Bullpen Report: April 9, 2015

The Toronto Blue Jays set their bullpen to shuffle mode just three games into the ‘15 season. Brett Cecil’s dip in velocity started this mess for fantasy owners, but there’s a good chance that Cecil is just building up arm strength since he missed a few weeks in the Spring with shoulder soreness. The left-hander’s fourseamer sat in the 87 mph range on Wednesday night — down from a 94 mph average in ‘14 — but jumped back up to over 91 mph in Thursday’s outing in the Bronx against the Yankees. Cecil faced one over the minimum in Thursday’s appearance, surrendered a free pass and induced a pair of strikeouts on 14 pitches (nine strikes) to earn a hold.

But while Cecil continues to get himself into game shape, it appears as if youngster Miguel Castro will be the ninth-inning guy. He already has three innings on the bump in this opening week of baseball, has yet to allow a hit or a walk and owns two strikeouts along with a save. If you’re in a league where Castro is available, it’s probably in your best interest to grab him for the saves while you can, but be cautious with who you drop or how much FAAB you choose to spend since this situation seems to be a bit fluid. You shouldn’t be sending Cecil or any other closer to the wire in favor of the 20-year-old Castro at this time, rather I’d be looking for one of the lowest starting pitchers or bench bats to let loose if needed. And I’d also be looking to add shares of Cecil depending on the cost.

Earlier in the day, Greg Holland picked up his second save of the season in a 4-1 Royals victory over the White Sox. Holland needed only 10 pitches to retire the White Sox in order via two strikeouts and a ground out. He’s just two innings into his ‘15 campaign, but the 29-year-old seems to be missing that extra gear on his fastball thus far. In 2014 Holland averaged more than 96 mph on his fourseamer and in his two appearances this year, there’s about two miles per hour missing on that same offering. Not suggesting anything is wrong — he could be just getting himself more into game shape, like Cecil above — this is just something to keep an eye, especially if own stock.

Santiago Casilla notched his third save of the year on Thursday in just the fourth game the Giants have played. He came on in the bottom of the 12th frame and needed just ten pitches to retire the Padres in order and seal the victory for the Giants. Casilla fanned one Friar en route to his 61st career save.

Shameless plug: I’ll be kicking off my middle relievers column late tomorrow (I hope), discussing arms that could be useful in your holds or sold (saves+holds) leagues — something like a waiver wire, I suppose. So please keep your eyes peeled for that.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Addison Reed	Evan Marshall	Brad Ziegler
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Luis Avilan
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Edward Mujica	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Neil Ramirez
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Zach Putnam	Zach Duke	Jacob Petricka
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Scott Atchison
Colorado	LaTroy Hawkins	Adam Ottavino	John Axford
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Al Alburquerque	Joba Chamberlain	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Vinnie Pestano
LAD	Chris Hatcher	Joel Peralta	Pedro Baez	Kenley Jansen
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jonathan Broxton	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Brian Duensing	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Rafael Montero	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	David Carpenter
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Eric O’Flaherty	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Jake Diekman
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Jordan Walden	Seth Maness
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Yoervis Medina	Dominic Leone
TB	Brad Boxberger	Kevin Jepsen	Grant Balfour	Jake McGee
Texas	Neftali Feliz	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Miguel Castro	Brett Cecil	Aaron Loup	Steve Delabar
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Blake Treinen	Casey Janssen

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