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:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
krod & osuna continued fumigation thurs. whats the chances of capps earning saves by end of june?
3 Ks in 12 innings and he’s going to keep the job when Bedrosian gets back? No way.
3:1 k:bb- not just 3ks lol. In raw Ks, he has 15 in 12.2ip.
I have to say – that’s exactly how I read it as well. 3:1 K:BB to me means the guy has 3 K and 1 BB.
I read it as that at first, but on a close read, I think it’s pretty clear Harrison meant is a ratio of 3 to 1.
Yes, clearly a ratio. Three strikeouts for every walk, or 3:1. I do, however, see others around the industry write it in the same fashion using raw strikeouts per walks, so I guess I can see how it could be confusing.
no mention of osuna &johnson blowing their saves?
How is F-Rod still green? He’s a batting machine.
I agree in principle because he stinks, but there’s been basically *zero* indication from Ausmus that he’s thinking of a change. Usually a manager will hem and haw a bit and you can see it coming, not so here.
Sure, but that can change in a heartbeat. Another blow-up and he could be gone, regardless of what Ausmus said.
Agreed. Once a manager starts hemming and hawing, you’re in a ‘red’ situation. FRod’s gotta be yellow.
The only thing I’d say is that Ausmus might be one of those “he’s got proven closer experience, so we’re going to give him a huge leash” type guys, as much as I think we know that’s bullshit. Many, if not most, generally effective RP’s could successfully close save chances if given the opportunity. The other thing he might be thinking about is the disaster that the closer role was in 2015, when Neftali Feliz, Alex Wilson, Bruce Rondon, and Joakim Soria all struggled at various times throughout the season in the closer role or got injured. He might not want to start that carousel again, at least not quite yet.
Is it worth holding on to Koda Glover? My take is that Dusty has shown incredible reluctance to hand the job to Shawn Kelley, whom most people assumed would be the closer since before the season.
My issue with Glover is that his value already probably had a shelf life, because every indication is that the Nationals are looking to trade for a closer. So he was all first half value, and now with the injury, and presumably the need to make the case for the 9th inning job all over again once he’s back, a bunch of that short term value has been burned too.
I really thought Baker was going to sneak him into the closer role despite claims to the contrary a la Neris in Philadelphia, so it’s too bad.
There is a 95% chance Robertson is closing for Washington on August 1st
Man, Bedrosian has me worried now, because I bet it only takes a couple more saves from Norris before we starting hearing more about how “Bedrosian’s our Andrew Miller” and he’s getting deployed in high leverage 7th/8th inning spots. Good for the Angels, bad for fantasy.
Still “feeling Minnesota”, I see…you should just make it purple and be done with it. The ongoing indifference to this issue is a direct slight to the Dirt People.
Is JJ Hoover really the 2nd in line the Dbacks saves situation? The guy was ineffective in his time with Reds, and Bradley has done far more to be elevated if the manager chose to do so.
I would say Hoover, Jorge de la Rosa, and Bradley are all potentially in the closer mix right now. Hoover and de la Rosa have been setting up for Rodney recently, whereas Bradley kind of seems like the Swiss army knife of the bullpen, going multiple innings all over the place, sometimes in high leverage/hold situations, sometimes not. Even though Bradley has been good, I honestly think they’d prefer to keep him in a multi-inning bullpen role (or potentially start him) rather than designate him the one-inning closer. Hoover or de la Rosa have a better shot to close IMO. But I could be very wrong on this, Dbacks bullpen is hard to project right now IMO if Rodney is removed.