Bullpen Report: April 4, 2017

• Addressing the committees (again). Cam Bedrosian should be the closer for the Angels but Scioscia is calling it a committee for now. While one should be inclined to believe what the coach says, the other alternatives for saves are currently the oft-injured Andrew Bailey and the currently injured Huston Street. Even when Street returns, the chances of him pitching particularly well don’t seem particularly high. I would suspect this is an early season hedge by Scioscia and consider Bedrosian fairly safe for now, in spite of the dreaded committee tag.

Similarly in Oakland, the A’s might be running a committee approach after Santiago Casilla received the first save chance. Ryan Madson was originally our designated closer but he came on in the eighth to get Mike Trout, leaving Casilla to the ninth which is the kind of mix-and-matchup one would expect in a committee. While the Angels seem to be playing pretend, I’m calling the A’s an actual committee. Expect Madson to see the higher leverage situations not necessarily in the ninth inning (especially against righties) with Sean Doolittle and Casilla also in the mix.

• The Tigers showed their early season pecking order with Justin Wilson coming on to finish the seventh inning after Justin Verlander’s terrific start. Bruce Rondon was then called on for the eighth and the Tigers then tried to get away without using Francisco Rodriguez but after Shane Greene hit a batter and then allowed a single, K-Rod had to close it out for his first save of the year.

• As Dave Cameron pointed out today, MLB has changed how they get their velocity readings from PITCHF/x to Statcast. This is somewhat problematic in that it will seem as though there is a velocity spike where there might not be, but as Cameron said:

The overall story, though, is that you should indeed expect to see higher velocity numbers from Statcast this year than you’ve expected from PITCHF/x over the last decade, on the magnitude of about one mph. If a guy is up in that range from a year ago, it’s the same stuff. If he’s up a few ticks, he’s probably up one tick. And if he’s down relative to last year, well, then you hope it’s just early and he gets his stuff back,

So, we will obviously make sure to keep this in mind as we start to mention velocity. Of more pertinent interest though would be Cameron’s mention of Sam Dyson, who blew a save last night. Dyson’s velocity was 93.9 mph which is below his rate last year and in the range of “chalking it up to April,” but when you account for the Statcast bump, his velocity decline should make a Dyson owner a little nervous. Dyson was largely effective last year and he will undoubtedly receive upcoming opportunities but I’m changing this situation to yellow. Matt Bush and Jeremy Jeffress are behind Dyson in the pen and I would put them in that order.

Ken Giles struck out two while giving up a hit for his second save of the season. Will Harris and Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth respectively to hold the lead and that’s likely the order we will see moving forward in Houston.

Andrew Miller did his job in the eighth, throwing a perfect inning as we are used to seeing.  Cody Allen made the ninth inning interesting, allowing back to back doubles to start but then retired the last three batters  all via strikeout for his second save on the year. Given what we saw last year I would expect Miller to grab a few saves of his own but it certainly looks like Allen is the main guy in the ninth. Allen threw 25 pitches tonight and threw 19 yesterday so don’t expect him to pitch if a save opportunity arises tomorrow. Andrew Miller has pitched two days in a row as well but has only thrown 21 pitches total so he likely will still see some action if there is a high leverage inning tomorrow. Bryan Shaw is someone to look to for a speculative save in Cleveland as well.

Wade Davis threw a scoreless ninth for his first save. Koji Uehara threw a perfect seventh inning and Pedro Strop a perfect eighth, holding the lead. Pedro Strop gave up a couple of runs in his first outing but I’m going to put him as second in line after tonight’s usage. Hector Rondon wasn’t too trusted in the playoffs last year and he’s yet to be used early this season, I’m not sure Joe Maddon would go to him if something were to happen to Davis. Additionally, although I took him off the grid, it’s still worth keeping an eye on Carl Edwards Jr. Koji Uehara is in play too but given his age, it’s likely unfair to expect him to pitch on consecutive days too consistently.

• Adam Ottavino got his second hold on the year, throwing a scoreless seventh. Also noteworthy was Jake McGee entering the game in the sixth, giving up a hit and getting taken out. Mike Dunn threw a scoreless frame in the eighth and I’ve replaced McGee with him on the grid. In the ninth, Holland recorded his second save on the year and it’s definitely his job to lose. I will keep the Rockies as yellow as Holland is still pitching for the first time since 2015, but he’s definitely the closer in Colorado.

