Bullpen Report: July 2, 2013
Apologies for the belated and brief BR this evening morning.
• Mariano Rivera recorded a one-out save, his 27th of the year. In more interesting news, the Twins gave Mo a the “Chair of Broken Dreams” as he played his final game in Minnesota in his swan song year.
• Chris Perez notched his 8th save of the season last night and his second since returning from the DL. Perez averaged over 92 mph on his fastball last night and had a max speed of 94 mph. It’s important to track because as Eno mentioned, “consistency of velocity” is an important thing to look at when evaluating a pitcher’s health. Although that velocity is somewhat in line with what he was throwing this season, it’s down from where Perez was in 2012. We’ll be sure to track Perez’ velo as he continues to throw but for now he’s closing in Cleveland but Vinnie Pestano could certainly stay on your radar.
• Speaking of velocity, J.J. Putz is still struggling to gain arm strength on his return from the DL and Heath Bell will now receive at least the next save opportunity for the Dbacks. When Putz blew the save on Monday, I wrongly said he would hold onto the job in the meantime, but with arm strength a concern Heath Bell is a must own in fantasy leagues. He hasn’t been a pillar of stability himself but he’s healthy and actually owns the best xFIP between Putz, himself and David Hernandez.
• It’s not exactly clear who is closing for Seattle as they haven’t had too many save opportunities of late, but Tom Wilhelmsen is starting to pitch well of late. After pitching a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation last night, Wilhelmsen has been scoreless in his last four appearances without issuing a walk in 3.2 innings. Yoervis Medina and Oliver Perez might see the next chance but according to manager Eric Wedge, Wilhelmsen could be close to regaining the job.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
When he's not focusing on every team's bullpen situation, Ben can be found blogging at Ben's Baseball Bias and on Twitter @BensBias
Just traded mujica for armram in a 12 team standard. My team’s closers are kimbrel, jensen, janssen, uehara, and parnell, while my third basemen consist of Headley and the hurt gyorko. Did I get enough for mujica, and should I drop Headley
Yawn.
Thank you for your time.