Bullpen Report: July 31, 2012

• Greg Holland owners, your patience has finally paid off! Jonathan Broxton was traded today to the Reds and while he may see an occasional save opportunity to spell Aroldis Chapman, his days of being the primary closer this year are over. Meanwhile, Greg Holland will be the Royals new closer and he certainly has the stuff to be a successful one. Although his 3.63 ERA and 1.56 WHIP don’t suggest  a top notch closer, he’s been unlucky with a .388 BABIP and his 2.92 xFIP and 12.71 K/9 illustrate the ability he has to be one of the premier closers in fantasy baseball.

• Francisco Cordero has done a terrible job closing for the Astros and their closing situation is a bit of a mess right now, especially considering Wilton Lopez experienced some elbow tightness in BP today, and is unavailable to pitch tonight. Cordero’s struggles have made Lopez the expected favorite to close for the Astros, but his recent injury and 26 games missed previously this year certainly doesn’t help the situation. Lopez’ health is definitely something to monitor, and if and when he is healthy I expect him to be closing games for the Astros but he has to prove that first.

• The Giants were rumored to be in the hunt for some relief help and although they came away with a new right fielder in Hunter Pence at today’s deadline, they didn’t acquire any additional relievers. Therefore, I expect Santiago Casilla to still be closing games for the Giants, even in spite of his performance last night, getting the loss in extra innings against the Mets. Sergio Romo could be a candidate to save games in San Francisco but he picked a bad time to struggle himself, giving up six runs in his last two appearances.

• Considering that only a few months ago people were claiming that Joba’s life was in danger, it’s great to see Joba Chamberlain is now officially back on the Yankees. With Rafael Soriano and David Robertson ahead of Joba in the pecking order of the bullpen, he’s far away from any save opportunities but he should be a solid source of strikeouts and ratios as fantasy teams prepare for their stretch run.

• Angels reliever Scott Downs was placed on the DL today due to a shoulder strain. Downs was having another solid year for the Angles, occasionally getting a save opportunity but while he is on the DL, Ernesto Frieri will now receive the lion’s share of the ninth inning for the Angels.

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: Joba Chamberlain (NYY) vs. BAL

There is certainly a chance that Joba might have some cobwebs to shake off as he hasn’t pitched since June of last year, but I fully expect the Yankees to give Joba an appearance tomorrow against the Orioles with a chance for a hold and a strikeout or two.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	Off 25-Man
Arizona	J.J. Putz	David Hernandez	Takashi Saito
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Eric O’Flaherty	Jonny Venters
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Pedro Strop	Darren O’Day
Boston	Alfredo Aceves	Andrew Miller	Mark Melancon	Andrew Bailey
Chicago (NL)	Carlos Marmol	James Russell	Shawn Camp
Chicago (AL)	Addison Reed	Brett Myers	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Sean Marshall	Jonathan Broxton
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Vinnie Pestano	Tony Sipp
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Matt Belisle	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Octavio Dotel
Houston	Francisco Cordero	Wilton Lopez	Wesley Wright
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Scott Downs	Kevin Jepsen	Jordan Walden
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Javy Guerra	Ronald Bellisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	Heath Bell	Edward Mujica
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	John Axford	Jose Veras
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Alex Burnett	Matt Capps
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	Jon Rauch	Ramon Ramirez	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Rafael Soriano	David Robertson	Boone Logan
Oakland	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle	Grant Balfour
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Antonio Bastardo	Jake Diekman
Pittsburgh	Joel Hanrahan	Jason Grilli	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Jason Motte	Mitchell Boggs	Marc Rzepczynski
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Javier Lopez
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Brandon League	Shawn Kelley
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Kyle Farnsworth	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Mike Adams	Robbie Ross
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Brandon Lyon	Darren Oliver
Wash.	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen	Sean Burnett

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