Bullpen Report: July 5, 2016

Some injury related news today with relievers returning from and going to the Disabled List so let’s get started…

• Wade Davis “has a strain on the top of the forearm” and has been put on the DL. Apparently it’s a similar injury that Davis had in the playoffs last year that he pitched through.  A reoccurring injury is never a fun sign but considering he pitched threw it previously and with the break coming, it shouldn’t be too long before Davis is back. The Royals might go by a committee of sorts so I’ll place Herrera at the top for now given that he’s been the best for KC. However, Ned Yost seems to trust Soria so expect him to get a look as well. We’ll be sure to update the grid as this situation is likely fluid with both relievers likely to get a chance. Luke Hochevar moves onto the grid but isn’t expected to see the ninth.

• While Wade Davis went down, Alex Colome was recalled from the DL. Colome actually entered the game last night but in a non-save situation as he was just getting work in. He was effective throwing a scoreless inning giving up one hit and picking up a strikeout. I expect him to reclaim the ninth immediately with Xavier Cedeno and Erasmo Ramirez moving down a slot.

• In other returning news, Adam Ottavino is back from Tommy John and recorded an out last night. Ottavino will “will ease back into game action” for now but could see higher leverage innings very soon. Jake McGee’s return wasn’t enough to supplant Carlos Estevez, so there’s no guarantee that Ottavino would either. However, Estevez isn’t necessarily Mr. Reliable and if Weiss chooses to make a change, Jake McGee has some more competition.

• It was all bad timing for Ryan Buchter. Right when Rodney was traded he had just recently given up a five-spot and although he was still the presumed next-in-line, it looks like Brandon Maurer is the closer. Both Buchter and Maurer struggle with control but really know how to miss bats. On the season, Buchter’s performance is better but Maurer has come on of late as he’s allowed just one run in his last nine appearances throwing 8.2 innings with ten strikeouts against zero walks. This situation is still red and Maurer has never quite been consistently dominant in the pen but he’s the closer for now.

• He’s not closing but damn has Edwin Diaz been impressive. In just 15.1 innings in the majors Diaz has 29 strikeouts which leads to a 17.02 K/9 and a 42% strikeout rate. Neither number is sustainable but seemingly each year a few lights out flamethrowers come up and Diaz looks to be one of them. I currently have him third in the grid below but this can certainly change. Steve Cishek has been solid this season and is still under contract next year so unless he’s traded I would still expect Diaz to set up and not rack saves increasing his future arbitration cost. Until then however, enjoy his strikeouts and ratio help.

• Note that the first iteration of this post was dated 2017. While many of the situations will remain similar come next July, I was not trying to predict the future.

Closer Grid:

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	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jim Johnson	Hunter Cervenka
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Mychal Givens	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Zach Duke
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Ross Ohlendorf	Jumbo Diaz
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Dan Otero
Colorado	Carlos Estevez	Jake McGee	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Will Harris	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Luke Hochevar	Wade Davis
LAA	Huston Street	Fernando Salas	Joe Smith
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Joe Blanton	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Fernando Rodney	David Phelps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Tyler Thornburg	Will Smith
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Fernando Abad	Ryan Pressly	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles	Jim Henderson
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Neftali Feliz	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Jonathan Broxton	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist
SD	Brandon Maurer/a>	Ryan Buchter	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cory Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Edwin Diaz	Nick Vincent
TB	Alex Colome	Xavier Cedeno	Erasmo Ramirez
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Shawn Kelley	Felipe Rivero

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