Bullpen Report: July 31, 2018

• The first of two big trades in the bullpen world yesterday was the Houston Astros trading with the Blue Jays for Roberto Osuna in a deal including Ken Giles. The Astros are deserving of all the bad publicity they’re getting for acquiring Osuna and his disgusting recent transgressions but on a purely baseball level, Osuna is an upgrade to their bullpen. Osuna is expected to pitch in another minor league appearance this week before being activated in Houston for Sunday. While we expect Osuna to be the main closer in Houston once he is acclimated, Hector Rondon should man the ninth until then.

Ken Giles was demoted after struggling a bit this year in Houston, but now in Toronto it’s expected that he will be back in the majors, closing games. However, we’re going to start the grid with Ryan Tepera still manning the ninth inning for now even if the expectation is that Giles has it soon.

• The second trade yesterday majorly affecting the Bullpen Report was Keone Kela being traded from the Rangers to the Pirates. Felipe Vazquez will still be the closer in Pittsburgh but now they have a shutdown righty to pair with him at the end of the game. On the Texas side, Jake Diekman pitched the ninth last night and although he didn’t get a save, it was only because the Rangers scored in the top half of the inning not allowing a save situation. Jose Leclerc pitched in the eighth, giving up a hit but striking out three batters in the process. We are going to put Diekman and Leclerc in a committee in Texas with Diekman ahead due to last night but things could change with Leclerc looking more like a closer of the future and Diekman a useful hard throwing lefty.

• It wasn’t as major of a deal but the Minnesota Twins traded Zach Duke to the Mariners. Duke was on the closer’s grid for the Twins but likely won’t make it for the Mariners, and will mostly be used as a left-handed option. The Twins also activated Addison Reed from the DL and he’s back on the grid behind Trevor Hildenberger. Fernando Rodney was mentioned in a few rumors earlier this month, but there hasn’t been much talk of late so expect the 41 year old closer to keep getting saves for a little while longer in Minnesota.

• In an additional trade today, Brad Ziegler was moved from Miami to his old team in Arizona. Adam Conley jumps aboard the closer grid with Ziegler gone. Although he’s had a flare up or two since I was singing his praises earlier on these parts, he’s still looking like a potential relief ace and even got the Jeff Sullivan treatment! In Arizona, Ziegler will still be behind Archie Bradley and Yoshihisa Hirano along with closer Brad Boxberger, so he won’t be sniffing saves but he will be a usefull right-handed reliever down the stretch.