Bullpen Report: April 4, 2016

• It seemed like a safe guess that Ken Giles would be closing games in Houston after the Astros gave up some real talent (Mark Appel, Vincent Velasquez and others) for him this offseason but A.J. Hinch announced that Luke Gregerson will be the closer to start the year. Baseball wise this might be a solid decision, especially if Giles can be used more freely in the seventh or eighth innings in higher leverage situations.  Gregerson is no slouch though, having saved 31 games in 36 tries last year with a 3.10/2.86/2.71 ERA/FIP/xFIP line. For what it’s worth, Hinch said that Gregerson will be the “primary closer”, which doesn’t suggest a committee but Giles could see save opportunities as well.

• The Phillies won’t have too many leads to hold this year but they blew one today against the Reds. David Hernandez entered the eighth inning with a one run lead and proceeded to allow three base runners to reach base without recording an out, and all three managed to cross home plate. The Phillies hadn’t announced a closer before the game but it certainly looks as though Hernandez won’t get the next chance considering he blew the lead today in the eighth. It might be a while until this situation is figured out and Pete Mackanin said it could be one of five guys who sees the ninth. My bet would be on Dalier Hinojosa getting the next opportunity but avoiding the chase for sub-mediocre saves is likely the best course of action. If you’re desperate for saves early on, you may have no other choice but the fantasy baseball season is a marathon, other more fruitful opportunities should come across your path.

• Just like in Philly there likely won’t be a plethora of save chances for the Braves this year and they also managed to blow the lead in the opener. Arodys Vizcaino entered the game in the eighth and threw a scoreless frame with two strikeouts and one walk but then Jason Grilli then came for blown save. Grilli wasn’t hit that hard but he allowed the first three batters to get on base before losing the one run lead. This situation was red hot before the game and it remains so now. I’m not going to switch the order after one game without an announcement on the Braves side but Grilli doesn’t have many weak outings before a change is made.

UPDATE: Well it looks like I published too soon as Fredi Gonzalez said that Vizcaino is the closer. The grid has been updated below.

• Notes from yesterday: Mark Melancon finished the game against the Cardinals but entered with a four run cushion, so no save for his inning of work. Of more interest is that Tony Watson threw a perfect seventh with Neftali Feliz following him for a perfect eighth. Tony Watson has the longer track record but he’s a lefty and Feliz could become the primary setup man in Pittsburgh. Wade Davis had some minor velocity concerns during the spring but he was throwing 94.8 mph last night and got the save although he put two men on base before closing the door. He averaged 95.8 mph on his fastball last season but before we sound the alarm here it’s worth waiting to see if he can close the velocity gap over his next few appearances.

• Quick Hits: Zach Britton did his thing throwing a perfect ninth, getting two ground balls in the process. He entered in a tie game and fantasy owners were given a win after the O’s scored on Jepsen in the ninth.  Trevor May took kindly to the pen last year supporting a 2.97 FIP and 3.24 xFIP with 37 strikeouts in 31 innings and he continued on that success today, throwing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Glen Perkins struggled with several ailments last year but says he feels healthy again this year. Perkins velocity was also down earlier this spring and although his role is secure, Jepsen and/or May (if he pitches like this) could see the closer’s role if an injury returns. Jon Papelbon threw a clean inning, saving the game for Washington against Atlanta. A Papelbon save and a Bryce homer, maybe these guys will get along after all! After being announced as the closer earlier in the week Roberto Osuna continued on his success this year throwing a perfect ninth for his second. A majority of the geniuses expect the Blue Jays to win the division this year so many saves should be expected out of Osuna moving forward.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Tyler Clippard	Daniel Hudson
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Nate Jones
Cincy	J.J. Hoover	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Jason Motte	Chad Qualls	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Mark Lowe	Justin Wilson	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Ken Giles	Pat Neshek
KC	Wade Davis	Joakim Soria	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Chris Hatcher	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Michael Blazek	Tyler Thornburg	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Chasen Shreve	Aroldis Chapman
Oakland	Sean Doolittle	John Axford	Ryan Madson
Philly	Dalier Hinojosa	David Hernandez	Jeanmar Gomez	Andrew Bailey
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Fernando Rodney	Brandon Maurer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Tony Zych
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquharr	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Tom Wilhelmsen
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Shawn Kelley	Blake Treinen

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