Bullpen Report: April 5, 2016

• As expected, the Astros looked towards Luke Gregerson with their first save chance of the year and he rewarded the team with a clean save, throwing a perfect inning along with a strikeout against the Yankees. Ken Giles threw in the eighth allowing a solo shot to Didi Gregorious but otherwise looked effective, striking out two. Giles’ velocity (96.4 mph) was in line with last season and I would expect him and Gregerson to comprise a darn effective end of game tandem moving forward.

• The Yankees should also have a nice little bullpen this year but Dellin Betances struggled in the eighth inning tonight, giving up three runs. All three runs were unearned but the error was on Betances himself. Either way, he wasn’t effective walking two batters and hitting someone as well.  Betances is unlikely to see many saves opportunities in New York but he should be remain among the best non-save relievers this season. Of some deep interest is the fantastically named Johnny Barbato who hit 96.6 mph on his fastball and struck out three batters in an inning and a third. The 23 year old throws hard and a consistently supported a K/9 greater than nine throughout his career in the minors and could be someone to watch in the already deep Yankees pen.

• Rough night for Francisco Rodriguez who allowed four hits and three runs to score against Miami en route to his first blown save of the year. Tigers fans might have some residual Joe Nathan taste in their mouth after seeing an older closer struggle but K-Rod should have a long leash in Detroit. Shane Greene ended up with the save closing the game in the 11th inning but he’s still expected to be a 5th starter/long man and not sniff any more saves.

• Quick Hits: Jeurys Familia only needed 10 pitches for a perfect ninth and his first save of the year. Alex Colome threw two scoreless and received the win. We still have him as first in line in Tampa and he should receive some save chances as Brad Boxberger remains on the DL. Santiago Casilla isn’t the most stable of closers but he threw a perfect frame for his first save after Romo set him up with a perfect eighth of his own.

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	Nate Jones	Jacob Petricka
Cincy	J.J. Hoover	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Chad Qualls	Justin Miller	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	Bryan Morris	Craig Breslow	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	Sam Dyson
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.]