Bullpen Report: August 14, 2012

• Hiroki Kuroda threw a shutout tonight for the Yankees, so there was no save situation but that doesn’t mean the Yankees won’t find their way into every news item as Mariano Rivera continued his rehab, throwing his first long-toss session. The Yankees maintain that Mo won’t pitch in 2011, but for those in deep keeper leagues his progress is nice to see and expect the Sandman to be closing games for the Yankees in 2013.

• You can argue the merits of paying any closer (except maybe the one mentioned above) $50 million over four years , but for fantasy purposes, Jonathan Papelbon remains one of the better, more consistent closers in the games. Papelbon saved his 26th game of the year tonight for the Phillies and holds a solid 3.01 xFIP supported by a solid 10.69 K/9. Charlie Manual’s usage of Papelbon in tie games may cause you to scratch (or bang) your head but Papelbon remains a top closer.

• Addison Reed pitched an inning and a third tonight to convert his 23rd save of the year against the White Sox. Reed’s high preseason expectations, at least strikeout wise based off of his minor league numbers (12.9 K/9), and underwhelming 4.03 xFIP might leave owners wanting more this year, but the bottom line is he’s been solid and has a lock on the job. With the White Sox leading the AL Central, Reed figures to get his fair share of save opportunities and if your league’s trading deadline hasn’t passed and you need saves, Reed isn’t a bad guy to target, as he also has some upside.

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: Kanley Jansen (LAD) @ PIT

With the Dodgers (as of this writing) only 0.5 games ahead of the Giants for the NL West lead and the Pirates holding a 1.5 game lead  on the second wild card spot, this could be a competitive and close game with playoff implications. Kenley Jansen is well rested having only pitched once in the last four days, and should have a chance for a save with Clayton Kershaw on the bump tomorrow.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	Off 25-Man
Arizona	J.J. Putz	David Hernandez	Takashi Saito
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Eric O’Flaherty	Jonny Venters
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Pedro Strop	Darren O’Day
Boston	Alfredo Aceves	Andrew Miller	Mark Melancon	Andrew Bailey
Chicago (NL)	Carlos Marmol	James Russell	Shawn Camp
Chicago (AL)	Addison Reed	Brett Myers	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Vinnie Pestano	Tony Sipp
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Matt Belisle	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Octavio Dotel
Houston	Wilton Lopez	Francisco Cordero	Wesley Wright
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Kevin Jepsen	LaTroy Hawkins	Jordan Walden
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Brandon League	Javy Guerra
Miami	Steve Cishek	Heath Bell	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Jim Henderson	John Axford	Kameron Loe
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Alex Burnett	Matt Capps
NY (NL)	Frank Francisco	Bobby Parnell	Jon Rauch
NY (AL)	Rafael Soriano	David Robertson	Boone Logan
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Antonio Bastardo	Josh Lindblom
Pittsburgh	Joel Hanrahan	Jason Grilli	Juan Cruz
St. Louis	Jason Motte	Mitchell Boggs	Edward Mujica
SD	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer	Brad Brach	Huston Street
SF	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Shawn Kelley	Stephen Pryor
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Kyle Farnsworth	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Mike Adams	Alexei Ogando
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Brandon Lyon	Darren Oliver
Wash.	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen	Sean Burnett

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