Bullpen Report: April 25, 2016

A few quick notes from Sunday:

• Jake McGee had a bad night allowing five earned in less than an inning. Every dog has it’s (bad) day and I don’t think McGee’s job is in danger but we’ll keep Colorado yellow for now. Miguel Castro who pitched himself into setup duty was put on the DL with an apparent non-serious shoulder injury. Chad Qualls and Boone Logan both move up a spot with McGee still ahead provided he doesn’t repeat last night’s performance.

• Craig Kimbrel gave up two in the ninth for his first blown save. A 5.00 ERA won’t stop him from complete job security. Meanwhile, in that same game Ken Giles gave up more hits, runs, and walks inflating his ERA to 8.31. He still has 12 strikeouts against just three walks in 8.2 innings this year and his 2.77 xFIP suggests clearer skies ahead but if he doesn’t turn it around soon he might temporarily out of such high leverage innings. Cody Allen had a clean save last night, helping ease his owner’s concerns after a few rough outings in April.

And on to Monday!

• Joaquin Benoit hit the DL and should be out for a few weeks. Nick Vincent has been outstanding in 8.1 innings throwing 10 strikeouts without issuing a walk and should see higher leveraged innings along with Tony Zych.

• Alex Colome only needed one out to get his fourth save on the year. Erasmo Ramirez and Xavier Cedeno provided the bridge to Colome and I’ve changed the grid below with them added in place of Steven Geltz and Enny Romero (who got the final out of the seventh this inning). Apologies on a lot of changes in the Rays pen but they mix and match and the back end of the pen has been quite good as well. This might all be for naught when Brad Boxberger returns but Colome’s job is safe and I’m changing them to yellow, mostly to signify Boxberger’s presence.

• Caleb Cotham threw a scoreless inning but it was in the bottom of the eighth with the Reds down two runs. At this rate, just a scoreless inning might put you ahead for saves in Cincinnati but I’m going to swap him and Cingrani at the moment.

• Quick Hits: Craig Kimbrel put the rough outing last night behind him, throwing a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for save number five. David Robertson (8) got out of a little jam when Troy Tulowitzki ran into a grounder for the final out. Dellin Betances allowed his first run of the year and Andrew Miller (5) taunted him, throwing another scoreless inning. On the year Miller and Betances have combined for 19 innings pitched with one earned run 38 strikeouts and only two walks. Jeurys Familia had a shut down inning for his sixth save. Kevin Jepsen threw a perfect ninth receiving the win after the Twins scored in the ninth and with Trevor May getting action in the fifth and sixth inning, Jepsen’s hold on the ninth in Perkins’ absence remains strong.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jim Johnson	Jason Grilli
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	Tony Cingrani	Caleb Cotham	Blake Wood	J.J. Hoover
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Chad Qualls	Boone Logan	Miguel Castro
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	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	Tony Zych	Nick Vincent	Joaquin Benoit
TB	Alex Colome	Erasmo Ramirez	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Sam Dyson	Anthony Barnette	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Blake Treinen	Shawn Kelley

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