Bullpen Report: April 29, 2013

– Craig Kimbrel locked down his 9th save on 10 pitches tonight in a 3-2 Braves victory over the Nationals. The right-hander whiffed just one batter in the top of the ninth-inning resulting in a dip of his K% from 38.9% to 38.5% on the season. Oof. Kimbrel is now 9-of-10 in save opportunities with a 1.69 ERA (1.03 FIP) on the year. But the narrative shouldn’t just be about ninth-inning man here. Fredi Gonazlez summonsed both Jordan Walden and Eric O’Flaherty from the ‘pen prior to calling on the closer. Combined, Walden and O’Flaherty dished 2.2 clean innings while fanning five Nationals. Entering tonight, the Braves bullpen held a 2.18 ERA (2.84 FIP) in 70.1 IP. Not bad.

– Jim Leyland spoke at length on Monday prior to the Tigers’ three-game series against the Twins. Leyland indicated he would not be willing to send Papa Grande to the hill three days in row just yet, mostly because “Valverde didn’t have any spring training and [Leyland] didn’t want to do anything stupid.” Joaquin Benoit assumed the ninth-inning gig tonight and earned his second save on just two pitches. If you’re streaming middle relievers — or just very desperate for saves — add Benoit and monitor Leyland’s use of Valverde, for a few random save opportunities. And Valverde is owned in just 67% of Y! leagues, feel free to add him where available — it’s safe for now.

– Colin and Ben have both mentioned the “ghost of Kevin Gregg” in recent editions of the Bullpen Report. And once again tonight, the ghost has returned. Gregg dished one-and-a-third innings — fanning two of the four batters he faced — en route to his fourth save of the season and a 5-3 Cubs victory over the Friars. The 34-year-old has just 5.1 innings under his belt but is currently the owner of a 0.00 ERA and a 28.6% K%. Gregg’s recent success could lead to a closer controversy next week when Kyuji Fujikawa is scheduled to return from the disabled list. Fuji hit the DL with a right forearm strain, but tossed 32 pitches in a side session today and could head out on a rehab assignment as early as Sunday with Triple-A Iowa.

– Bobby Parnell of the Mets blew his second save in four chances and Aroldis Chapman notched his sixth save of the 2013 campaign.

Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	J.J. Putz	David Hernandez	Heath Bell
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Eric O’Flaherty	Jordan Walden
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Darren O’Day	Pedro Strop
Boston	Andrew Bailey	Junichi Tazawa	Koji Uehara	Joel Hanrahan
CHI (NL)	Kevin Gregg	Carlos Marmol	James Russell	Kyuji Fujikawa
CHI (AL)	Addison Reed	Jesse Crain	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	Sam LeCure
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Vinnie Pestano	Joe Smith
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Wilton Lopez	Matt Belisle
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Phil Coke
Houston	Jose Veras	Wesley Wright	Hector Ambriz
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Tim Collins
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Scott Downs	Sean Burnett	Ryan Madson
LAD	Brandon League	Kenley Jansen	Ronald Belisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	Jon Rauch	A.J. Ramos
Milwaukee	Jim Henderson	John Axford	Michael Gonzalez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	Brandon Lyon	LaTroy Hawkins	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Mariano Rivera	David Robertson	Joba Chamberlain
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Mike Adams	Antonio Bastardo
Pittsburgh	Jason Grilli	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Edward Mujica	Trevor Rosenthal	Mitchell Boggs	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Sergio Romo	Santiago Casilla	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Carter Capps	Charlie Furbush
TB	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Tanner Scheppers	Jason Frasor
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Steve Delabar	Darren Oliver	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Drew Storen	Tyler Clippard

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