Bullpen Report: August 28th, 2016

Although we had a long weekend, there were no major news stories from the bullpen, so we’ll keep this short and sweet. A couple of middle relievers had some role changes and one big name could be coming back soon.

Clay Buccholz pitched in the 8th inning on Saturday (not a hold/save opportunity), but it appears he may be line for the set-up role up in Boston. He has been effective as a reliever throwing 20.2 innings with a 3.05 ERA (3.15 FIP), but his xFIP is at 5.59 mainly because he hasn’t really struck anybody out in the pen (5.23 K/9). His BABIP is down to .213 in the pen versus a .288 career mark, so I would be cautious adding him in your holds leagues just yet even with the increase in opportunities it seems.

Jeremey Jeffress was arrested for a DWI this weekend and is placed on the restricted list while the MLB investigates. As a result, Jeffress moves into our DL/Minor League slot while Diekman is back to next in line for saves. Jeffress in his 9 innings of work for the Rangers has a 4.00 ERA (3.48 FIP) and has struggled with his control a bit (5 BB/9). Not sure how long this investigation will last, but at this point Jeffress really only held value in holds leagues and that value may be pretty diminished after recent events.

Giants’ reliever Derek Law has been placed on the DL with a forearm strain this weekend, which is always scary to hear. Law has been excellent this season posting a 1.94 ERA (2.34 FIP) and was really becoming an important arm out of the Giants pen. To replace him on the grid is familiar friend Hunter Strickland who is posting similar numbers in regards to his Ks and BBs, but has given up slightly more homers. Still, Strickland has a 2.65 ERA (3.31 FIP) and may become a nice source of holds down the stretch.

Wade Davis started his rehab assignment last week and reportedly felt good. Ned Yost has indicated that he will have a few more rehab appearances and could be back as early as next week.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Daniel Hudson	Randall Delgado	Jake Barrett
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Mauricio Cabrera	Arodys Vizcaino
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Brad Brach	Mychal Givens	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Brad Ziegler	Clay Buchholz	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Aroldis Chapman	Carl Edwards Jr.	Travis Wood	Hector Rondon
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Matt Albers
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Adam Ottavino	Jake McGee	Carlos Estevez	Scott Oberg
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Alex Wilson
Houston	Ken Giles	Will Harris	Luke Gregerson
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Matt Strahm	Wade Davis
LAA	Fernando Salas	Deolis Guerra	J.C. Ramirez	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Joe Blanton	Adam Liberatore
Miami	Fernando Rodney	A.J. Ramos	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Tyler Thornburg	Corey Knebel	Blaine Boyer
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Ryan Pressly	Taylor Rogers	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard	Adam Warren
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	Edubray Ramos
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Brandon Maurer	Kevin Quackenbush	Brad Hand	Ryan Buchter
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland	Derek Law
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Steve Cishek	Arquimedes Caminero	Tom Wilhelmsen
TB	Alex Colome	Brad Boxberger	Xavier Cedeno
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joaquin Benoit
Wash.	Mark Melancon	Shawn Kelley	Blake Treinen

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