Bullpen Report: July 23, 2018

Kelvin Herrera got his first save with the Nationals on Sunday, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings in a 6-2 win over the Braves. While Herrera has posted a 1.62 WHIP since leaving the Royals, he should receive at least a few more save opportunities. That’s because Sean Doolittle has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left foot that could keep him out for a few more weeks (though probably not for months).

Ryan Madson could be in the mix as well, either if Herrera continues to put runners on base or if there are situations where Davey Martinez opts to use his primary replacement closer to face the tougher part of the lineup prior to the ninth inning. Then again, Madson has had difficulty getting hitters to chase bad pitches, just like Herrera has. Over his last six innings, Madson has a 2.17 WHIP and a paltry 21.7 percent O-Swing rate.

Maybe July is Don’t Swing at Pitches Out of the Zone Month, and nobody told us. Even before Sunday’s blown save against the Rays, Kyle Barraclough was fooling hitters into chasing at a mere 21.6 percent rate over his prior seven innings in July. On Sunday, Barraclough threw a whopping 40 pitches, the last of which was a center-cut fastball that Daniel Robertson crushed for a walk-off grand slam. Of his 39 prior pitches, Barraclough missed the strike zone on 25 of them, and hitters swung at just five of those.

This trend is not doing much for Barraclough’s trade value, as he has walked seven batters in 7.2 innings this month. He has also allowed home runs in back-to-back games and in three of his last seven appearances. Even if the Marlins fail to trade their current closer, fantasy owners should look to replace him, given his recent ineffectiveness. It would be one thing if his recent poor O-Swing% were an aberration, but it’s actually Barraclough’s robust 36.9 percent rate from June that stands out as an outlier.

It looks as if a Zach Britton deal is imminent, and Mychal Givens and Brad Brach are still possible trade targets for contenders. While Givens (34.0 percent O-Swing% in July) has not received the memo about Don’t Swing at Pitches Out of the Zone Month, Brach had yet another shaky outing on Sunday. Brought in for the eighth inning with a 4-1 lead over the Blue Jays, Brach had some control issues, but Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer on a slider right down the middle. Brach subsequently allowed a Justin Smoak single, and two batters later, Tanner Scott coughed up the lead on Yangervis Solarte’s two-run shot over the left center field fence.

Going back to June 25, Brach has compiled a 24.4 percent O-Swing%, which is out of character for him (career 32.4 percent rate). Should Brach have pitched his way out of getting traded, he could get some save chances for the Orioles. However, he will need to return to his prior form in order to be trustworthy in fantasy.

The misadventures of Brach and Scott opened the door for Tyler Clippard to notch his seventh save of the season. This came just one day after John Gibbons called on Ryan Tepera to close out a Blue Jays’ win. Going into Sunday’s game, Tepera had pitched on back-to-back days, so this is not necessarily a signal that Clippard is going to be entrusted with save situations until Roberto Osuna’s expected return on Aug. 5.

Wily Peralta seems to have cemented his position as the Royals’ closer. After floundering in the ninth inning against the Twins on Friday, Peralta nailed down back-to-back saves to finish out the weekend series. On Sunday, the only blemish in his inning of work was a two-out walk to Logan Morrison.

Quick hits: Jeurys Familia‘s first appearance with the Athletics turned out to be a closer-type situation. He filled in for Blake Treinen on Sunday, after the A’s closer threw 40 pitches on Saturday. Familia pitched the top of the ninth and 10th innings in a 5-5 tie with the Giants, and he was credited with the win, thanks to Matt Chapman’s walk-off single…The Phillies placed Edubray Ramos on the 10-day disabled list with a right patella tendon strain. He is expected to miss four to six weeks… Jim Johnson was activated from the DL on Sunday and gave up two unearned runs over 0.2 innings in the Angels’ 14-5 win over the Astros…Chris Devenski and Will Harris have been among this season’s most-skilled non-closers, but both faltered in the seventh inning against the Angels. Harris gave up four runs in 0.2 innings, while Devenski was charged with three runs on homers by Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout while not getting a single out. Harris had been steady recently, but Devenski’s ERA for July now stands at 14.40…Caleb Ferguson notched his second save for the Dodgers this month. In shutting out the Brewers over three innings on Sunday, he earned his second three-inning save in a three-week stretch. As a reliever, Ferguson has a 1.13 ERA with 20 strikeouts and two walks over 16 innings.