Bullpen Report: April 17, 2017

Well, that was a pretty eventful weekend for closers, let’s get to it with some news from today as well…

• Zach Britton has dreaded soreness in his forearm and was placed on the 10-Day DL. I say dreaded because of a common connection with the elbow but Britton is saying he won’t need a MRI. I’m assuming that’s a good thing and not the Orioles trying to save a buck. Either way, Brad Brach should see save chances in Britton’s place with Darren O’Day and Mychal Givens behind him. From 2009 to 2015 O’Day had a 2.07 ERA in 400.1 innings but last year it jumped to 3.77 and he’s been rusty to the start of this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Givens leapfrog O’Day here.

• The Sam Dyson saga continues! After throwing one scoreless inning in his last appearance, Dyson was back in the ninth on Sunday and proceeded to allow five baserunners, two runs and his third loss and blown save. Classic Dyson this year. He has since gone to the 10-Day DL with a hand contusion. In his place the Rangers called up Keone Kela and since he’s a live human who throws baseballs in relief he could possibly see some high leverage innings. It looks like Matt Bush will get the first crack at saves. His shoulder was acting up earlier so it’s unlikely he will be tasked to pitch many back-to-backs at least to start, so Jeremy Jeffress, Keone Kela, Jose Leclerc and others could also see a save chance or two. If Bush’s arm holds up, he figures to give you strikeouts and saves without walking many guys either which is also known as a fine closer.

• Joaquin Benoit blew his first save of the year on Sunday and while he has Hector Neris breathing down his neck, the job is still his at the moment. Benoit has been a very good reliever for quite a while now, I don’t think his first bad outing will take him out of the closer’s chair. However, his walk rate might be worth looking at. Benoit hasn’t even throw enough innings to get a quality start this year but his walk rate is at a career high and it has basically been trending up for a several years now. If Benoit keeps walking guys at a career high rate, it will likely be Neris’ job soon. If not, he’ll probably be pitching on another team this summer and the job will go to Neris.

• While relievers like Benoit haven’t qualified for a quality start yet, Chris Devenski is basically just pitching like a (damn good) starter right now. Devenski threw two perfect frames today striking out four and now has a 21/1 K/BB ratio in 11 innings out of relief this season. He now supports a 0.82/0.57/0.26 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line just to show how dominant he’s been. If he keeps this up more teams will try to mimic his usage or it’s possible the Astros will save the cost of acquiring an ace at the deadline and start throwing him in the first inning. Luke Gregerson threw a perfect eighth for the hold and Ken Giles closed his third door throwing a perfect inning of his own with two strikeouts. Gregerson and Giles both have ERAs starting with a 7 but as tonight shows, their jobs are safe.

• Things might be getting interesting-ish in San Diego. Ryan Buchter blew a one-run lead in the eighth inning tonight after Freddie Freeman hit his second longball of the day. In the bottom of the ninth, Maurer gave up three hits and the game-winning single to Dansby Swanson (maybe he is the next Captain Clutch). Maurer is pitching better than his 5.79 ERA would indicate this year but Buchter and Brad Hand might be the best relievers on the team. That is until Carter Capps comes back at least. Capps was ineffective in a rehab appearance in AAA on Sunday but he’s likely en route to San Diego soon. He’s not guaranteed anything upon his return but Maurer owners can’t feel too great about his long term save potential if he’s the fourth best reliever on the team.

Jim Johnson vultured his second win of the year and lowered his ERA to 1.29. The Braves have young and sexy names behind JJ but consider me bullish on him as the Braves attempt to be respectable in their new stadium. That may not end up possible come July but for a guy who’s seemingly been red or yellow for a few years now on the grid, it’s nice to see some solid green for the time being.

• Craig Kimbrel picked up his sixth save of the year for Boston, finishing their early Marathon Day game. If I’m being honest, I didn’t rank him among the elite closers this year so it’s likely that he heard those whispers and decided to go bonkers again. In seven innings this year Kimbrel has allowed one run and 12 strikeouts, basically what he’s done for the previous seven years. With all of that said, it was the third game in a row for Kimbrel so if there is a save chance tomorrow expect Matt Barnes to get a look.

• Seung Hwan Oh has been very rocky to the start of the season. He picked up hist first save on the year but not before allowing two hits and a run in the process. It’s (very) early but his 9.53/8.40/7.48 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line doesn’t look to fabulous. His fastball is more or less on par with last year but he’s not generating the same swings and misses early this year. Trevor Rosenthal pitched a perfect eighth and looks to be next in line in St. Louis. Again, it’s (very) early but Rosie’s control eluded him last year and it’s nice to see him throw 100 mph fastballs  in even just 2.1 innings without walking a batter this year.

• With a few runners on and a three-run lead the Yankees brought in Aroldis Chapman who secured his fourth save on the year. In 5.1 innings Chapman has issued just one walk across his eight strikeouts. Chapman lowered his BB% to a career best 8.1% last season and it’s even better than that early on in 2017. Chapman isn’t suffering any velocity decline and he obviously can’t throw 100 forever but if he offsets any loss with increased control he should remain on top of his game for quite a while. If he’s able keep the same swing and miss stuff with a walk rate in line with the best relievers, well then he’s just that more incredible.

• Neftali Feliz started the inning allowing a hit and a walk but eluded it unscathed for his fifth save of the year after he got a double play and struck out Kyle Schwarber for the final out. If you follow fantasy baseball you’re likely already aware he’s throwing 97 with success. What’s not as common knowledge is Corey Knebel who threw another scoreless inning today, keeping his ERA at 0.00. He also has 10 strikeouts against three walks and will likely join Neftali Feliz on the trade block come July. Last note on the Brewers bullpen is Jacob Barnes who struck out the side in the seventh, keeping his ERA at 0.00 as well. I’ve added him to the grid and if he keeps this up, consider him a deep deep sleeper if/when trade rumors heat up in the summer.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Randall Delgado
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez	Mauricio Cabrera
Baltimore	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens	Zach Britton
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Matt Barnes	Heath Hembree	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Wade Davis	Pedro Strop	Koji Uehara
CHI (AL)	David Robertsonon	Nate Jones	Dan Jennings
Cincy	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Greg Holland	Adam Ottavino	Mike Dunn
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Peter Moylan
LAA	Cam Bedrosian	Jose Alvarez	Blake Parker	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Sergio Romo	Grant Dayton
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Neftali Feliz	Corey Knebel	Jacob Barnes>
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Matt Belisle	Ryan Pressly	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Addison Reed	Fernando Salas	Hansel Robles	Jeurys Familia
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard
Oakland	Santiago Casilla	Sean Doolittle	Ryan Dull
Philly	Joaquin Benoit	Hector Neris	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Daniel Hudson	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand	Carter Capps
SF	Mark Melancon	Hunter Strickland	Derek Law
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Dan Altavilla	Nick Vincent	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Erasmo Ramirez	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress	Jose Leclerc	Sam Dyson
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joe Biagini
Wash.	Blake Treinen	Koda Glover	Shawn Kelley

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