Bullpen Report: April 14, 2015

• As some of you brilliant readers noticed last night, Mark Melancon was missing several mph off of his fastball. While I don’t believe his job is in danger due to performance, his decreased velocity could signal struggles to come, in which case Tony Watson and co. could replace him in the ninth inning. After averaging 92 mph on his fastball last year, Melancon sat at 89 mph last night. That’s obviously not a good sign but doesn’t signal a changing of the guard quite yet. Melancon will have ample opportunity to remain closer but closer monitoring of his velocity, coupled with any struggles could signal a future change.

• Andrew Miller has received the save opportunities early on this year but Girardi hasn’t indicated that he’s the closer yet. Actions certainly speak louder than words, and while two saves doesn’t signal Miller as the closer, if the trend continues it will be hard to ignore the roles in the Yankees pen, in spite of what Girardi says.

• We speculated last night that with news of Koji Uehara’s return, the Red Sox would look to go to Tazawa in the eighth inning, in lieu of Edward Mujica, and that’s what happened with Tazawa picking up the last two outs of the eighth and handing the ninth to Uehara. Alexi Ogando threw in the seventh, so the exact order might still be a work in progress but Ogando and Mujica figure to set up Tazawa and Uehara here on out. Uheara almost blew a save with a near home run that was ruled foul but ended up throwing a clean ninth inning for his first save of the year.

• After Brett Cecil’s struggles at the start of the season, the Blue Jays closing situation has been in a state of flux. Miguel Castro seemingly had the role, after successfully picking up two saves in both opportunities, but he entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning tonight in a tie game. He blew the lead in the eighth, aided by a Russell Martin error on a steal by Steven Souza but ended up finishing the inning. Without word from the manager, it’s tough to glean what exactly this means for the Blue Jays pecking order, but it’s safe to say that Castro isn’t locked to the ninth inning. Expect Cecil to have a chance to regain the role, along with fellow young pup Roberto Osuna to continue to see meaningful innings in Toronto.

• It hasn’t been all fun and games with Jeurys Familia but he saved another game tonight, his third of the year.  It hasn’t been all fun and games as he allowed a homer to Jeff Francoeur this evening after struggling with his control last night but with few options behind him at the major league level, his job is still safe.

• Brad Boxberger has done quite well filling in for saves but he got the night off and Kevin Jepsen was called on for the ninth inning. Jepsen did his job and secured his first save of the season. While the Rays hinted at a committee approach before the season, the job eventually evolved into Boxberger’s. Jepsen is a solid option in his own right, but I don’t see him stealing full time saves from Boxberger with Jake McGee still on the shelf.

• Quick Hits: After a Alejandro De Aza fielding mishap extended the eighth inning, Buck Showalter called on Zach Britton for a four out save, which he converted for his second save. Joakim Soria threw a perfect ninth for his third save of the year. Even if Joe Nathan comes back soon, it’s unlikely Soria lets go of the job. David Robertson struck out the side for his second save and first Kimbrel of the year.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Addison Reed	Evan Marshall	Brad Ziegler
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Luis Avilan
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Edward Mujica
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Neil Ramirez
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Zach Putnam	Zach Duke	Jacob Petricka
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Scott Atchison
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Adam Ottavino	John Axford	LaTroy Hawkins
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Al Alburquerque	Joba Chamberlain	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Vinnie Pestano
LAD	Joel Peralta	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez	Kenley Jansen
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jonathan Broxton	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Brian Duensing	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Jerry Blevins	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	David Carpenter
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Eric O’Flaherty	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Jake Diekman
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Jordan Walden	Seth Maness
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Yoervis Medina	Dominic Leone
TB	Brad Boxberger	Kevin Jepsen	Grant Balfour	Jake McGee
Texas	Neftali Feliz	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Miguel Castro	Brett Cecil	Aaron Loup	Steve Delabar
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Blake Treinen	Casey Janssen

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