Bullpen Report: July 20, 2018

The long-anticipated trade of Brad Hand finally went down on Thursday. The Padres dealt him and Adam Cimber to the Indians for Francisco Mejia, effectively remaking both teams’ bullpens.

The Indians find themselves in a similar spot to where they were two years ago, when they acquired Andrew Miller at the trade deadline. With Hand, they now have an elite lefty reliever who has performed better than Cody Allen, who has been the incumbent closer in both situations. Terry Francona is expected to stick with Allen as his primary closer, just as he did upon the team’s acquisition of Miller.

However, being a primary closer is not the same as being the sole closer, and it is not inconceivable that Hand could work his way into more than just occasional save opportunities. Both he and Allen enter the second half looking to put some recent difficulties behind them. Despite a 13-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Hand had allowed eight runs over his final nine innings as a Padre. Allen had given up runs in two of his last three appearances, including a six-run outing against the Reds on July 10, and he has a 6.29 ERA since May 6.

Ground balls have been scarce for both relievers. During his nine-inning slump, Hand’s ground ball rate was just 39.3 percent. Allen has always been amenable to flyballs, but his current 30.1 percent ground ball rate is a career low. All of this is to say that it is premature to drop Hand.

For now, fantasy owners don’t have to worry about Miller entering the saves picture, as he just began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told MLB.com that Miller could be back “at some point here in the next few weeks.”

Hand’s departure from San Diego means that, in all likelihood, Kirby Yates becomes Andy Green’s go-to reliever for saves. As I discussed in Thursday’s piece on elite non-closers, Yates is well equipped to succeed as a closer, but his appeal as a trade target could cut his time with the Padres — and as a closer — short. We all have only so many spots to dedicate for saves speculation, but if you can roster both Yates and Craig Stammen (possibly the Padres’ new closer-in-waiting), it could pay off. It’s also worth tracking the usage and performance of Phil Maton and Matt Strahm, who have received some recent work in high-leverage situations.

Just hours before the Cubs and Cardinals kicked off the second half, the Cubs placed Brandon Morrow on the 10-day disabled list with right biceps inflammation. On Thursday, Morrow received an MRI, and while there is no timetable for his return, Joe Maddon downplayed the severity of the injury. Maddon will probably not rely on a sole reliever to close in Morrow’s absence, but rather manage the bullpen according to matchups.

On Thursday night, it was Pedro Strop who got a one-out save, though Maddon entrusted Carl Edwards Jr. with protecting a four-run lead in the ninth inning (after getting the final out in the eighth inning) until he allowed Kolten Wong’s two-out RBI single. Both Strop and Edwards are included in the closer grid, along with Steve Cishek, though Justin Wilson could easily be in the mix, too.

The Cubs also added Jesse Chavez to their bullpen on Thursday, sending Class A lefty Tyler Thomas to the Rangers. Chavez is not likely to get any save chances, but he ranks fourth in innings among relievers. In the pool of relievers who have fewer than five saves, Chavez is tied for 20th in strikeouts with 50.

Chavez could be just the first of several relievers to be traded by the Rangers before the deadline. They are drawing interest in Keone Kela and Jake Diekman, and they could have a strong incentive to trade their closer and primary setup reliever as they approach a rebuilding phase. Jose Leclerc’s conspicuous absence from trade rumors could mean he will be closing games for the Rangers by August. He is worth stashing right now. Not only is there a good possibility that Leclerc will get a chance to close, but he could be highly effective in the role. He has had a swinging strike rate above 15 percent both this season and last, and he is good enough at inducing soft contact to have posted a .231 BABIP (.266 xBABIP, per xStats.org) so far in 2018. That has helped Leclerc to post a 1.00 WHIP despite shaky control.

Quick hits: The Athletics released former closer Santiago Casilla on Thursday. Casilla posted a 3.16 ERA with the A’s in 26 appearances, but a 37.3 percent Zone% contributed to an astronomical 15.2 percent walk rate…Along with Andrew Miller, the following relievers began minor league rehab assignments during the All-Star break: Jim Johnson, Matt Albers, Koda Glover and Jonny Venters.

Not Very Stable
Hot Seat
Committee
Bullpen Report — 7/20/2018
Team Closer First Up Second Up Minors/DL
ARI Brad Boxberger Archie Bradley Yoshihisa Hirano
ATL A.J. Minter Dan Winkler Jesse Biddle Arodys Vizcaino
BAL Zach Britton Mychal Givens Brad Brach Darren O’Day
BOS Craig Kimbrel Matt Barnes Joe Kelly
CHC Pedro Strop Carl Edwards Jr. Steve Cishek Brandon Morrow
CWS Joakim Soria Jeanmar Gomez Juan Minaya Nate Jones
CIN Raisel Iglesias Jared Hughes Amir Garrett
CLE Cody Allen Brad Hand Adam Cimber Andrew Miller
COL Wade Davis Adam Ottavino Scott Oberg
DET Shane Greene Joe Jimenez Alex Wilson
HOU Hector Rondon Chris Devenski Joe Smith
KC Wily Peralta Kevin McCarthy Brandon Maurer
LAA Blake Parker Justin Anderson Hansel Robles Keynan Middleton
LAD Kenley Jansen Dylan Floro Scott Alexander Josh Fields
MIA Kyle Barraclough Drew Steckenrider Brad Ziegler Tayron Guerrero
MIL Corey Knebel Josh Hader Jeremy Jeffress
MIN Fernando Rodney Trevor Hildenberger Zach Duke Addison Reed
NYM Jeurys Familia Robert Gsellman Anthony Swarzak
NYY Aroldis Chapman Dellin Betances David Robertson
OAK Blake Treinen Lou Trivino Ryan Buchter
PHI Seranthony Dominguez Victor Arano Pat Neshek
PIT Felipe Vazquez Kyle Crick Edgar Santana
STL Bud Norris Jordan Hicks Greg Holland
SD Kirby Yates Craig Stammen Phil Maton
SF Will Smith Tony Watson Mark Melancon Hunter Strickland
SEA Edwin Diaz Alex Colome James Pazos
TB Sergio Romo Jose Alvarado Diego Castillo Chaz Roe
TEX Keone Kela Jake Diekman Jose LeClerc Chris Martin
TOR Tyler Clippard Seung Hwan Oh John Axford Roberto Osuna
WSH Kelvin Herrera Ryan Madson Brandon Kintzler Sean Doolittle





Al Melchior has been writing about Fantasy baseball and sim games since 2000, and his work has appeared at CBSSports.com, BaseballHQ, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster and FanRagSports. He has also participated in Tout Wars' mixed auction league since 2013. You can follow Al on Twitter @almelchiorbb and find more of his work at almelchior.com.

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Lunch Anglemember
5 years ago

Ryan Tepera not back on the Blue Jays chart? He’s returned from the DL