Bullpen Report: August 22, 2019

• While the Indians have been playing very well, Brad Hand has not as he struggled again last night getting his 5th blown save and 4th loss  allowing two earned to the Mets. Over his last 16.2 innings pitched, Hand has allowed 15 runs for a 8.10 ERA. The 4.83/4.35/3.61 FIP/xFIP/SIERA tell a bit of a better story than the inflated ERA but Hand is still struggling nonetheless. With that said, Terry Francona said that “we can’t run from Brad. To get where we want to go, we gotta get him hot.” So, Brad Hand’s job is still safe in spite of his struggles, and with the Indians still fighting for the division he should continue to get opportunities. If Hand has another blow up or two in his next appearances we will sound the alarm, but for now we will leave him as yellow on the grid.

• Hector Neris pitched a perfect 9th for his 23rd save of the year, closing out Boston on back to back nights. Neris can be hot and cold but he’s in the middle of a hot stretch, with 13 straight scoreless appearances. On the year Neris has a 3.19/3.75/3.49/3.06 ERA/FIP/xFIP/SIERA line, with a 33.0% K%. There are certainly more dominant relievers but Neris has a top 20 K-BB% and is closing on a competitive team making him an easy top-10 closer for the remainder of the year.

• Liam Hendriks is continuing his 2018 Blake Treinen impression and was called on for a five-out save last night against the Yankees. Hendriks struck out three in the process for his 15th save and now has a 1.48 ERA, 28.2% K-BB%, and a 15.9% SwStr%. It’s unfair to really call him a 2018 Treninen in that Hendrisk allows a slightly worrisome 49.7% fly ball rate while Treinen is an established worm killer. With that said, Hendriks has been fantastic and with similar logic to Neris above, he should be considered an easy top-10 closer here on out.

• Taking a turn away from top 10 closers brings us to Joe Jimenez recorded his 4th save for the Tigers last night against the Astros. Jimenez is good for a few strikeouts and a few save opportunities but sadly ranks in the bottom quarter of closers. However, if Jimenez can either improve his command or kill  a few more worms he could be an intriguing low cost closer in 2020. But, mediocre control and a fly ball problem in today’s game isn’t a recipe for success and while the Tigers should give him a longer leash, they are less likely to provide a boat load of save opportunities.

• Quick Hits: Kenley Jansen blew his 6th save last night with Pedro Baez getting the win in the 10th after pitching a scoreless frame with Max Muncy getting the walk-off homer in the bottom half. Jansen is a bit better than his 3.70 ERA and while he’s not the elite strikeout guy we grew up with, a long leashed closer on a top team is a thing of beauty for saves. Craig Kimbrel saved his 11th game for the Cubs, striking out a pair in a perfect 9th. Kimbrel and the Cubs pen has been shaky so it’s nice to see a clean inning as Kimbrel looks to get on track for the playoffs. Emilio Pagan blew the save for the Rays but received the win when the Rays scored against Matt Magill and the Marinres in the bottom half of the 9th. Pagan had been playing the roll of non-committee closer of late for the Rays so I don’t expect one outing to move him off the pecking order. The Mariners situation remains a mess with Magill still in a committee. and  Anthony Bass or Sam Tuivailala could get the next opportunity.