Bullpen Report: July 21, 2016
To kick off this relatively brief installment of the Bullpen Report, let’s chat about some minor changes made to the chart:
Koji Uehara joined teammates Craig Kimbrel, Carson Smith and Junichi Tazawa on the disabled list, so he’ll get bumped from the chart for now since there’s only room for one in that column. Ziegler and Barnes slide to the left with Robbie Ross making the second chair for the time being. Normally would seem like a “red” situation, but Ziegler is experienced in the ninth, so we’ll call that yellow.
The Cubs landed the left-handed reliever they coveted yesterday in Mike Montgomery from the Mariners — not the Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman they’ve been linked to as of late — in exchange for left-handed slugger Dan Vogelbach as the primary pieces exchanged. Montgomery will join fellow southpaws Travis Wood and Clayton Richards out of the ‘pen in Chicago for the time being. The lefty hurler went 3-4 in 32 appearances (two starts) for the Mariners, posting a 2.34 ERA (3.20 FIP) and a 14.4% K-BB% with three holds. Some of the keys to his success this season are a significant spike in velocity, ground ball rate and ability to induce soft contact. Montgomery failed to appear on our chart for Seattle, but could take a seat for the Cubbies once we determine how he’ll be utilized. Second chair? For now, things will go unchanged for both squads.
Green for Alex Colome.
A pair of other bullpens I’m monitoring a bit closer than normal are the Brewers and Angels. Huston Street has been less than stellar, posting a 5.03 K/9, 5.03 BB/9 and a 5.03 ERA with eight saves in 10 chances. Starting to make me feel yellow, but don’t feel confident he’ll lose a role, so green it. Please welcome Cam Bedrosian to the chart with a nice round of applause! He’ll unseat Fernando Salas for the time being. The Brew Crew seem to be shopping their relievers, so I’d abandon ship where I could.
Quick Hitters: Zach Britton notched his 30th save tonight to remain perfect on the season. Britton needed just 12 pitches to close the door on the Yankees, 4-1. Mark Melancon fanned one batter on 14 pitches en route to his 28th save in 31 opportunities. Kenley Jansen surrendered a one-out single to Bryce Harper in the final frame, but induced one strikeout to pick up his 28th save in 32 chances. Jansen now owns a 1.30 ERA (1.49 FIP) and a 11.45 K/9 in 43 appearances (41.1 IP) this season. Ryan Buchter allowed four earned runs for the Padres tonight (his ERA jumped from 2.36 to 3.14), but along with teammate Brad Hand, could still make sense for some teams (Cleveland?) looking to add a left-handed reliever at the deadline if they don’t want to afford the Miller/Chapman types. Shane Greene earned his second save of the season for the Tigers in a game that was called in the 7th, an odd one. And Carlos Estevez picked up the two-pitch save for the Rockies, his seventh of the season.
Just wrote this on short rest, so if by chance I’ve crossed up my signs be sure to make a mound visit in the comments to discuss. Thanks and cheers!
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
We’re probably approaching green for Oh, right? He’s gotten every save opp since his promotion, including both on the double header the other day.