Bullpen Report: August 1, 2012
• Steve Cishek of the Miami Marlins’ nailed down his fifth save of the season tonight in a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Cishek faced the minimum three batters — and although he surrendered a leadoff walk to Michael Bourn — needed just 12 pitches to get out of the inning. Tonight’s save was the fourth consecutive conversion since July 6th for the 6-6 right-hander who now owns a 1.86 ERA (3.97 xFIP) and a 2.1 K/BB. For those chasing saves, consider Cishek who is available in 69 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Heath Bell, who hasn’t entered a game in a save situation since July 8th, appeared in the eighth inning of tonight’s game and earned his fourth hold of the year.
• As Ben noted in last night’s Bullpen Report, the Royals’ sent closer Jonathan Broxton to the Reds in a deadline deal and in-turn provided Greg Holland the opportunity to serve as the primary closer in Kansas City. Holland took immediate advantage of the opportunity tonight, earning his second save of the year on just 14 pitches in a 5-2 Royals victory over the Indians. Many fantasy baseball analysts pegged Holland as the Royals’ closer prior to the season, but a combination of Broxton’s success and Holland’s failure to perform like he did in 2011 resulted in the Broxton keeping the role until yesterday. Ben Duronio suggests that Holland’s inability to locate his fastball has been a cause of the increase in walks per nine — a key component keeping Holland from returning to 2011 form. Despite this concern, Holland needs to be owned in all relevant formats.
• Aroldis Chapman earned his 23rd save in 27 chances this evening for the Cincinnati Reds and lowered his season ERA to 1.39 while doing so. Chapman induced a line out, a groundout and a double to Carlos Quentin before striking out Logan Forsythe to end the game. The strikeout, Chapman’s 96th of the season, raised the closer’s already impressive K/BB to 6.86 while his K/9 dipped slightly to 16.72.
For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.
A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Huston Street (SD) vs. CIN
Huston Street, who recently signed a two-year extension with the San Diego Padres, hasn’t had a save opportunity since July 25th. The arm is fresh and ready to go should Ross Ohlendorf and the Friars be in a save situation tomorrow afternoon at the Great American Ball Park. Street is a perfect 17-for-17 in save opportunities this year with a 0.88 ERA and a 0.62 WHIP.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
Actually, Chapman’s strikeout yesterday lowered his K/9 to 16.9. He needs to get 2Ks/IP to increase it from where it’s at. Just crazy.