(Belated) Bullpen Report: September 6, 2017

• With Blake Treinen having pitched in back to back days, the A’s went to Chris Hatcher for the save opportunity and he picked up his first save in a perfect ninth on eight pitches. Santiago Casilla was also unavailable having a heavy work load of late but I still believe this helps secure Hatcher as the next in line in Oakland. Although Treinen was unavailable, he’s also put up L’s in his last three appearances. They haven’t been particularly bad outings and he’s been quite good on Oakland (2.60 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9) so his job is pretty safe but keep an eye on Hatcher if Treinen has an extended slump.

• Tyler Lyons threw a scoreless ninth for his second save, striking out two and also allowing two hits. We recently put Lyons atop of the closer grid and it looks like he will stay there for the time being although this situation could still be somewhat of a committee. John Brebbia got the hold in the eighth pitching a perfect inning and he could be moving up on the grid. Brebbia won’t maintain a .193 BABIP but Oh has been very up and down as Brebbia and even Ryan Sherriff are slowly gaining Mike Matheny’s trust.

• The Angels closer situation has been a non-impressive roller coaster thus far but Blake Parker appears to have a decent hold on the job. Ex-closer Bud Norris was activated from the DL and while I don’t expect him to replace Parker, I’ve added him to the grid behind Parker and Cam Bedrosian. As we have seen with their bullpen usage this season however, Keynan Middleton and Petit could also see higher leverage innings.

• Interesting news out of New York regarding the Yankees closer situation as Aroldis Chapman could return back to his familiar role. Dellin Betances has been struggling and the Yankees likely don’t intend to pay Chapman tens of millions to not close. Joe Girardi even said “I possibly would have closed with him tonight, probably, knowing that the other guys could probably use a day off” which doesn’t mean Chapman is the closer now, but I’ve moved him to second in line and made this situation red. Watch the Yankees very closely for both a fun end of season division battle, but more importantly to see who receives the next save opportunity.

Other Bullpen Activity

• Wade Davis struck out a pair for his 29th save. There’s been a few times given Davis’ injury history where a small struggle got me nervous, along with his elevated walk rate but he’s otherwise been solid all year helping ratios and racking up saves. The walks (up to 12.6% BB% from 9.1% last year) prevents him from entering the elite company but he of course remains a solid option moving forward this year.
• 13 wins in a row for The Daimondbacks and another arrow for Fernando Rodney as he got his 36th save. Archie Bradley threw a perfect eighth for his 21st hold and is the best option back there but Rodney’s hold is firm. Things might change in 2018 but for now expect Rodney to continue to get saves, especially if they keep playing the Dodgers.
• After being used more conventionally this summer as a setup man, Chris Devenski is back to his multi-inning ways, picking up the win tonight after getting four outs. With 8 wins, 4 saves, and 91 strikeouts on the year Devenski has been more valuable than many traditional closers. If he’s getting one-to-three outs he’s pretty good but when he’s getting used for longer outings he becomes pretty special.
• Arodys Vizcaino picked up his 10th save for the Braves in the second game of their double header against the Rangers. Alex Claudio didn’t receive a save opportunity for Texas but did get the last out for Texas in both games.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
ARI	Fernando Rodney	Archie Bradley	David Hernandez
ATL	Arodys Vizcaino	Jim Johnson	Jose Ramirez
BAL	Zach Britton	Brad Brach	Mychal Givens
BOS	Craig Kimbrel	Addison Reed	Matt Barnes	Carson Smith
CHC	Wade Davis	Pedro Strop	Carl Edwards Jr.
CWS	Juan Minaya	Danny Farquhar	Gregory Infante	Nate Jones
CIN	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
CLE	Cody Allen	Joe Smith	Bryan Shaw	Andrew Miller
COL	Greg Holland	Jake McGee	Pat Neshek
DET	Shane Greene	Alex Wilson	Joe Jimenez
HOU	Ken Giles	Chris Devenski	Luke Gregerson
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Brandon Maurer	Scott Alexander	Joakim Soria
LAA	Blake Parker	Cam Bedrosian	Bud Norris
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Brandon Morrow	Pedro Baez
MIA	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough	Drew Steckenrider
MIL	Corey Knebel	Anthony Swarzak	Josh Hader
MIN	Matt Belisle	Trevor Hildenberger	Alan Busenitz
NYM	A.J. Ramos	Jeurys Familia	Paul Sewald
NYY	Dellin Betances	Aroldis Chapman	David Robertson
OAK	Blake Treinen	Chris Hatcher	Liam Hendriks
PHI	Hector Neris	Juan Nicasio	Luis Garcia
PIT	Felipe Rivero	Daniel Hudson	A.J. Schugel	Joaquin Benoit
STL	Tyler Lyons	Seung Hwan Oh	John Brebbia	Trevor Rosenthal
SD	Brad Hand	Kirby Yates	Phil Maton
SF	Sam Dyson	Hunter Strickland	Mark Melancon
SEA	Edwin Diaz	Nick Vincent	Marc Rzepczynski	Tony Zych
TB	Alex Colome	Tommy Hunter	Steve Cishek
TEX	Alex Claudio	Tony Barnette	Jake Diekman	Keone Kela
TOR	Roberto Osuna	Ryan Tepera	Dominic Leone
WSH	Sean Doolittle	Brandon Kintzler	Ryan Madson

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