Bullpen Report: August 10, 2015

• It was known that Koji Uehara wasn’t made of steal steel but it’s unexpected and unfortunate to see him fracture his wrist ending his season. The Red Sox expect Uehara to make a complete recovery, which would mean he will be the closer starting next year. However, while some Red Sox fans might have forgotten about 2015, fantasy owners are still on the grind. Junichi Tazawa should fill in for Uehara in the meantime. Normally I would make this situation yellow or even green as he’s an obvious replacement but he’s had a few bumps recently and John Farrell said that they wanted to limit Tazawa’s innings. Still, expect Tazawa to be the closer with Alexi Ogando and Jean Machi around in those situations where Tazawa is limited.

UPDATE: Ignore everything I just said as I missed the news that Jean Machi was named closer. This goes along with limits on Tazawa’s innings. Jean Machi had a nice run in SF but he’s been bad this year, put on waivers by the Giants and then claimed by Boston.He’s remained unimpressive on the Sox but saves are saves. Definitely pick up Machi  even though tamper your expectations as he hasn’t had the same results he did in 2013 and 2014.

• Edward Mujica was the man in charge of the ninth but allowing three runs without recording an out is a good way to lose your job. Bob Melvin was noncommittal in keeping Mujica as his closer or naming a replacement. I would still hold onto Mujica (over say a reliever not near saves or a 6th OF) as this situation is red hot in fickleness and he can retake or hold the job but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Fernando Rodriguez get the next chance. If possible, I would try to have both on the roster to see how it shakes out with the non-Mujica options taking precedent. Even if Mujica holds for the time being one bad outing would move him back in the pecking order.

• Quick Hits from the weekend: Roberto Osuna closed out the Jays sweep of the Yankees with his 10th save of the year. The Jays are looking smart not wasting resources and/or cash on a closer upgrade. Jake McGee received the save for the Rays and he’ll continue to receive a few opportunities here and there behind Boxberger. Tommy Kahnle nailed down his second save for the Rockies and I’ve upgraded him to yellow. Kevin Siegrist and Jonathan Broxton were both underwhelming blowing a save in the ninth in lieu of Trevor Rosenthal. Both have closing experience but I would keep expect Siegrist to receive the next opportunity whenever Rosie has a day off, with Cishek not far behind. Carson Smith nailed down his 12th save and helped keep Fernando Rodney’s arrows at bay

• Jeurys Familia continued his strong season, closing his 31st save tonight, only needing 11 pitches for a perfect ninth. Familia has had a little bit of good fortune this year but with a K/9 over 9 and a GB% approaching 60%, he has the goods to succeed for the rest of this year and in the future on the next great Mets squad.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	David Hernandez	Addison Reed
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	David Aardsma	Jason Frasor	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Brad Brach
Boston	Jean Machi	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Jason Motte	Pedro Strop	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Putnam
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Tommy Kahnle	Rafael Betancourt	Justin Miller
Detroit	Alex Wilson	Bruce Rondon	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Pat Neshek	Chad Qualls
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Jim Johnson	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Tyler Clippard	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Edward Mujica	Fernando Rodriguez	Drew Pomeranz	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Joakim Soria	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Steve Cishek	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Brendan Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Fernando Rodney	Tom Wilhelmsen
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Steve Geltz
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Aaron Sanchez	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Drew Storen	Casey Janssen

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