Bullpen Report: August 28, 2012

• Apologies for last night where I failed to realize that Dale Thayer pitched in the eighth inning as Luke Gregerson got the save. It’s possible that Bud Black might have wanted to ease Thayer back in as he hadn’t pitched in a week before last night’s appearance but at this point Gregerson, with his incredible slider, is the guy to own in the Padres bullpen. Granted the Padres closing situation isn’t the most enticing in fantasy baseball but saves are saves and at the moment those belong to Gregerson.

•  Rafael Soriano apparently blew off the media after last night’s blown save, so it’s nice to see him bounce back tonight, pitching a perfect inning while striking out two batters for his 34th save of the year. And of course Mariano Rivera played a part as Bryan Hoch reports that Mo spoke to Soriano before the game, telling him not to throw so many sliders and to talk to the media. Even when he is out for the season, Mo still provides value to the Yankees, I just wish he could do the same for my fantasy team.

•  John Axford nailed down his 21st save of the year tonight against the Cubs pitching a rare perfect inning. Francisco Rodriguez also pitched a perfect inning in the eighth and for at least a brief moment tonight the Brewers bullpen played out how they drew it up in April. Too bad it’s the end of August. Axford has had an incredibly inconsistent season but he’s also been a victim of some bad luck as his .341 BABIP and 17.9% HR/FB% aren’t likely to continue. It’s hard to rely on Axford as his hold on the job is somewhat tenuous but his 3.29 xFIP is plenty decent and having tried everyone else out in the pen, Axford should receive the lion’s share of save opportunities for the Brewers.

•  The Astros don’t receive many save opportunities so it’s a little sad to see them blow one which Wilton Lopez did tonight against the Giants. Lopez has been solid all year for the Astros, pitching to a 2.63 xFIP and his job is pretty secure but expecting many saves out of him this season seems a little irresponsible. However, his incredible control (.88 BB/9) still makes him a capable reliever on any fantasy team.

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: Craig Kimbrel (ATL) @ SD

You can’t go wrong picking Kimbrel in any matchup and playing at Petco is as good as they come. It’s also a great excuse to point out that he has a FIP under one (.88) and a strikeout rate inching towards 16 (15.89 K/9). Unbelievable.

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	Andrew Bailey	Alfredo Aceves	Mark Melancon
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	Wesley Wright	Fernando Rodriguez
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Scott Downs	Jordan Walden
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Brandon League	Javy Guerra
Miami	Steve Cishek	Heath Bell	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	John Axford	Kameron Loe	Francisco Rodriguez
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	Chris Resop
St. Louis	Jason Motte	Mitchell Boggs	Edward Mujica
SD	Dale Thayer	Luke Gregerson	Brad Brach	Huston Street
SF	Sergio Romo	Javier Lopez	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Stephen Pryor	Charlie Furbush
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Kyle Farnsworth
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.]