Bullpen Report: April 13, 2018

Thursday’s slate was short on games and also short on any sort of closer developments. We also got a break from the ongoing late-inning soap opera being acted out for us by the Brewers and Cardinals. The former team had the night off, while the latter blew out the Reds, 13-4.

Oddly enough, the Cardinals’ bullpen produced one of the two saves recorded on Thursday. Mike Mayers pitched the final three innings, giving the late-inning contingent a rest during a lopsided game. Mayers shut out the Reds over his three frames, allowing only a double, a single and a walk while striking out two batters.

The only other save situation involved Craig Kimbrel, who was summoned after Gary Sanchez’s bases-clearing double off Marcus Walden brought the Yankees to within three runs in the top of the ninth inning. Kimbrel sealed the win for the Red Sox, retiring all three batters he faced. He averaged 95.9 mph on the seven fastballs he threw, which keeps him roughly 2 mph below where he typically was in his early-season appearances a year ago. Despite the lower velocity, Kimbrel has had few problems missing bats, posting a 16.5 percent swinging strike rate over his six innings. An even greater concern is his control, but he is making progress on that front. For the second appearance in a row, Kimbrel threw more than 40 percent of his pitches in the strike zone after compiling a rate below 36 percent in each of his first four appearances.

The Royals did not need a closer in their 7-1 loss to the Angels, but they brought Kelvin Herrera in to start the top of the ninth inning nonetheless. Herrera had not pitched in five days, so it appears Ned Yost was just giving him some work, and he yanked his closer out of the game after he recorded his second out. Seven of Herrera’s 16 pitches were outside the strike zone, but he induced only one swing on those pitches. That’s an aberration for the righty, who still has a 53.3 percent O-Swing rate (16 swings on 30 pitches) on the season. To put this in perspective, the major league average so far in 2018 is 28.7 percent. If Herrera were merely average at getting swings on bad pitches, he would have coaxed seven fewer swings on pitches outside of the strike zone.

To be sure, the sample is small, but it’s hard to ignore how extremely deceptive Herrera has been this season. It’s equally eye-catching how much more horizontal movement Herrera is getting on his four-seamer. As the graph below shows, he is getting more than two inches of additional movement as compared to this time last season.

After two weeks, it’s still not a good idea to put too much stock in rankings of season-to-date fantasy value. However, it’s worth noting there are currently three non-closing relievers who have cracked the top 15 relievers on ESPN’s Player Rater. Ranking fourth is Adam Ottavino, whom Greg Jewett discussed in Wednesday’s Bullpen Report, and it’s not surprising to see Brad Peacock checking in at No. 10. Shane Carle settling in just three spots below Peacock is more unexpected, and his two wins have gone a long way towards boosting his value. However, Carle has already pitched 10.2 innings, and if his heavy usage continues (and he doesn’t wear out), he could vulture plenty more wins, just like Mychal Givens has for the Orioles over the last couple of seasons. Carle is a strike-thrower who, despite a 13.4 percent swinging strike rate, gets enough contact to be highly efficient, as evidenced by his 3.30 pitches per plate appearance ratio this season. He also sports a miserly 24.2 percent hard contact rate and 85.9 mph average exit velocity, so the contact he has allowed has not been damaging. Carle could help in points leagues as well as in formats that reward holds.

Bullpen Report: April 13, 2018
TM Closer First Second DL/Minors
ARI Brad Boxberger Archie Bradley Yoshihisa Hirano
ATL Arodys Vizcaino A.J. Minter Jose Ramirez
BAL Brad Brach Darren O’Day Mychal Givens Zach Britton
BOS Craig Kimbrel Matt Barnes Joe Kelly
CHC Brandon Morrow Carl Edwards Jr. Pedro Strop
CWS Joakim Soria Nate Jones Danny Farquhar
CIN Raisel Iglesias Jared Hughes Kevin Quackenbush David Hernandez
CLE Cody Allen Andrew Miller Zach McAllister
COL Wade Davis Jake McGee Bryan Shaw
DET Shane Greene Alex Wilson Drew VerHagen
HOU Ken Giles Chris Devenski Brad Peacock
KC Kelvin Herrera Justin Grimm Brandon Maurer
LAA Keynan Middleton Blake Parker Jim Johnson
LAD Kenley Jansen Josh Fields Scott Alexander
MIA Brad Ziegler Kyle Barraclough Drew Steckenrider
MIL Matt Albers Jacob Barnes Jeremy Jeffress Corey Knebel
MIN Fernando Rodney Addison Reed Zach Duke
NYM Jeurys Familia A.J. Ramos Hansel Robles Anthony Swarzak
NYY Aroldis Chapman David Robertson Dellin Betances
OAK Blake Treinen Ryan Buchter Chris Hatcher
PHI Hector Neris Luis Garcia Adam Morgan Pat Neshek
PIT Felipe Vasquez George Kontos Michael Feliz
STL Greg Holland Bud Norris Dominic Leone
SD Brad Hand Craig Stammen Jordan Lyles Kirby Yates
SF Hunter Strickland Tony Watson Sam Dyson Mark Melancon
SEA Edwin Diaz Juan Nicasio Nick Vincent
TB Alex Colome Sergio Romo Chaz Roe
TEX Keone Kela Kevin Jepsen Chris Martin
TOR Roberto Osuna Ryan Tepera Seung Hwan Oh
WSH Sean Doolittle Ryan Madson Brandon Kintzler





Al Melchior has been writing about Fantasy baseball and sim games since 2000, and his work has appeared at CBSSports.com, BaseballHQ, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster and FanRagSports. He has also participated in Tout Wars' mixed auction league since 2013. You can follow Al on Twitter @almelchiorbb and find more of his work at almelchior.com.

4 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Moatemember
5 years ago

Glad we’re finally acknowledging that the Houston closer situation is officially “weird”