Bullpen Report: April 2, 2016

• The Phillies have not named a closer yet, and it’s not as if they have an answer and are not telling anybody. For now, our chart lists David Hernandez as the closer despite giving up a home run to the Phillies future squad. One time closer favorite Andrew Bailey has been demoted to the minors, along with Ernesto Frieri. Hernandez has appeared in 5 games this spring, and has surrendered a run in two of them. Dalier Hinojosa is not out of the picture to close games, but has struggled this spring giving up three home runs 8.2 innings. I’d avoid this situation unless you are in the deepest of leagues. Hernandez very strong numbers in Arizona in 2011 and 2012, so that would take some serious optimism to think he could get back to those numbers.
• Bruce Bochy sticks with the vets so Hunter Strickland will not set-up Casilla in the pen. For fantasy purposes, this doesn’t really help Strickland’s cause. Even if you are in a holds league, this will eliminate some of those opportunities. Still, if Casilla does stumble, there is good reason to think Strickland might be the top guy to take over that role even if he is not setting up. Sergio Romo had a chance to capture the closer role last season and struggled, so I am not too sure if Bochy would go right back to Romo if a change is needed.
• A guy to keep an eye on is Silvino Bracho who has made the Arizona MLB roster. Bracho has put up high strikeout numbers at every level (well, except AAA which he skipped to go right to the MLB last season). He still has a few guys to jump over to garner serious interest for a closer role, but could move up quickly if he keeps repeating his past numbers. Last season in A, AA and the majors, he pitched over 63 innings with 91 K’s and 14 walks. He’ll be an interesting watch in the pros if he can keep it up.
• Updating the closer grid is a process as teams figure out their bullpen situations and I have updated the Phillies situation below. As always, please keep giving us feedback as we perfect the grid before the season starts.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Tyler Clippard	Daniel Hudson
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Arodys Vizcaino	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	Jacob Petricka	Nate Jones
Cincy	J.J. Hoover	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Jason Motte	Chad Qualls	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Mark Lowe	Justin Wilson	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	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	Mike Dunn	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Corey Knebel	Michael Blazek	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Jacob Lindgren	Aroldis Chapman
Oakland	Sean Doolittle	John Axford	Ryan Madson
Philly	David Hernandez	Dalier Hinojosa	Jeanmar Gomez	Andrew Bailey
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Fernando Rodney	Kevin Quackenbush	Brandon Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Tony Zych
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquharr	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Tom Wilhelmsen
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.]