Bullpen Report: August 7, 2023

The 2023 version of the Bullpen Report includes five different sections, as well as the closer chart, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

We will always include a link to the full Closer Depth Chart at the bottom of the Bullpen Report each day. It’s also accessible from the RosterResource drop-down menu and from any RosterResource page. Please let us know what you think.

1. Notable Workloads: Primary closers or valuable members of a closer committee who have been deemed unavailable or likely unavailable for the current day due to recent workload.
2. Injury News
3. Outlier Saves: Explanation for a non-closer earning a save during the previous day.
4. Committee Clarity: Notes on a closer committee that clarify a pitcher’s standing in the group.
5. Losing A Grip: Struggling closers who could be on the hot seat.

The “RosterResource” link will take you to the corresponding team’s RosterResource depth chart, which will give you a better picture of the full bullpen and results of the previous six days (pitch count, save, hold, win, loss, blown save).

Click HERE to view the full Closer Depth Chart.

Notable Workloads

•Trevor May, OAK: 13 pitches on Sunday; 20 pitches on Saturday. | RosterResource

Angel Felipe and Austin Pruitt pitched Saturday and Sunday as well, and Lucas Erceg threw 25 pitches Sunday. Sam Long or Dany Jiménez would be next in line.

•Adbert Alzolay, CHC: 11 pitches on Sunday; 21 pitches on Saturday. | RosterResource

Mark Leiter Jr.’s also worked back-to-back, but on just 25 combined pitches. Julian Merryweather and Jose Cuas are also possibilities, with Michael Fulmer likely unavailable after 43 pitches over the weekend.

•Justin Lawrence, COL: 31 pitches on Sunday. | RosterResource

Brent Suter, Tyler Kinley, Jake Bird, and Daniel Bard are all plausible options to close Monday.

•Kyle Finnegan, WSN: Three straight days; 20 pitches on Sunday. | RosterResource

Finnegan also worked Wednesday, and that in tandem with 46 pitches in three days makes it near impossible he’s available Monday. Jordan Weems (48 pitches) and Andrés Machado (26 pitches) have also worked three straight. If all three are unavailable, it’s slim pickings in the Nationals’ seven-man bullpen. Jose A. Ferrer, Robert Garcia (31 pitches Sunday), Joe La Sorsa, and Cory Abbott are the other options, pending a move Monday.

Injury News

•None

Outlier Saves

•Jimmy Lambert, CHW | RosterResource

The White Sox are cobbling a bullpen together with Reynaldo López, Keynan Middleton, Joe Kelly, and Kendall Graveman on other teams and Gregory Santos on the bereavement list. To make matters more difficult, Aaron Bummer threw 43 pitches on Saturday, leaving him out of action Sunday. That left Lambert as the best option when the Sox put up three (unearned) runs up on Emmanuel Clase, and while he gave up a leadoff double, he retired the next three for his first career save. Santos should reclaim the job when he’s activated, though we’re showing Lambert as part of very temporary co-closing situation with Bummer on the RosterResource page and Closer Depth Chart.

•Bryan Abreu, HOU | RosterResource

Ryan Pressly wasn’t available on Sunday to what Dusty Baker would only refer to as soreness, so not quite an injury we’re dealing with here, assuming the notoriously tight-lipped Astros aren’t withholding anything here. The Astros had to cobble things together after José Urquidy got just ten outs in his return from the IL, with J.P. France helping the bullpen out by getting just as many in relief.

Abreu ended up needing to get four outs, beginning by cleaning up Héctor Neris’s eighth-inning mess. He wasn’t at his sharpest, requiring 32 pitches to get four outs, but he did punch out a couple batters and keep the Yankees off the board for his fourth save of the season.

Committee Clarity

•None

Losing A Grip

•None