Bullpen Report: August 6, 2012

• The Royals decided to let lefty reliever Jose Mijares go as the Giants picked him up on a waiver claim today. Jose Mijares is a solid matchup against left-handed hitters (.273 wOBA against lefties compared to .358 wOBA against righties) but he doesn’t figure to enter the closer discussion on San Francisco. However, the Mijares addition allows the Giants to use him as a lefty specialist and let Jeremy Affeldt be part of a closer-by-committee approach at least while Santiago Casilla heals from a recurring blister according to manager Bruce Bochy. Casilla, Sergio Romo and Jeremy Affeldt should all receive opportunities in the upcoming weeks, and all should be owned at least until the situation starts to sort itself out more clearly.

• Addison Reed recorded his 20th save tonight against the Royals and while he hasn’t particularly wowed anyone this year (4.10 xFIP/8.71 K/9), he’s been a solid closer for the White Sox and even with the addition of Brett Myers, Reed maintains a strong hold on the closer role in the South Side of Chicago.

• While there are some legitimate concerns about Ryan Cook, as of now he is still the closer for the A’s. Cook has blown his last two saves, and his work may have to be monitored a little more closely, but he will retain ninth inning duties for the time being. A’s manager Bob Melvin might have given him a vote of confidence but it would still be worthwhile to pick up Grant Balfour if your team is in need of saves.  Balfour may have a similar less-than-impressive xFIP (4.23) as Ryan Cook (4.32), but he also has the hotter hand while Cook has been struggling. We’ll make sure to keep a close eye on this situation, as each save situation in Oakland could have some implications.

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) @ PHI

It’s never a bad decision to choose Craig Kimbrel and with three days of rest playing against the Phillies, Kimbrel stands as a good bet to receive a save opportunity and a chance to rack up a few strikeouts, something he does better than anyone in the league that never called Cuba home. Aroldis Chapman is certainly having a relief season for the ages but Kimbrel’s numbers are just as jaw-dropping: 15.64 K/9 and a 1.13 xFIP, even lower than Chapman’s!

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	Alfredo Aceves	Andrew Miller	Mark Melancon	Andrew Bailey
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	Francisco Cordero	Wesley Wright
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Kevin Jepsen	LaTroy Hawkins	Jordan Walden
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Brandon League	Javy Guerra
Miami	Steve Cishek	Heath Bell	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	John Axford	Francisco Rodriguez	Kameron Loe
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Alex Burnett	Matt Capps
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	Jon Rauch	Ramon Ramirez	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Rafael Soriano	David Robertson	Boone Logan
Oakland	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle	Grant Balfour
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Antonio Bastardo	Josh Lindblom
Pittsburgh	Joel Hanrahan	Jason Grilli	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Jason Motte	Mitchell Boggs	Edward Mujica
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Shawn Kelley	Stephen Pryor
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Kyle Farnsworth	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Mike Adams	Robbie Ross
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.]