Bullpen Report: April 4, 2013

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April 4, 2013

-A lackluster start to the season by Detroit’s closer-by-committee situation lead the Tigers down a familiar path on Thursday. The American League Central favorites re-signed their former closer, Jose Valverde, to a minor league contract with the option to opt out by May 5th if he’s not called up to the Majors. The 35 year-old veteran is clearly not the long-term solution in Motown, but could serve as a band-aid until Phil Coke, Al Alburquerque or Joaquin Benoit decide to grab ahold of the ninth inning — or until Bruce Rondon is deemed ready for the role.

With the signing — and if he gets the call — Valverde would have the third most career saves among active, non-injured relievers. Entering today, Valverde’s 277 saves would place him behind only future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera (608) and Joe Nathan (298) among those expected to pitch in ‘13.

And now back to reality. Papa Grande’s skills — specifically his velocity, SwStr% and K% — have deteriorated over the years. But hey, “they” say he’s lost some weight, he’s throwing his splitter more often with confidence and the velo is up a tick. In an act of desperation I would throw a buck of FAAB at him, but keep your expectations lower than low, he hasn’t even made the team yet.

-Cubs’ skipper Dale Sveum stuck to his guns today and called upon his erratic reliever, Carlos Marmol, to close out the Pirates with a 3-0 lead. Marmol walked the highwire again, giving up two earned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out just one, but got himself out of a few jams to earn his first save of the year. Heart Attack City, I tell you. It’s worth noting that Kyuji Fujikawa came on in the eighth and dished a clean inning on just nine pitches. He induced two quick groundouts and finished off the Pirates’ half with a strikeout of pinch hitter Garrett Jones. Sveum indicates that Marmol is his closer, but if I were a betting man, my money would be on Fujikawa leading the Cubs in saves by the end of the season. Make the add where possible.

-The Reds’ Aroldis Chapman, in his new-old role, notched his first save of the 2013 campaign. Chapman surrendered a leadoff single to Mike Trout (obviously), but sat down Erick Aybar, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton in consecutive fashion to seal the deal on just nine pitches. According to BrooksBaseball, Chapman’s four-seamer touched 99 mph, his changeup hit 92 mph and the lone breaking pitch he threw — a slider — came in at 81 mph. Just like riding a bike.

–Casey Janssen, Mariano Rivera, Huston Street, Greg Holland and Jonathan Papelbon also earned their first saves of the twenty-thirteen season. Jim Johnson added his second.

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 Pedro Strop Darren O’Day
Boston Joel Hanrahan Andrew Bailey Koji Uehara
CHI (NL) Carlos Marmol Kyuji Fujikawa Shawn Camp
CHI (AL) Addison Reed Jesse Crain Matt Thornton
Cincy Aroldis Chapman Jonathan Broxton Sean Marshall
Cleveland Chris Perez Vinnie Pestano Joe Smith
Colorado Rafael Betancourt Matt Belisle Wilton Lopez
Detroit Joaquin Benoit Octavio Dotel Phil Coke Bruce Rondon
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 Ryan Webb
Milwaukee John Axford Jim Henderson 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 Bryan Morris
St. Louis Mitchell Boggs Trevor Rosenthal Edward Mujica Jason Motte
SD Huston Street Luke Gregerson Dale Thayer
SF Sergio Romo Santiago Casilla Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle Tom Wilhelmsen Carter Capps Stephen Pryor
TB Fernando Rodney Joel Peralta Jake McGee
Texas Joe Nathan Jason Frasor Tanner Scheppers
Toronto Casey Janssen Sergio Santos Steve Delabar
Wash. Rafael Soriano Drew Storen Tyler Clippard

[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.

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Rye Rye
11 years ago

How come nobody mentions the clear “error” by Rizzo at first on a sure double-play ball, yet they get no out and call it a hit? Marmol just gives up one run there. Not saying he’s doing great anyway though! He did get screwed by the ruling of “hit” on that one. I was watching the game unlike those probably writing this up all over the sports pages.

Let’s keep in mind too that Fujikawa was facing the bottom of the order where Marmol was facing the top/heart of the order! Let’s also keep in mind that Fujikawa may be highly effective right now because hitters have yet to see him.

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majnun
11 years ago
Reply to  Rye Rye

So Fujikawa is an unknown, and marmol is a crappy known, who only should have had a minor meltdown. Marmol is listed as #1 but the situation is volatile… How would you change that?

1
Andrew
11 years ago
Reply to  Rye Rye

Bending over backwards a bit to defend a guy who walked Russell Martin with a 3-0 lead, no? Fujikawa may have faced the “bottom of the order” in that the batters were hitting in slots 7-9, but he was also up against two pinch hitters who sat because the game was started by a left-handed pitchers… For example, Garrett Jones, who hit in the No. 2 slot in the first two games, was the “No. 9 hitter.”

1