Bullpen Report: July 20, 2015

• Jonathan Papelbon closed out a rare Phillies win for his 16th save of the season tonight against the Rays. With Ken Giles throwing in the previous two games, the Phillies went  Jake Diekman –> Luis Garcia –> Jeanmar Gomez for the bridge to Papelbon. However if/when Papelbon is traded, Ken Giles is ready to become the closer. There are no strong trade rumors at the moment and the deadline is approaching, but I’d still expect Papelbon to change teams. He’s not particularly cheap next year but it’s not a long term commitment and he’s proving to still be quite effective pitching to a 1.72/2.95/3.18 ERA/FIP/xFIP line. Throw in the fact that he’s vocally expressed a preference to change teams and I would be a bit optimistic if I were a Giles owner.

• Joakim Soria threw a perfect ninth tonight for his 21st save. Soria has had a few up and downs this year, so it’s nice to see him start the second half on the right foot. New teammate Neftali Feliz isn’t breathing down Nathan’s Soria’s neck, but he would be a threat to replace Soria if he goes back to his home run happy ways that crept up a few times this year.

• Recently promoted Rafael Soriano saw his first action for the Cubs tonight, throwing a scoreless eighth inning down by a run. Soriano threw 23 pitches with 12 going for strikes while allowing one hit. The ninth inning is still Jason Motte’s to lose and I still wouldn’t put Soriano above Hector Rondon, who has been pitching excellent of late, in the pecking order. But, I would say that Soriano is closer to saves than Pedro Strop given the former’s previous history and added him to the grid below.

• While it’s expected for Johnny Cueto to be moved before the deadline, Aroldis Chapman should be staying in Cincinnati. Chapman did what he’s known to do this evening and closed out his 19th game throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Chapman is having another stellar season with a 1.56 ERA and 72 strikeouts. It’s a testament to how great he has been over the past few years that we don’t gawk much over him anymore. J.J. Hoover pitched a scoreless eighth lowering his ERA to an impressive 1.31. His ERA might suggest a shutdown reliever but it’s a little inflated with a .190 BABIP and 4.22 xFIP. Hoover is one injury away from saves but there are better options to own for both speculative saves and ratio help, in spite of his shiny ERA.

• It wasn’t the cleanest inning but Jim Johnson pitched around three base hits for his seventh save. If Johnson stays on Atlanta, he should tally up saves the rest of the year. However, Jim Johnson, like Papelbon, is expected to be traded sooner rather than later. In that scenario I’d expect the young Arodys Vizcaino to get a chance at the ninth. Vizcaino wouldn’t be the first choice if you care about closer experience, but it would behoove the Braves to see what they have in him.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	David Hernandez	Addison Reed
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	David Aardsma	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Jason Motte	Hector Rondon	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Putnam
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	LaTroy Hawkins	Boone Logan
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Neftali Feliz	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Pat Neshek	Chad Qualls
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Juan Nicasio	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Carter Capps	Steve Cishek
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Bobby Parnell	Carlos Torres
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Edward Mujica	Drew Pomeranz	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seth Maness	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Brendan Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Fernando Rodney	Mark Lowe
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Tanner Scheppers	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Brett Cecil	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Casey Janssen	Aaron Barrett

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