Bullpen Report: July 9, 2016
Couple of injuries and movement of closers have shaken up the grid over the past few days, so let’s look and see how those situations are going to work out.
Talk about timing in Boston. Around the same time Craig Kimbrel was placed on the DL, the Red Sox traded for Brad Ziegler. It appears that Koji Uehera will get most of the save opportunities, especially after closing Friday and Saturday night’s game, even though Ziegler was not placed on the active roster yet. Uehera looked sharper on Saturday allowing only one hit and striking out two while allowing no runs. Friday, he gave up a solo HR, but still managed to earn the save. Uehera has struggled with the longball at various times throughout his career, and this year it seems to have been a bigger issue. He has given up 8 HRs in 33.2 innings, and has a groundball rate under 20% this season. Ziegler, on the other hand, is the groundball master and can be a nice complement to Uehera in those situations with runners on base. My guess is that Uehera will close those games where the Red Sox have a lead greater than one and once trouble starts, Ziegler will get the ball. I put the Red Sox situation currently at yellow, but I can easily see it moving to red if the Red Sox use a more committee approach. I also snuck Matt Barnes on the chart with Junichi Tazawa’s recent injury. Tazawa’s injury is said not to be too serious. Barnes has been scoreless in his last four outings allowing only a walk and a hit, in addition to pitching in some high leverage spots because of the injuries.
With the Ziegler trade, what does this mean for Arizona? According to Chip Hale, Tyler Clippard and Daniel Hudson are going to share the role, which is always music to fantasy owners ears, right? The Ks are down for Hudson from last season and although his ERA is high (4.50), his FIP (3.83) is more in line with what he did last year. He has managed to keep the HRs down, which is essential, especially when Clippard is struggling with that this season. Clippard has a better K rate (30.2%) and ERA (3.06), but his FIP (3.70) is right around Hudson, so the match-up approach may be Hale’s best bet. I really struggled finding their second in line, so I went Jake Barrett who is nothing special, but has seen some usage in the set-up role. I easily could’ve slid Randall Delgado in that role, but what fun is that?
Kelvin Herrera earned his first save for Kansas City on Saturday, and after Joakim Soria struggled on Thursday giving up a run and then allowed two baserunners on Saturday in his inning, I’d feel more comfortable with Herrera being the guy until Davis comes back. It is still a brand new role for Herrera so I didn’t want to mess with the red designation so far, but I can easily see the KC chart changing to yellow after a couple of more converted saves for Herrera.
Quick Notes: Nate Jones converted his third save of the season after David Robertson was unavailable. Nothing major and Robertson believes he will be back right after the All-Star break. Oakland’s Ryan Dull allowed his first inherited runners to score this season, but still managed to earn his first save of the season. With another blown save by Madson on Friday, Dull may be a name to look for moving forward as someone Bob Melvin may trust with this higher leverage situations.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
DBacks fan here – Barrett is probably as good a call as anyone in that 2nd spot. I like Andrew Chafin but he’s a lefty who throws 93 and managers hate lefty closers. Enrique Burgos is a big kid with a big arm but major BB problems. Zac Curtis has been a good closer in the low minors but he’s a little guy and a lefty to boot who needs some more seasoning. Delgado and Collmenter are viewed more as long relievers who can come in and give you 2- 3 innings when the starter falters but not closers. Personally I think Robbie Ray is a good candidate for an Andrew Miller type of conversion to a lockdown closer but that’s probably still a couple years off after he’s exhausted everyone’s patience as a starter and of little value in the present.