Bullpen Report: April 27, 2017

Happy Thursday, folks. Just a quick couple of notes out of the bullpens this evening.

Take a deep breath before this one. Bud Norris notched his fourth save of the week and is now 4-of-5 in save chances while manning the closer’s role for the Angels this season. In 12.2 total frames on the bump, Norris owns a 3:1 K:BB with a 2.84 ERA (2.03 FIP). The spike in cutter usage/effectiveness seems to be at the root of the 32-year-old’s rebirth as a relief arm. As it stands, we have the Angels situation as “yellow,” but as the days pass and saves continue to be converted, it’s hard to say that Cam Bedrosian is a lock to earn his ninth-inning role back when reinstated from the disabled list. If you’re scrambling for saves, you’re grabbing Norris (if you haven’t done so already) where you can as he’s available in more than 65% of Y! Leagues at the time of this writing.

In the second half of the Cardinals/Blue Jays double header, Mike Matheny opted for right-handed flamethrower Trevor Rosenthal to face the bottom third of Toronto’s order with a save on the line. Although neither Oh or Rosenthal hadn’t pitched since Sunday, Oh dished a clean inning of work during the first half of the doubleheader which is likely why we didn’t see him the second time around today. Rosenthal needed just 13 pitches to strike out two and induce a groundout to first base en route to his second save of the season while recording the third-fastest pitch of the year at 101.7 in doing so. The Cardinals have yet to allow Trevor Rosenthal to pitch on back-to-back days since suffering the lat strain during Spring Training. And for that reason, I’m not so sure he’s ready — or if the Cardinals would be willing — to lock him into his former role just yet. Seung Hwan Oh isn’t exactly off to the best start — 5-of-6 in save chances with a 7.59 K/9 and a 5.25 FIP — so you’re adding Rosenthal where possible as he’s available in over 70% of Y! formats. Green tonight, but thinking this may be moving towards a yellow situation.

Cody Allen surrendered three consecutive singles to Astros bats to start the top of the ninth, but managed to escape unscathed for his fifth save of the year. Allen is 5-for-5 in save opportunities with an 18.0 K/9 and a 1.00 ERA (-0.69 FIP) in nine innings of work. Velocity looks good and he’s inducing swings-and-misses at a ridiculous 23.1% clip prior to tonight’s outing. Green, green, green.

The Mariners’ ninth-inning sensation, Edwin Diaz, locked down his third successful save conversion in four opportunities with an 11-pitch (nine strikes, three swings-and-misses) effort. Allowing free passes have been an early season hiccup for the 23-year-old, but this evening he managed to finish off the Tigers without allowing a walk — just the fourth time in eight games he’s failed to surrender the free pass. Green.

Hector Neris needed just seven pitches to pick up his third save for the Phillies en route to a 3-2 victory over the Marlins. Still yellow-ish in Philly for the time being, however, Neris is still available in close to 50% of Y! Leagues which shouldn’t be the case.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Archie Bradley
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	Hector Rondon	Koji Uehara
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	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	Bud Norris	Blake Parker	David Hernandez	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Sergio Romo	Grant Dayton
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Neftali Feliz	Corey Knebel	Jacob Barnes
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Ryan Pressly	Matt Belisle	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Jerry Blevins
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard
Oakland	Santiago Casilla	Sean Doolittle	Ryan Madson
Philly	Hector Neris	Joaquin Benoit	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	Nick Vincent	Evan Scribner	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Austin Pruitt	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress	Jose Leclerc	Sam Dyson
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joe Biagini
Wash.	Shawn Kelley	Blake Treinen	Joe Blanton	Koda Glover

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