Bullpen Report: July 23, 2016

Washington is said to be looking to make a move for another major bullpen arm. Wade Davis is one name they are looking at, and Aroldis Chapman is another guy they have inquired about. No deal is imminent at this point, but you may need to start thinking about and potentially acting on the implications of one of these guys going to Washington. Would the Nationals move Papelbon out of the closer’s role? Even though he has posted a 2.64 ERA and 2.94 FIP, it’s hard to argue he deserves a higher leverage role than a Davis or Chapman. Papelbon has a lower HR/FB% (5.3%) and GB% (36.8%) than his career norms, which would concern me as a Papelbon owner. Papelbon is also known to be territorial about his closer’s role, so that is also a scenario to monitor if the Nationals do acquire a big arm for the bullpen. Trading Chapman would move Andrew Miller into the closer’s role, who should be owned in most leagues, whereas Davis’ trade would give Kelvin Herrera a nice hold on the job, especially after Joakim Soria had another rough outing tonight.

Jake Diekman has been activated from the DL, which means Matt Bush was taken off the grid. Bush has been strong for the Rangers and struck out two tonight in a clean inning of work to lower his ERA and FIP to 2.15 and 2.52 respectively. A strong argument can be made to keep Bush on instead of Keone Kela, especially since Kela has struggled with the long-ball this year in a very small sample. The stuff is still there, however, and it’s hard to dismiss his 60.1 innings last season with a 2.39 ERA (2.64 FIP). He is striking out more guys this season (I know, small sample) and if he cuts down on the 11% walk rate, he may soon jump in Diekman as next in line. Diekman is a tough sell as the next line simply because he is 1 of 2 lefties in the Rangers bullpen right now. I am going off of their usage on Friday down by two. Kela got the 7th and Diekman got the 8th. I was debating putting Kela next in line, but I think we need to see a little more of his usage pattern before bumping him over Diekman.

Darren O’Day has been sent on a rehab assignment and could return as early as this Sunday. When O’Day returns, he will probably be placed in as the 8th inning guy, but Brad Brach was been excellent filling in as the next in line. Before tonight’s outing where he gave up two runs, Brach had not given up an earned run since June 16th. During that stretch, he had 20 Ks and 5 BBs over 16.2 innings, and gave up only 4 hits. Mychal Givens will be taken off the grid when O’Day is activated, and has struggled with his control (12.66 BB%) and giving up homers, which isn’t all that uncommon this year. After having a sub 2 ERA and FIP last season, the 3.61 ERA (4.01 FIP) have been disappointing.

Sorry for the brevity of the report, but my computer has been acting up all day and I wasn’t able to get to the quick notes. Hit me up with any errors in the grid or potential situations I may have missed in the comments section, and I’ll take care of those for tomorrow’s Bullpen Report.

Closer Grid:

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