(Belated) Bullpen Report: August 9, 2016

Apologies again on the belated BR but onto the news…

• A.J. Ramos had been struggling of late, particularly with his control (5.28 BB/9) but he’s been placed on the DL with a right finger fracture. Fernando Rodney will slide into the ninth inning for now, so kudos to anyone who held onto him after he was traded and then was mediocre on Florida. Behind Rodney we have Kyle Barraclough and Mike Dunn. However, Brian Ellington threw in the eighth inning last night and has a shiny ERA, he could enter the grid as well.

• In other injury news, Cam Bedrosian was placed on the DL with finger issues of his own. In his place we moved Fernando Salas to the closer spot. Salas has never been that effective of a reliever and he certainly hasn’t been this year with a 4.66/4.87/4.67 ERA/FIP/xFIP line and he shouldn’t have too long of a leash if he struggles. J.C. Ramirez and Deolis Guerra should be behind Salas if he falters and this could even end up a committee of sorts until Bedrosian is back up. Ramirez has seen higher leverage but I actually like Guerra more. He’s mostly famous for being part of the package the Mets sent to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal and although he’s flamed out as being an impact starter, he’s done well on the Angels this year. He doesn’t miss too many bats but has a 1.5% BB% in 35.2 innings this year and if Salas struggles he could see a save opportunity.

• I got one thing right yesterday and one thing wrong. I correctly placed Adam Ottavino as the new closer before the Rockies announced the change, which they finally did. Ottavino has been effective in Colorado throughout his career and although he won’t be a lights out closer like seemingly half the league these days, he should prove a solid source of saves as the Rockies grind out the rest of the season.

I also got something wrong in suggesting Raisel Iglesias wouldn’t be used for saves in Cincinnati. There is no word on Tony Cingrani losing his job after his performance on Monday night but Iglesias spelled him as closer last night, recording his first save on the year. When Iglesias first entered the pen the Reds said how he wouldn’t be used as closer but they are obviously warming up to that idea as Bryan Price says it’s “something we’ll have to weigh moving forward.” Some pitchers aren’t made to start and Iglesias with his injury this year could prove to be one of them. If Cingrani falters again, Iglesias could move into the role indefinitely. Sorry if I led you astray, missing your chance to snag Iglesias off of the wire.

• I’m not quite sure what to make of the Indians pen currently. Andrew Miller was brought on in a high leverage situation in the seventh inning last night with Cody Allen getting the save in the ninth. I’m moving this situation to yellow but it’s really become a two-headed committee between Allen and Miller. We have Miller in the first chair but it’s possible Allen moves in or they flip-flop the entire year. Both “closers” are worth owning but expecting full time save totals from either moving forward would seem to be foolish. The baseball fan in me loves how the Indians are utilizing the pen but the Bullpen Report writer in me is slightly annoyed.

• Quick Hits: Craig Kimbrel struggled last night and Matt Barnes had to come in to finish the save. Kimbrel threw 37 pitches and might get a day off today. Jake Barrett hasn’t looked too dominant in the ninth so it’s nice to see him throw a scoreless ninth for the save. Sam Dyson recorded a save after getting the night off previously. He has thrown in three of the last four, so Jake Diekman could spell him again if another opportunity comes up today. Top prospect Alex Reyes was called up by the Cardinals and will primarily pitch out of the pen for now. He struggled a bit in AAA this year particularly with his control but could be a monster out of the pen. He threw a perfect ninth last night, striking out one batter without a walk while almost hitting 102 mph. He’s not on the grid now but if he harnesses his control in the pen he could make an appearance and impact.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Jake Barrett	Randall Delgado	Daniel Hudson
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	Michael Lorenzen
Cleveland	Andrew Miller	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Adam Ottavino	Carlos Estevez	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	Fernando Salas	Deolis Guerra	J.C. Ramirez	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Joe Blanton	Pedro Baez	Adam Liberatore
Miami	Fernando Rodney	Kyle Barraclough	Mike Dunn	A.J. Ramos
Milwaukee	Tyler Thornburg	Corey Knebel	Carlos Torres
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Trevor May	Ryan Pressly	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles	Jim Henderson
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard	Adam Warren
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	Edubray Ramos
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Tom Wilhelmsen	Arquimedes Caminero	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Brad Boxberger	Xavier Cedeno
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jeremy Jeffress	Jake Diekman
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joaquin Benoit
Wash.	Mark Melancon	Shawn Kelley	Jonathan Papelbon

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