Bullpen Report: April 29, 2015

Alright fake baseball folks, this is the late-inning pinch-hit version of the Bullpen Report.

Adam Ottavino landed on the 15-day disabled list three days ago with what the Colorado Rockies referred to as “triceps inflammation.” But on Tuesday, results of an MRI conducted on Ottavino’s pitching arm indicated that the inflammation actually appeared to be closer to his lower arm in the vicinity of his elbow. Ugh. There will be no further speculation or diagnosis by the team until they return from their road trip and the right-hander gets a chance to meet with team doctors on Monday, but Ottavino admitted that “he was worried.”

In his stead, John Axford will likely continue to carry the ninth-inning torch. He’s a perfect 3-for-3 in save chances on the season with a perfect 0.00 ERA (1.94 FIP), a 1.00 WHIP and a 20% K%-BB% in five trips to the bump. At the time of this writing, John Axford is available in 53% of Yahoo! leagues. This number should be on the rise, so if he’s still on your wire, be sure to grab him while you can. Some may not have the option, but if you can slot Ottavino into a DL slot until an official announcement is made from the team’s doctors, I’d do so. In deeper formats and those that reward for holds or solds (saves + holds), Rafael Betancourt and Boone Logan should get a bump in value as well — and I’d be adding them in that order. Strictly looking for holds? Don’t forget about Brooks Brown who owns six on the season and is owned in just 1% of Y! leagues.

Trevor Rosenthal surrendered a hit and a walk in the ninth-inning against the Phillies this evening, but escaped without surrendering a run and notched his eighth save of the year. The Cardinals’ closer fanned two in the final frame to raise his K/9 to 13.03/9 and also reduced his ERA to 0.93 on the young season. Cody Allen worked around a couple of hits and an error to pick up his fourth save of the year in five chances. Allen allowed an unearned run, but whiffed one and induced a pair of fly outs on 14 pitches to seal the 7-5 Indians victory over the Royals.

Quick Hitters: Joakim Soria earned his ninth save of the year to move himself into a tie for the league lead with Jeurys Familia of the Metropolitans. Soria worked around a leadoff walk and a two-out single off the bat of Joe Mauer to escape the inning unscathed and secure the Tigers’ victory. Ernesto Frieri induced a game-ending double play off the bat of Alex Rodriguez in extra-innings to notch his second save for the Rays. The Rays used Brad Boxberger in the 10th inning, but he wasn’t exactly sharp. Despite the clean frame, Boxberger allowed a hit and a couple of free passes before getting out of the inning. Fernando Rodney retired the final three Rangers on 13 pitches to pick up his seventh save in eight chances.
Koji Uehara struck out each of the three Blue Jays he faced in the top of the ninth for his fourth save in ‘15.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Addison Reed	Brad Ziegler	Evan Marshall
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Luis Avilan
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Edward Mujica
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Jason Motte
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Scott Atchison
Colorado	John Axford	Rafael Betancourt	Boone Logan	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Al Alburquerque	Joba Chamberlain	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Ryan Madson	Greg Holland
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Vinnie Pestano
LAD	Yimi Garcia	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez	Kenley Jansen
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jonathan Broxton	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Caleb Thielbar	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Buddy Carlyle	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	David Carpenter
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Eric O’Flaherty	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Jordan Walden	Seth Maness
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Yoervis Medina
TB	Brad Boxberger	Kevin Jepsen	Ernesto Frieri	Jake McGee
Texas	Neftali Feliz	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Aaron Loup	Steve Delabar
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Blake Treinen	Casey Janssen

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