Bullpen Report: August 18, 2015

• Tommy Kahnle started off well closing in Colorado but after back to back putrid outings his job was on shaky ground. Today it seems like he’s lost the job. Walt Weiss had good things to say about former closer John Axford and it now looks like he’s reclaimed his familiar role in the ninth. This situation is still red on the grid below as Axford hasn’t pitched well or consistently well all year but nonetheless, it’s his job to lose.

• Ken Giles had a  slew of save opportunities last week but after not seeing any action since August 12th, he came on in the top of the ninth down by three to get some work in against the Blue Jays. As he does, Giles threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout. Giles’ control (3.63 BB/9) isn’t as dominant as it was last year (2.17 BB/9) but it’s still plenty good considering the whiffs he gets (69 in 52.1 innings pitched). There were some minor velocity concerns earlier this year but Giles has largely put that behind him and essentially has the same average fastball velocity as he showed last season.  The Phillies are unlikely to be a good team next year but there will still be save opportunities and Giles should be in the top third of closing options entering 2016.

• The Blue Jays run of late has created more opportunities for Roberto Osuna, and it has enabled Osuna to make a name for himself. Osuna threw another scoreless inning for his 14th save this year, lowering his ERA to 1.98. It’s unlikely that Osuna will maintain a .244 BABIP and his HR/FB% is sure to increase as well but considering he’s still 20 years old with a 2.41 FIP, I would bet the over on Osuna being a solid closer moving forward.

• Quick Hits: It was largely due to an error in the field but Mark Melancon blew his second save of the year tonight against the Diamondbacks. It goes without say but Melancon’s job is more than secure even after tonight’s blip and a few other outings with earned runs in August. Carson Smith earned his 13th save as he continues to prevent Rodney from throwing arrows in the ninth. Andrew Miller was called on and nailed the four-out save (27). It should be all systems go here on out with the Yankees and Jays in the AL East race. This will be fun. Similarly, Tyler Clippard was also called on for the four-out save but after allowing a couple of base runners in the ninth the Mets turned to Jeurys Familia. It wasn’t pretty but after allowing a single and a couple of walks, Famila secured the W for the Metropolitans.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	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	Pedro Strop	Tommy Hunter	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	John Axford	Justin Miller	Tommy Kahnle
Detroit	Bruce Rondon	Alex Wilson	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	Will Smith	Jeremy Jeffress
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Kevin Jepsen	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Tyler Clippard	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Fernando Rodriguez	Drew Pomeranz	Evan Scribner	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	Shawn Kelley	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	Jake Diekman	Sam Dyson	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.]