Bullpen Report: July 27, 2015

• Continuing in their trade deadline reboot, the Oakland A’s have traded closer Tyler Clippard (and $1 million) to the Mets in exchange for 20 year old starting pitcher Casey Meisner. Eno Sarris and Kiley McDaniel provided insta-analysis of the trade so we will just stick to how this affects the bullpens. Clippard’s ERA is similar to what we have come to expect but his 3.89 FIP is more pedestrian than Clippard’s recent years and his 5.31 xFIP is potentially worrisome. Either way, Clippard should still help the Mets bullpen’s depth. Jenrry Mejia hasn’t allowed a run since he’s returned but his suspension prohibits him from joining the playoff roster, if the Mets were to make it there. So, while the Mets will use the options that best help them win games, I expect Clippard to have a more prominent setup role than Mejia moving forward, and have changed the grid accordingly with Familia still safe on top.

As far as the Oakland side is concerned, it’s really anyone’s guess on who will be getting saves now. John Shea suggests that Eric O’Flaherty or Edward Mujica will now close but they’re both free agents who could also be on the move this week. Mujica has pitched decently since being on the A’s (14.2 IP, 2 walks, 12 strikeouts, 3 homers allowed and a 3.68 ERA and 4.50 FIP) while O’Flaherty has been pretty terrible this year with a 5.57/4.21/4.39 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line in 21 innings. O’Flaherty had an awesome run on the Braves but since 2013 it’s been a rocky road. Considering he’s also a lefty, I can’t imagine O’Flaherty getting many saves on Oakland. Also of note is the guy pitching the best right now, Fernando Rodriguez who I’ll put in the first chair until we see how this shakes out. In 30 innings this year, Rodriguez has a 3.60/1.53/3.07 ERA/FIP/xFIP line with 38 strikeouts against eight walks.  Long thought as the eventual replacement for Clippard, Scribner had a few struggles in July and although he’s not on the grid, he’s still in the conversation. Also in that same long conversation is Drew Pomeranz, who had an abbreviated start last week but also received a save earlier this year. There are no great options to it’s a lot of speculation but for who will be seeing the most saves moving forward I’ll go Rodriguez – Mujica – Pomeranz – Scribner.

• In a 0-0 game in the ninth, Zach Britton allowed the go ahead run on an Adonis Garcia solo homer. Then in the bottom half of the inning, Jim Johnson blew the lead for Atlanta. In the grand scheme of things, one blown save shouldn’t do much damage to Johnson’s trade value but it’s never ideal to blow a save with scouts paying close attention. The Braves would likely sell anyone not named Shelby, Freddie or Andrelton and Johnson is certainly on the block to be moved. If/when the Braves find a suitor that wants to bolster the pen, I’d still expect Arodys Vizcaino to step into the closer’s chair in Atlanta.

• Jake McGee was on a nice little run with 21 straight scoreless appearances but he allowed a run in the eighth inning tonight against the Tigers. Brad Boxberger came on in the ninth and nailed down his 25th save with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts. Since he’s returned from injury this year, McGee has been the better pitcher but moving forward you should still expect Boxberger to receive the majority of save opportunities.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	David Hernandez	Addison Reed
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	David Aardsma	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Jason Motte	Hector Rondon	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Putnam
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	LaTroy Hawkins	Boone Logan
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Al Albuerquerque	Neftali Feliz	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Pat Neshek	Chad Qualls
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Juan Nicasio	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Carter Capps	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Tyler Clippard	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Fernando Rodriguez	Edward Mujica	Drew Pomeranz	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Steve Cishek	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Brendan Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Mark Lowe	Fernando Rodney
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Aaron Sanchez	Brett Cecil	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Casey Janssen	Aaron Barrett

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