Bullpen Report: July 26, 2012
• Jason Motte rattled off three consecutive strikeouts in the top of the ninth today en route to his 22nd save of the season and a 7-4 Cardinals victory over the Hanleywood Dodgers. Motte has quietly collected those 22 saves in 26 chances this year and has now locked down nine consecutive opportunities. The Cardinals’ ninth inning man is sporting a fine 2.72 ERA (3.37 xFIP) and a 3.58 K/BB (25.9 K%, 7.2 BB%) on the year.
• Chris Perez saved his 29th game of the year tonight for the Cleveland Indians. Perez’s success this season, parlayed with the bullpen needs of some contenders throughout the league, make the Indians’ closer an attractive target as we approach the trade deadline. Buster Olney suggests that the San Francisco Giants could be a good fit for Perez, given their bullpen’s recent hiccups. If by chance Perez does get dealt before the deadline, Vinnie Pestano would be the add for saves in Cleveland.
• Yesterday, at Rangers Ballpark, Andrew Bailey tossed a 23 pitch live bullpen session to teammates Daniel Nava and Pedro Ciriaco in front of pitching coaches Bob McClure and Randy Niemann. Reports from the session indicate that Bailey “showed off his cutter, displayed good velocity and felt good enough to do it again.” With the Red Sox heading into the Bronx for the weekend, Manager Bobby Valentine suggested that Bailey could toss another live bullpen session on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. If all goes well Saturday, Bailey could head out on a five-to-six game rehab assignment — including one back-to-back appearance — and return to the big league club about mid-August.
Alfredo Aceves has done a fine job filling in for the injured Bailey this season. However, Aceves’ peripherals lead us to believe he’s been more lucky than good this month. The current closer is 3-of-4 in save chances for the Red Sox in July, but his 6.99 xFIP indicates his 1.86 ERA is bound for regression. Aceves’ luck this month could be attributed to opponents hitting just .226 on balls in play (versus a career .268 BABIP) and the 87.3% strand rate (career 77.1% LOB%). Lastly, Aceves’ July 9.5% strikeout rate is the lowest of any month and the 14.3% walk rate is the highest of any month this season. Yes, the July numbers are unquestionably a small sample size, but Aceves needs to produce like he did in June if he has any hope of keeping the closer gig upon Andrew Bailey’s return. If Bailey is available on your wire, and you need saves for your run at a flag, make the add.
For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.
A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Wilton Lopez (HOU) vs. PIT
Houston’s recent addition of veteran closer Francisco Cordero hasn’t worked out so well thus far, as he is 0-for-2 in his first two save opportunities. CoCo Cordero was unavailable out of the bullpen tonight, but I’m not sure Mills will give the struggling reliever the nod tomorrow should the Astros be in line for a save.
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.
Bryan Shaw was sent down. I don’t mean this with any disrespect, but would help if you checked the daily transactions logs.