Bullpen Report: August 29, 2012
• Casey Janssen blew his third save of the year on Monday, surrendering a lead-off 361-foot long ball to the Captain, Derek Jeter, in the bottom of the ninth frame to send the contest to extras. But the Blue Jays’ closer bounced back tonight, and retired the Yankees in order to earn his 17th save of the season. Janssen has now saved 17-of-20 with a 2.31 ERA and a 6.6 K/BB. Of relievers who have dished a minimum of 50 innings this season, only Wilton Lopez of the Astros has allowed fewer free passes (5) than Janssen’s eight. Somehow he’s still not spoken for in 36 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
• Royals’ fans were on the edge of their seats in the top of the ninth tonight, as the Tigers tagged closer Greg Holland for two singles before the righty ultimately struck out Delmon Young and Jhonny Peralta to seal the deal. The save was Holland’s ninth of the month, and he now sports a 0.68 ERA and a 2.75 K/BB since taking over the role when Jonathan Broxton was dealt to the Reds. For those chasing saves, Holland is still available in 43 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
• Huston Street is headed to Advanced-A Lake Elsinore for a rehab assignment on Friday, and as long as there are no setbacks, he will meet the Padres in Colorado in time to be activated for Sunday’s game against the Rockies. Prior to being sidelined on August 11th with a strained calf, Street was a perfect 21-for-21 in save opportunities with a 0.75 ERA (2.28 xFIP) and a 5.63 K/BB (35.7% K%). You may want to peruse your waiver wire, as Huston Street is available in close to 25 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
• Kenley Jansen of the Dodgers has been held out of the Dodgers’ last two games with an irregular heartbeat — the same condition that caused the closer to spend a month on the disabled list in 2011. Manager Don Mattingly indicated that the latest recurrence of Jansen’s heart condition may very well cause the reliever to miss the rest of the season.
Tonight, Mattingly asked Ronald Belisario to finish off the Rockies, and he did just that. The right-hander recorded the final five outs of the game to earn his first save of the year. If Jansen is indeed out for the remainder of the year, the Dodgers could use the aforementioned Bellisario, or call on former Mariners’ closer Brandon League — who with the help of Rick Honeycutt recently fixed a mechanical flaw in his delivery, and has the experience manager Don Mattingly may be looking for. Belisario and League are available in 95 and 61 percent of Yahoo! leagues respectively.
We will update the Dodgers’ bullpen order on the grid if/when it is confirmed that Jansen will indeed miss the rest of the year.
For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.
A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Brandon League (LAD) vs. ARI
WIth the unfortunate news that Dodgers’ closer Kenley Jansey could miss the rest of the year with the above noted heart condition, Brandon League could step in and provide the experience necessary to close out games for Los Angeles, if that mechanical flaw has been corrected as the team reports.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
I can’t believe the availability of those guys. Bellisario and League are the the only ones available in our league and that’s about to change in two minutes. 😉 I need some end of the week relief while I wait for Street and Thayer is….? What is Thayer at this point? You still have him as the closer in SD. I understand he was on paternity leave but Gregerson has the last two saves, Layne (not listed) the save before that and Thayer was brought in for a hold situation in the 8th tonight. Once the Pads ran away with the game in the bottom of the 8th, Brach (listed as 3rd) was brought in with a 7-run lead. What IS going on in SD?