Bullpen Report: July 22, 2014
• Casey Janssen struggled this evening and Brett Cecil came on for the one-out save, his fourth of the year. In spite of Janssen’s struggles in his last couple of outings, his job is still fully secure. Rather than have Janssen labor in a tough outing, taking him out earlier tonight might actually give him a chance to pitch in tomorrow’s game. I wouldn’t rush to pick up Cecil, but along with Aaron Loup he’s a primary setup man in Toronto’s pen.
• Steve Cishek nailed down save 23 tonight against the Braves, allowing one hit while striking out two. The Marlins haven’t indicated that they are throwing in the towel, making some pieces available but scouts have been watching Cishek and lefty reliever Mike Dunn nonetheless. I’d be inclined to say that the Marlins will hold onto Cishek but if they could get the kind of haul that the Angels gave up for Street, they might have to consider moving him. In that scenario, look for A.J. Ramos to receive save opportunities.
• Jonathan Papelbon, who has been involved in a few trade rumors himself (albeit with “little interest“), blew the save today, allowing a home run to Buster Posey in the ninth inning tonight in a tie game. It doesn’t seem likely at this point but if Paps is traded Ken Giles and Jake Diekman would be in line for saves.
• Zach Britton bounced back from a terrible outing recently with saves in his last two appearances but he’s battling some “numbness“on his non pitching arm after a comebacker in last night’s game. This injury doesn’t seem serious, Britton was able to finish the game after getting hit but Tommy Hunter or Darren O’Day could see a save this week if Britton is unable to go right away.
• Chris Perez had a night to forget this evening and his ERA now stands at 5.35 with peripherals suggesting he’s just that bad of a pitcher right now. We previously had him as second in line behind Jansen but I’d confidently place Brian Wilson and Brandon League above Perez in the pecking order in LA right now. As the Dodgers fight for the division, I would expect them to upgrade the bullpen, likely acquiring a reliever that would be a primary set up option for Don Mattingly, but until then it’s still the ex-closers Wilson/League/Perez fighting for position behind Jansen.
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
Joel Peralta was put on the DL today, thoughts on who might swoop some holds?
In the TB committee? Behind Mcgee it’s Boxberger, Balfour, Yates, and Oviedo who work the late innings.
Would Felix still be the next in line even though he came in in the 6th tonight?
If you had to drop one, would you drop Soria or McGee? Even if Soria doesn’t get traded, it feels like the rangers never have save chances and he’s been hit hard lately.
At this very minute, Soria.
Even if Tampa trades Price, they can still surge just not as much. They are a way better team than they played like over the first half. If they trade Price and get a few ready bats, then they could still make a run because they still have good pitching too without Price.
The Rangers are done, but sometimes teams that mail it in as far as playoffs start to win some games and can be pretty good. Soria probably gets traded though, and he might not be the closer where he does go.
I would stick with McGee, just the better pitcher between the two and even if he does share some save chances with the other guys in the TB bullpen, he should help you out more in the other categories than Soria who is more dependent on saves to boost his value.
Fearless predictions for Fujikawa? Rondon’s been shaky in June, July. You’d think the Cubs would have removed him by now for Strop/Ramirez. The fact that they haven’t makes me wonder if their hearts are set on installing Fujikawa.
Probably a non-factor until he gets his feet wet again for awhile in the majors and is effective. Seems like he has to jump a number of guys to get a shot at saves. That said if he comes back and dominates he could probably see save chances by late August/September if Rondon continues to struggle and Strop or Ramirez dont get first crack for whatever chance.
I still would bet on Rondon bouncing back enough to keep the job. Seems he is getting BABIP’d more than anything right now.
Lincecum doesn’t get on to the chart after his efforts?
Sorry this is kind of nit-picky, but how could Papelbon blow a save in a tie game?
Papelbon entered the game with Philly up 5-4. He struck out Adrianza, then gave up a home run to Posey. Blown save.
Speaking of Blown Saves, Jimmy Nelson loads and allows a run in the 7th on two singles and two hit batsmen, all without getting an out. Brandon Kintzler comes in, gives up a Sac fly to Chris Heisey and then gets Billy Hamilton to hit into a double-play. 2 batters faced 0 hits 3 outs. He gets both a Blown Save and a Shutdown (0.20 WPA) Yes technically it was was blown save, but feels sort of disingenuous. I wonder how many times a pitcher gets a Blown Save and a Shutdown in the same game. I’m sure Save + Meltdown combo is more frequent.