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:
[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.
Nothing on Kimbrel’s implosion?
wasn’t really his fault-a passed ball, an error and a wp= implosion?
And he has a bad game, occasionally like everyone else.
When is it time to pick up Ziegler?
I have 1 save in a league where everyone else has 14-24 saves. My only closers are John Axford and Kenley Jansen, but I do have a glut of setup men in Herrera, Strop, O’Day, Walden, and Yimi Garcia (I have 20 holds and lead the league in that category).
So the question is: do I punt saves, or is it still possible to overcome the deficit?
make a few trades for mid-tier or third tier closers if possible.
Hang in there, a closer always gets hurt or implodes and loses his job.
It is april hahah
WAAAAAAY too early to just say you are going to punt a category
Especially one as volitile as saves
It might be viable to punt. If you anticipate and assume that everyone will continue to accumulate saves at the same rate that they had been, you have to ask yourself if you’ll be able to make a move to jump in there and produce at a level that will outpace your competition. Are there more people closer to the 14 or are they closer to the 24? And has anything changed with the assumptions? Have two or three teams lost a source of saves that would have changed the rate at which they’ll accumulate them? If you’re only going to move up two to three spots for the effort you have to ask what you’ll forego by trading your current closers; you may make even more gains that would eclipse what you could do.
Don’t punt. Think you’ll get some decent production out of both Axford/Jansen here shortly.
I suspect Zach McAllister is about to become the first alternative to Cody Allen.
Surprised to see Boxberger in green. McGee should be returning within a week. Is Boxberger keeping the role? Has there been a manager statement I didn’t hear?
I could be wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure that green, yellow, red, is relative to active, on the roster, competition.
With that logic, Clippard should also be green.
I’m in a 5×5 dynasty where I’m hurting most in wins and ratios but could use some help in saves too. I have Kenley Jansen, Cody Allen, Miguel Castro, Brett Cecil, Rafael Betancourt, and Shawn Tolleson. Available guys include the likes of Kelvin Herrera, Arquimedes Caminero, Kevin Jepsen, Aaron Barrett, Rafael Soriano, and Cody Martin. 2 of my pen spots are short-term with Jansen and Anthony Rendon returning from the DL in a few weeks. Jansen, Allen, and perhaps Castro are long-term pieces. Around them I’m looking for 1 that could help me for the long-term and 2 that can give me a boost for a few weeks. Who would you pick?
Being desperate for saves, am I crazy for thinking about adding LaTroy Hawkins?
You know how bullpens are at this point, so I’d “never say never,” but it’s rather unlikely Hawkins jumps back into that role at this time.
There’s something oddly satisfying about seeing Mets spelled out as Metropolitans. I’d like to see ANA instead of LAA, too, but that’s just me.
Same here. Try to use Metropolitans every chance I get.
I think Andrew Miller can be moved to green and Melancon to yellow. Melancon has corrected himself.
I’d like to see a couple of more outings from Melancon first, but one of the other guys may have a different take. Don’t have a valid argument to keep Miller yellow for that much longer either.
No love for Evan Scribner?
Quackenbush no longer in minors.