Bullpen Report: April 19, 2016

• Kevin Jepsen entered the ninth inning in a tied game this afternoon but a Yadiel Rivera double (who advanced to third on an error) and a Scooter Gennett RBI single gave the Brewers the lead and the eventual loss for Jepsen, his third of the year.  It’s only been a few games but Jepsen has been about as effective as he was last year (3.81 xFIP in 2016 and 4.04 in 2015) but his 4.05 ERA doesn’t look as shiny as the 2.33 ERA he had last year. This wasn’t a particularly bad outing for Jepsen so no change is coming but if he continues to have a few more outings like today – Trevor May is someone to keep an eye on.

• Jeremy Jeffress needed only seven pitches for another scoreless inning today keeping his ERA at 0.00 and saving his fifth game on the year. Jeffress kills worms quite well with a career 57.6% ground ball percentage and although his K/9 sits at a less than stellar 6.75, his swinging strike rate is 14.3%, up from last year (11.4%). It’s certainly a small sample but if Jeffress can generate more whiffs while keeping the ball on the ground he could have a sneaky solid season. I wouldn’t expect a league leading save total on the Brewers but he’s hitting on a lot of the bullet points you would want to see.

• Jumbo Diaz was demoted today with Robert Stephenson getting the call up to the big leagues. J.J. Hoover hasn’t been effective at all this year and gave up another two earned this evening, but the competition behind him hasn’t been stiff enough to replace him, yet. I’ve upgraded the grid below to include Caleb Cotham who came over from New York in the Aroldis Chapman trade and hasn’t allowed a run in eight appearances this year, including a perfect inning today. I’ve also upgraded Tony Cingrani, who started the ninth inning tonight getting the first out before handing it over to Hoover, as the next-in-line. This pecking order, including J.J. Hoover, remains red hot especially with Bryan Price saying that he will sleep on the decision about J.J. Hoover as closer. I would go for Cingrani then Cotham if you’re looking to grab a quick save as I think Hoover will be removed from his role, but it’s really close to a toss-up.

• Quick Hits: Cody Allen gave up one run but earned his fourth save of the year. After a day off due to a blister issue, Roberto Osuna was back in form for a four-out save. Wade Davis walked and struck out a batter for his sixth save. Alex Colome closed his second door of the season, throwing a perfect 10th with two strikeouts. Ryan Madson was called on in the 11th to secure the lead for the A’s and it certainly looks like he’s becoming the full on closer. Sean Doolittle threw a scoreless eighth in a tie game and I’ve upgraded the A’s to yellow on the grid. John Barbato allowed the first run of his season in his two innings of work but he still looks like a keeper in the Yankees pen. He won’t be able to leap frog Dellin Betances or Andrew Miller who both threw scoreless innings tonight (continuing their perfect seasons ERA-wise) but he’s another ratio and strikeout helper to rely on. The Yankees might have the best bullpen in the league even if Aroldis Chapman never throws a pitch.

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	Tony Cingrani	Caleb Cotham
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Miguel Castro	Chad Qualls	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	Ryan Madson	Sean Doolittle	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	Steve Geltz	Enny Romero	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.]