• No save situation in New York, but Aroldis Chapman threw a perfect ninth frame. Girardi used Tyler Clippard in the seventh and tried getting away without using Dellin Betances in the eighth seemingly, going with Jonathan Holder but had to call on Betances for the final two outs after Holder allowed a couple of baserunners.

AM UPDATE:

• Well maybe I was on to something because Bedrosian went 1-2-3 for his first save. He received the save chance because Ryan Dull blew the lead in the ninth allowing three earned. Ryan Madson came on in the eighth for the A’s to get Calhoun-Trout-Pujols and it’s looking like he’ll be used in ways that our brains appreciate but not our fantasy teams. With Dull struggling last night I’m confident in Casilla and Doolittle being used for saves in games where Madson is needed against the stiffer competition before the ninth.

• Randall Delgado struggled last night and I’ve moved him back in the pecking order, putting JJ Hoover in his place. Also interesting in the Arizona game was Archie Bradley throwing 3.1 scoreless with seven strikeouts against just one walk. The snakes might want to see Bradley in the rotation at some point but if he’s used as a multiple inning reliever he could provide a few goodies a la David Phelps or Chris Devenski.

Closer Grid:

Closer First Second DL/Minors
Arizona Fernando Rodney JJ Hoover Randall Delgado
Atlanta Jim Johnson Arodys Vizcaino Jose Rmairez Mauricio Cabrera
Baltimore Zach Britton Brad Brach Darren O’Day
Boston Craig Kimbrel Joe Kelly Matt Barnes Carson Smith
CHI (NL) Wade Davis Pedro Strop Koji Uehara
CHI (AL) David Robertson Nate Jones Dan Jennings
Cincy Raisel Iglesias Drew Storen Michael Lorenzen
Cleveland Cody Allen Andrew Miller Bryan Shaw
Colorado Greg Holland Adam Ottavino Mike Dunn
Detroit Francisco Rodriguez Bruce Rondon Justin Wilson
Houston Ken Giles Luke Gregerson Will Harris
KC Kelvin Herrera Joakim Soria Matt Strahm
LAA Cam Bedrosian Andrew Bailey J.C. Ramirez Huston Street
LAD Kenley Jansen Sergio Romo Grant Dayton
Miami A.J. Ramos Brad Ziegler Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee Neftali Feliz Corey Knebel Carlos Torres>
Minnesota Brandon Kintzler Ryan Pressly Matt Belisle Glen Perkins
NY (NL) Addison Reed Fernando Salas Hansel Robles Jeurys Familia
NY (AL) Aroldis Chapman Dellin Betances Tyler Clippard
Oakland Ryan Madson Santiago Casilla Sean Doolittle
Philly Jeanmar Gomez Hector Neris Joaquin Benoit
Pittsburgh Tony Watson Daniel Hudson Felipe Rivero
St. Louis Seung Hwan Oh Kevin Siegrist Jonathan Broxton
SD Brandon Maurer Ryan Buchter Brad Hand Carter Capps
SF Mark Melancon Hunter Strickland Derek Law
Seattle Edwin Diaz Dan Altavilla Nick Vincent Steve Cishek
TB Alex Colome Tommy Hunter Xavier Cedeno Brad Boxberger
Texas Sam Dyson Matt Bush Jeremy Jeffress
Toronto Joe Biagini Jason Grilli Joe Smith Roberto Osuna
Wash. Blake Treinen Koda Glover Shawn Kelley

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





When he's not focusing on every team's bullpen situation, Ben can be found blogging at Ben's Baseball Bias and on Twitter @BensBias

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Anon
6 years ago

Just going to throw this out there. Watching the DBacks and they had to bring in Archie Bradley for some middle relief since Patrick Corbin only went 4 IP. Bradley was sitting 96-98 and looked really good as a reliever – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K as I type. Even with the seeming Statcast adjustment, that’s 95-97 vs. 92.4 last year.

I know the DBacks probably still want to make him a starter but given the mess that is the DBacks bullpen, might be worth keeping an eye on. . . .

Anon
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon

Final line – 3.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 K. Fastball was 95.4 per fangraphs, 96.43 per Brooks.

OTMHeartBBCmember
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon

This worked with Alex Colome, hope the snakes go the same route

RonnieDobbs
6 years ago
Reply to  OTMHeartBBC

It works with more guys than it doesn’t. Is the closer situation in AZ what is really holding them back?