Bullpen Report: July 2-3, 2016

Good morning! Sorry I missed you all this weekend, so let’s get caught up on what went down. I won’t cover every save this weekend, but just the situations worth monitoring moving forward since there were a lot of saves.

Jake McGee was activated from the DL, but will not be inserted into the closer’s role just yet. Estevez’ last save was on June 20th, and since then, he has gone 1-2 with a blown save and a 7.20 ERA (5.77 FIP). Estevez doesn’t have a stronghold on the closer role, but McGee did not make a strong case for himself pitching a third of an inning and giving up 2 runs (1 earned) with a hit, a walk, and a strikeout. Small sample size and McGee was 15 of 18 in save opportunities before the injury. The numbers surrounding those appearances aren’t much to write home about as his K% (6.55) is well below his career rate (10.7) and his ERA (5.32) and FIP (4.58) are well above his career norms, which are below 3. I understand why the Rockies aren’t rushing him back into the closer role, so we will continue to monitor this situation rather closely and let you know if any changes occur.

Kevin Jepsen has been designated for assignment, which shouldn’t directly impact any of your squads. Jepsen had not seen much action as of late, giving up runs in three of his last four appearances dating back to June 18th, so the idea of stealing some saves shouldn’t have crossed your mind. The second in line role belongs to Ryan Pressly, who gave up two inherited runs yesterday after giving up a walk to load the bases and then a two-out double to Shin-Soo Choo. He still managed to earn his fifth hold of the season as the Twins still had and were able to hold onto the lead. After Fernando Abad suffered the extra-innings loss on Friday, he bounced back solidly yesterday to earn his fifth hold as well, while Brandon Kintzler nabbed his fourth save of the season.

After pitching three straight scoreless low leverage outings, Trevor Rosenthal hit his first real road bump yesterday since being removed from the closers role. Rosenthal gave up three straight singles and a walk, allowing two runs (one while he was on the mound) while not recording an out. Even if he is not their closer, an effective Rosenthal is essential for the Cards after they placed Kevin Siegrist on the DL with mononucleosis. In better news, Seung Hwan Oh earned his second save of the season Sunday after earning his first Saturday. It seemed to get a little dicey on Sunday after he gave up a run, but Oh battled and does not appear to have any serious competition for the role right now.

Closer Grid:

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	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jim Johnson	Hunter Cervenka
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Mychal Givens	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Zach Duke
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Ross Ohlendorf	Jumbo Diaz
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Dan Otero
Colorado	Carlos Estevez	Jake McGee	Jason Motte
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Will Harris	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria
LAA	Huston Street	Fernando Salas	Joe Smith	/td>
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Joe Blanton	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Fernando Rodney	David Phelps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Tyler Thornburg	Will Smith
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Fernando Abad	Ryan Pressly	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles	Jim Henderson
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Neftali Feliz	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Jonathan BroxtonTrevor Rosenthal	JTrevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist
SD	Ryan Buchter	Brandon Maurer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cory Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Vidal Nuno	Nick Vincent
TB	Xavier Cedeno	Erasmo Ramirez	Danny Farquar	Alex Colome
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Shawn Kelley	Felipe Rivero	Sammy Solis	Jonathan Papelbon

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