Bullpen Report: April 16, 2015

There were a lot of save opportunities today and the closers (one set-up man) were perfect in converting these saves (or at least when I published this). I won’t get into every save tonight, just the more interesting ones.

 

Sean Dolittle faced one batter in the 8th inning tonight after surrendering a home run the night before down by a run. Instead of turning to Doolittle for the four-out save, Bob Melvin went to Ryan Madson for the first time since he gave up two runs to the Angels. Madson wasn’t perfect and gave up an unearned run, but he did get himself his third save of the season. Using Doolitle on Friday was not necessarily ideal for Melvin, so there will still be some save opportunities ahead for Doolittle. Doolittle has given up runs in his previous two appearances, so it’s not a rock solid hold on the closer role, which seems to be inconsistent anyway with the A’s using their top relievers in high leverage situations for the most part.

Kevin Jepsen earned his second save of the year, giving up a walk in his second straight save appearance, while also earning a strikeout in those appearances as well. Jepsen converted 15 of 20 saves last season while playing for the Rays and the Twins. He started the season a little rough, but could be a solid closer candidate for the Twins for now. His strikeout rate went down last year as his walk rate went up, yet he still posted his best ERA last season. Trevor may has a whopping 12 K’s in 7 innings so far, so he definitely is a darkhorse to take over the role in case Jepsen falters, but I am concerned with those 6 walks so far.

Craig Kimbrel was absolutely dominant tonight, striking out the heart of the Blue Jays line-up. After a rough outing on April 11th against Baltimore, Kimbrel appears to be fine earning saves in his last three appearances. More interesting, though, for those in holds leagues is Koji Uehara who has not given up a run yet and has five holds so far. Wouldn’t expect you to pick up many saves with Uehara for obvious reasons, but always puts up solid numbers and in leagues that counts holds, will be just as valuable as your top closers.

Steve Cishek earned his first save of the year and it was an adventure. After getting the first two batters out, Cishek gave up a single to Beltran and Castro, who then stole second base, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position. Cishek did what he does best and enduced a Chase Headley groundball to end the game. Joaquin Benoit also pitched very well in the 8th, facing a total of four batters because of an error, so keep an eye on him in case Cishek falters as the closer.

Speaking of adventures and first saves of the year, J.J. Hoover earned his first save of the year, but it was anything but clean. Given a three run cushion, Hoover allowed a lead-off double to Matt Holliday and after getting two outs, gave up a two-run homer to Brandon Moss. Then he walks the next batter, really making the game interesting, and finally ended the game on the extremely common batter’s interference. The Reds closer situation is one that I tried to avoid this year, and this further proves why despite the save.

Quick Hitters: Jason Grilli earned his first save of the year giving up a single and a walk, but also struck out the side. In back-to-back nights, the Mets and Indians each had a large lead and then almost blew them respectively. Addison Reed gave up two in 1.2 innings, so Familia had to cool the flames in .1 innings, still giving up a run, but earning his third save. Today, the Indians had the large lead, until Bryan Shaw gave up 4 runs (two home runs) in .2 innings appearance. Cody Allen came in for the four-out save, his third of the season. Francisco Rodriguez had a perfect inning for his third save, his second in two straight opportunities. Since giving up 3 runs on Opening Day, Rodriguez has not given up a run in five appearances.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Jacob Petricka
Cincy	J.J. Hoover	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Chad Qualls	Justin Miller	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Mark Lowe	Justin Wilson	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Ken Giles	Pat Neshek
KC	Wade Davis	Joakim Soria	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Chris Hatcher	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Bryan Morris	Craig Breslow	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Michael Blazek	Tyler Thornburg	Will Smith
Minnesota	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May	Casey Fien	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Chasen Shreve	Aroldis Chapman
Oakland	Sean Doolittle	Ryan Madson	John Axford
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	David Hernandez	Dalier Hinojosa	Andrew Bailey
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seung Hwan Oh
SD	Fernando Rodney	Brandon Maurer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Hunter Strickland	George Kontos	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Tony Zych
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Sam Dyson	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Shawn Kelley	Blake Treinen

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