Bullpen Report: August 9, 2012

• Andrew Bailey struck out two batters in a scoreless inning of work today for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox of the International League. In doing so, Bailey achieved one of the essential goals of his rehab assignment prior to returning to the Red Sox — pitching on back-to-back days. In five rehab outings, Bailey has surrendered just one earned run while posting a 9.0 K/BB. The Red Sox reliever isn’t quite sure where his next stop will be, but based on his successful rehab appearances, “he can’t see it being much longer.” In his stead, Alfredo Aceves has done a fine job, nailing down 23-of-29 save opportunities with a 4.21 ERA (4.32 xFIP) and a 2.43 K/BB. However, Aceves’ recent struggles — two blown saves and an 11.57 ERA in the last week — could mean that Bailey will be eased back into the closer’s role sooner than later.

• Chris Perez, and his fantasy owners alike, breathed a sigh of relief at the conclusion of tonight’s appearance in Cleveland. Perez pitched a clean ninth-inning on 13 pitches to earn his 30th save of the year against the Red Sox. The successful outing came on the heels of two consecutive blown saves in which the righty surrendered six earned runs. The “saves vultures” began plucking Vinnie Pestano off the waiver wire this week hoping they could benefit from Perez’s recent misfortune. Unfortunately for the vultures, these two recent outings were just a small bump in the road for the Indians’ closer and should not overshadow the fantastic season he is putting together. On the year, Perez is 30-of-34 in save chances with a 3.89 ERA and a 4.18 K/BB.

• Jason Motte yielded a walk, but struck out two Giants en route to earning his 25th save of the season tonight. Motte came with the heat in the ninth, as he usually does, using his four-seamer that topped out at 98 mph to strikeout both Brandon Belt and Hector Sanchez. The Cardinals’ closer is quietly putting together a nice year — 25 saves with a 2.53 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and a 3.6 K/BB.

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A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Jim Henderson (MIL) vs. HOU

The Brewers were off on Thursday, which means Jim Henderson got some rest after successfully converting his first two career saves on consecutive evenings. There appears to be a good chance Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke could go back to Henderson to close out the Quad-A Astros if Milwaukee is in position, given the Crew’s unstable bullpen this season.

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	Jim Henderson	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	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	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.]