Bullpen Report: August 24, 2018

Prior to Thursday’s game in Colorado, fantasy owners may have had few outward reasons to be concerned about Kirby Yates. Since becoming the Padres’ closer after the July 19 trade of Brad Hand to the Indians, he had not blown a save and tallied 20 strikeouts in 11.2 innings. Yates finally got that first blown save on Thursday, when he gave up Ian Desmond’s two-run walk-off homer. Given that it was at Coors Field, owners may be willing to forgive Yates.

While the 31-year-old is not among the most highly-owned closers, not many of his current owners are sitting him. Yates is 59 percent owned in CBS leagues but benched in 14 percent of leagues. On Fantrax, he has a 57 percent ownership rate but is being sat in only 8 percent of leagues.

Yet more owners should consider giving Yates a breather, and not because he gave up Desmond’s homer. Despite a robust strikeout rate, it’s not been that great of a run for Yates as the Padres’ closer. Some of that has little to do with Yates himself, as he has received only four save opportunities during his 36-day tenure. After nailing down a save against the Mets in his first appearance after the Hand trade, Yates had to wait 18 days for another save opportunity. Yet in between those first two saves, he had begun a trend that has been gradually eroding his value. He has allowed at least one hit in nine out of his last 11 appearances, and over that span, he has a 4.76 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Hitters have been swinging frequently at Yates’ pitches in the strike zone (79.2 percent Z-Swing%) and they have been making contact on those pitches at a decent rate (83.6 percent Z-Contact%). This trend has helped to place Yates in 61st place among relievers in Roto rankings over the last 30 days, per ESPN’s Player Rater.

While it is too soon to drop Yates, it is not too early to pick up Craig Stammen as insurance. Should the Padres eventually move on from Yates as their closer, we also shouldn’t rule out the possibility of a closer platoon of Stammen and Jose Castillo. They combined on a perfect eighth inning on Thursday, and both have held hitters to sub-.270 wOBAs in August.

A change at closer may not be underfoot just yet with the Padres, but it just may be happening with the Phillies. One day after Seranthony Dominguez had yielded a Ryan Zimmerman walk-off homer, Gabe Kapler turned to Pat Neshek to put the finishing touches on a 2-0 win over the Nationals. Neshek did not spoil Aaron Nola’s eight-inning gem, tossing a perfect inning for his fourth save. It was also Neshek’s second save in six days, and the scoreless frame lowered his ERA to 1.06.

It’s not clear if Kapler will continue to give Neshek save opportunities on a regular basis, but one would think he will at least figure prominently in the closer mix. Dominguez has gotten into a rut, blowing three saves in his last six appearances, and he has allowed a home run in each one of those blown saves. Not only may Neshek have the opportunity to get more saves, but he should also be able to improve upon his 17.4 percent strikeout rate. He appears to deserve better after having posted a 13.5 percent swinging strike rate and a 20.4 percent called strike rate.

Corey Knebel had been struggling in lower-leverage situations, so the Brewers demoted their former closer to Triple-A Colorado Springs on Thursday. Over his last 3.1 innings, Knebel had allowed eight runs (seven earned) on six hits and four walks. The Brewers may activate Joakim Soria (groin) from the DL on Friday. He would figure to join Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress in the mix for saves.

Greg Holland’s job on Thursday was to keep the Phillies from expanding their 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth — not exactly a glamor role. He did the job, though, and struck out the side in the process. Holland has now pitched 7.1 scoreless innings since joining the Nationals, striking out nine batters and inducing swinging strikes at a 17.6 percent rate. He also has yet to allow an extra base hit. Holland has done a much better job of getting chases (41.5 percent O-Swing%) and avoiding contact on pitches in the zone (72.4 percent Z-Contact%) since leaving the Cardinals, but a 5.9 percent soft contact rate with the Nationals could signal some trouble ahead.

Quick hits: Trevor Hildenberger recorded his fourth save by closing out the Twins’ 6-4 win over the Athletics. However, he gave up a solo homer to Jed Lowrie, and has now allowed five home runs in his last eight innings. Taylor Rogers had earned the two previous saves for the Twins…Will Smith pitched a scoreless inning against the Mets, collecting his 11th save. He has not allowed a run over his last five innings, giving up only a single and two walks over that span…The Phillies placed Edubray Ramos on the DL on Thursday with a blister on his right index finger.