Bullpen Report: Friday, May 8, 2015

Well, it looks like the clouds have lifted on the unsettled closer situation in the Bronx. Joe Girardi finally named Andrew Miller as the official closer of the New York Yankees. This was in the wake of the two-headed Yankee bullpen monster shutting down the Orioles. Dellin Betances came in and retired four Orioles before handing the ball over to Miller in the ninth. Unconfirmed reports have Girardi telling Miller before the game that he could be the official closer if he can go a whole inning without throwing a ball. Miller obliged. He did get a couple of chases out of the zone with the fastball. They aren’t really missing David Robertson. If you want to see pure domination, go back and watch pretty much any Betances or Miller appearance this year.

Phillies fans were very nostalgic last night, watching Cole Hamels own the Mets for seven innings and then getting in their cars after Jonathan Papelbon struck out two during a 22-pitch ninth inning for his sixth save. Ken Giles pitched a perfect eighth, and he’ll be the closer once the Phillies find a suitor for Papelbon. There’s no way that Ruben Amaro holds on to him for way too long or just isn’t able to find someone to take him off his hands, right? No way the Phillies get zero return for him, right?

Matt Belisle and Seth Maness are getting used to their new roles handing the ball to Trevor Rosenthal to close out Cardinal victories in the aftermath of the Jordan Walden shoulder injury. They each gave up a run in their inning to ensure that Rosenthal had a save opportunity. He took full advantage of their generosity and garnered his eleventh save of the season. Not too many of you have Belisle or Maness, so they won’t have a huge bearing on many fantasy leagues directly, but if they struggle in their new roles, it could reduce the number of save opportunities that filter down to Rosenthal.

Yes, Yohan Pino gave up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to the Tigers. Yes, Greg Holland and Luke Hochevar were both still in the bullpen. Yes, it was a tie game on the road and why bring in your closer? Yes, both Hochevar and Holland pitched Thursday in their first games back from injury, so maybe Ned Yost decided discretion was the better part of valor and hoped a lefty wouldn’t give up a double to Anthony Gose and then throw a bunt away to end the game.

Of Note: Steve Delabar struck out two in his second scoreless inning since his recall from AAA. He’s trying to work his way into the Jays late inning picture, and there’s no reason to think that he can’t. Hector Rondon warmed up planning to come in to protect a two-run lead in the ninth in Milwaukee, but the Cubs scored two in their half of the ninth, causing Rondon to walk two, give up three hits and three earned. His velo was in line, but he was all over the place. He only generated a pair of whiffs on his 31 offerings. Fastball command was the culprit Friday, as he only threw seven of his sixteen four-seamers for strikes. Craig Kimbrel earned his ninth save with a clean inning during a game against the Diamondbacks. It was the ninth inning. After last night, the Angels decided to stick with their starter with a two-run ninth inning lead instead of turning to the bullpen. It worked! It worked because Jared Weaver is made of magic. Expect the Angels to eschew the bullpen entirely in close games for the near future. Luke Gregerson is on the family emergency list for the Astros, Chad Qualls will get any save opportunities in his absence. The Indians signed Carlos Marmol to a minor league contract. He’s currently available in 100% of all leagues everywhere.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Addison Reed	Brad Ziegler	Evan Marshall
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Cody Martin
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Alexi Ogando	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Jason Motte
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Scott Atchison
Colorado	John Axford	Rafael Betancourt	Boone Logan	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Al Alburquerque	Joba Chamberlain	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Vinnie Pestano
LAD	Yimi Garcia	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez	Kenley Jansen
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jonathan Broxton	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Brian Duensing	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Buddy Carlyle	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Chris Martin
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Seth Maness	Matt Belisle	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Carson Smith
TB	Brad Boxberger	Kevin Jepsen	Ernesto Frieri	Jake McGee
Texas	Neftali Feliz	Keone Kela	Shawn Tolleson	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Blake Treinen	Casey Janssen

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