Bullpen Report: July 17, 2016
Arodys Vizcaino was placed on the 15-day DL with a right oblique injury, bringing us to a familiar name in Jim Johnson. Vizcaino had been struggling lately allowing runs in four of his last five appearances, which mostly took place before he sat out with an infection in his right elbow. Jim Johnson came into a tied game in the 9th tonight and gave up a run after throwing two wild pitches along with a walk and two hits. Johnson’s fastball average is the lowest it’s been since 2007 (92.7 MPH), but his strikeout rate is 20% which is a career high. His FIP (3.54) suggests he may be a good stopgap until Vizcaino comes back, but may have a few opportunities usurped. The article linked in the beginning notes that Mauricio Cabrera may get some opportunities, who is a 22 year old with a fastball averaging 100 MPH. The highest level he played prior to this was AA, where he had strong K numbers keeping his K% over 20 for the past couple of seasons, but also had higher walk rates. So far, in his small sample, he has pitched to more contact. Definitely has future closer potential and has two saves already, so watch him closely particularly if Johnson falters.
Santiago Casilla blew his fifth save of the season after balking in the winning run in extra innings. Casilla allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a balk, and Bruce Bochy said he is not looking to make a change at closer. Despite putting up his highest ERA since 2009 (3.38), Casilla has seen an uptick in his K% (11.42%) this season and also has allowed a higher BABIP than usual (.353), so there should be some regression. His FIP (3.43) is right in line with his ERA, which is unusual since he usually outperforms his FIP. Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless ninth striking out two, and has been very sharp since returning from the DL, which will be an excellent source for Holds per usual.
Keone Kela was activated from the DL on Friday, as Jake Diekman was placed on the DL. Kela pitched a scoreless 7th inning striking out the heart of the Cubs line-up, while allowing one walk. This is very encouraging for the Rangers, as their bullpen has the second highest ERA in the league. The K rate has gone up in Kela’s small sample this season, but it was still over 10% last year. He struggled giving up 3 home-runs before his injury after only allowing 4 all of last season. Diekman landed on the DL for a lacerated finger, but is eligible to return on Thursday.
Quick Notes: Wade Davis was activated from the DL today and pitched a perfect 9th inning in a non-save opportunity. Kevin Siegrist was also activated from the DL, but it appears he will not be used in a closers role. Siegrist got the Cardinals out of a jam on Friday in the 7th, before he hit a bit of trouble in the 8th. Koji Uehera earned his 5th and 6th saves this weekend, and Brad Ziegler pitched a scoreless 7th on Friday in his Red Sox debut. Ryan Madson earned his 19th save, even after giving up his 6th home-run of the season. Kenley Jansen blew his fourth save of the season against the Diamondbacks. Kevin Jepsen signed with Tampa Bay and could eventually make his way onto the grid.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
You listed Casilla’s K/9 (11.42). His K% is 29.7%, still a career-high. I don’t mean to be an editor-bro, I appreciate this series.
Clipper Ship and Hudson both stunk it up today and Barrett recorded the save. Think he could leapfrog to the front pretty fast given the potential trade of either Clippard and/or Hudson, and Barrett’s team control and live fastball. Speculative saves candidates have all but dried up, and so thought I’d throw that out there.
good insights thanks. clip thing also sucked as oaklands closer to open 2015 if I remember right.forgive me if thats not accurate, oaklands 2015 was easily forgettable.
so, no closer controversy in LAA, huh? And who’s Cam Bedrosian?
why is Colome yellow?
Casilla’s contact data (ld%, hard%) are still pretty good, though not as off-the-charts good as usual, so it seems safe to assume that his .353 BABIP and 15.4% HR/FB% are the result of extreme bad luck. Nevertheless there’s no question that he’s gotten pretty badly rattled by his fortunes this year, a lot of the fans are calling for his head, and if there were a viable alternative–especially if Romo does really well coming off the DL–he could lose the closer job.
Does anyone else find the whole Wade Davis thing a little. . . .odd? I mean forearm tightness is not at all good. It was obviously bad enough that they put him on the 15 day DL (of course. the AS Break may have had something to do with that). Then less than a week into the DL stint, Davis says he’s fine and ready to go. His velo for the year is down by about 1 MPH. Granted a lot of that is from April when he was down noticeably but his last appearance before going on the DL was 94.9 and his first appearance after coming back was 95.2 which is not super low, but still low for him where 96.0 is more like normal. His K rate is way down and his BB rate is up. His ERA Is good but that’s only because of his 87.5% strand rate and zero HR so his xFIP is 4.00. He’s got a $10.5M team option next year with a $2.5M buyout so he has $8M reasons for everything to be hunky-dory, AOK, nothing to see here.
I picked up and then dumped Herrera after Davis came back and made it through his first outing and maybe I’m going a little too X-Files here but I think this bears some watching.
my mind just blew. what was your point?