Bullpen Report: April 6, 2017

• Oakland was up four runs heading into the eighth inning today and they called on Santiago Casilla with Kole Calhoun, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols due up. If it was a smaller lead we likely would have seen higher leverage extraordinaire Ryan Madson in that spot (heart of the lineup) but with four runs it was Casilla. Casilla retired the side 1-2-3 and in the ninth handed the ball off to Sean Doolittle who allowed a base hit but struck out three in the process. As we have mentioned in these parts this week, Madson is the “closer” but on days where the eighth inning is a higher priority we will likely see Casilla and Doolittle in the ninth, and likely in that order.

• As Al mentioned last night, the Reds went with Raisel Iglesias for the save and we pondered if the “committee” was really a thing in Cincinnati. Then today happened and Drew Storen received the save opportunity, putting some credence to the committee tag. However, with a recent history of arm issues and a three run lead the Reds likely don’t want to overuse Iglesias. Iglesias is still in the lead here but don’t expect him to be pitching in many back-to-backs for now. In those cases, expect Storen and Michael Lorenzen to see some save opportunities. Lorenzen threw a scoreless inning last night but was unavailable to pitch today because he entered the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth, hitting a homer and giving the Reds the lead.

• The first save opportunity in Minneosta went to Brandon Kintzler, who threw a perfect ninth with a stirkeout. We have Ryan Pressley as next in line and even though he entered the game in the sixth I’m going to keep it as is for now. Taylor Rogers pitched the seventh and Matt Belisle the eighth and all three of them stand to get holds head of Kintzler this year.

• HECTOR RONDON SIGHTING!! Rondon came on in the seventh tonight, throwing a perfect inning. Pedro Strop and Carl Edwards Jr. combined for a scoreless eighth and Wade Davis finished it off for his second save on the year. While Rondon was a fairly successful closer in Chicago last year, he’s slipped behind Strop, Edwards and Koji Uehara in the pecking order. The Cubs are good at everything.

• Neftali Feliz had a one-out save last night but today in a 1-1 game he gave up the go-ahead run on a homer to Nolan Arenado. Feliz’s fastball was almost touching 98 mph and nobody can really blame a pitcher for letting Arenado get the best of him. His job remains secure. To hold the lead in the ninth the Rockies called on Greg Holland who struck out two for his early season league leading third save. Holland thus far has been effective and could be tapping into some of his Royals success. Holland was criticized a bit for going to Colorado this offseason but so far it’s hard to fault him for the decision.

• During Spring Training the Nationals were rumored to have a closer-by-committee, then rookie Koda Glover was assumed to be the closer and as we got closer to Opening Day it was Blake Treinen who was given the chair. Tonight Treinen entered the ninth against Miami in a tricky situation with a one run lead and two outs and a runner on third. Treinen gave up the game tying single, blowing the save. With two lefties to start the inning, Dusty Baker went with Solis over Treinen which might give some insight into both how secure Treinen’s hold on the ninth is and how Baker will use his bullpen. Shawn Kelley and Sammy Solis were ineffective today while Koda Glover threw a scoreless inning. I’m changing this situation to yellow, less so because Treinen blew the lead and more that he may not be used as a traditional closer. Also, since this situation was so fluid earlier in the spring, I’m not sold that Dusty will necessarily be particularly loyal to Treinen’s slot in the ninth.

With the one run lead given to Miami, AJ Ramos pitched around a hit and a walk for his first save on the year. Ramos likes to throw in the occasional walk more often than his owners would like but his job is secure, even if David Phelps and Kyle Barraclough almost seem like more compelling options.

• No save situation in Queens but the Mets went with Fernando Salas in the eighth and Addison Reed in the ninth. Reed was low key awesome last year setting up Jeurys Familia and even if he’s the best reliever on the team, he will move back to his familiar eighth inning home upon Familia’s return.

• As I am about to publish this, Ken Giles is giving up runs in a tie game. The Astros have a solid pen with Luke Gregerson, Will Harris, Michael Feliz and Chris Devenski so there are options behind him but Giles, like any elite-ish closer, has a long leash.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Randall Delgado
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez	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	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
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	Jason Grilli	Joe Biagini	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.]