Bullpen Report: August 7, 2012

• Last night Nationals closer Tyler Clippard blew the save against the Astros, but Drew Storen also looked shaky issuing two walks while only getting one out in the inning. Nationals manager Davey Johnson indicated that Tyler Clippard will remain the closer, but said he will also use Storen as needed and is “real confident right now in either Clip or Storen closing.” Expect Tyler Clippard to still receive save opportunities but if Storen pitches well, Clippard won’t have the luxury of many more blown saves to keep his job.

• Greg Holland recorded his second save of the year tonight pitching a perfect inning against the White Sox. Greg Holland was worthy of ownership before he replaced Jonathan Broxton as closer for the Royals due to his strikeout ability (11.89 K/9) and now that he’s getting saves he’s a must own. While he might struggle with his control occasionally, he also has a chance to be one of the better fantasy closers in the league.

• Steve Cishek closed the door in the ninth tonight against Mets for his seventh save of the year. Although Heath Bell has pitched better of late, it looks more and more like Cishek will hold on to the job for the remainder of the season. Cishek has the ability to miss some bats (8.67 K/9) but his high walk rate and 3.99 xFIP leave a lot to be desired. Still, with Heath Bell not receiving a save opportunity since July 8th, Cishek’s job as closer looks relatively secure.

• John Axford and Francisco Cordero’s struggles have made the Brewers closing situation very murky and tonight, 29 year old rookie Jim Henderson recorded the first save of his career. Henderson exhibited solid strikeout totals in his time in triple-a this year (10.50 K/9) albeit with a less than spectacular walk rate (4.13 BB/9). Henderson has only six innings pitched at the major league level in his career but he’s worth keeping an eye on – if nobody else steps up in the Brewers pen, somebody has to save games.

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:  David Robertson  (NYY) @ DET

With CC Sabathia taking the hill tomorrow against the Tigers, there’s  a solid chance that Robertson will have a chance to pitch and an opportunity to receive a hold. Also, Robertson has been very effective of late, striking 13 batters out in his last 11 innings while only giving up one run. Overall, he’s having a great season this year, pitching to a 2.61 xFIP while striking out over 36% of the batters he’s faced this year and should continue that trend against Detroit.

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)	Frank Francisco	Bobby Parnell	Jon Rauch
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	Javier Lopez
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Shawn Kelley	Stephen Pryor
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Kyle Farnsworth	Jake McGee
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.]