bullpen situation, Ben can be found blogging at Ben's Baseball Bias and on Twitter @BensBias
Last night for Minnesota with a 2 run lead it was Taylor Rogers in the 7th and Pressly in the 8th.
Does Trevor May really deserve a spot on this grid? Despite the strikeouts, he is not being used to hold leads.