Bullpen Report: June 1, 2016

• It’s the first day of June and Brad Boxberger is headed back to where he spent the first couple of months. After only one appearance, Boxy is headed back to the disabled list with an oblique strain. Early estimates are 4-8 weeks, so feel free to stash him if you have a DL slot, but he’s certainly not must-own unless you feel that 1-2 saves will be the difference in September. The only thing that has kept this bullpen from being Alex Colome’s lock-down special was Boxberger’s impending return (and some vague commentary about him not getting Wally Pipp‘d), so I flipped it to green. Colome has a 1.67 SIERA (which neatly matches his 1.23 ERA) and put together a better May than an already excellent April. One minor concern is a slight recent downtick in velocity, but it hasn’t seemed to hurt anything.

• Will Smith was activated yesterday after spending the early part of the season on the sidelines thanks to a torn LCL. While torn LCLs seem like the type of injury that should require surgery, the southpaw has opted for rehab instead and looked good in his minor league tuneups (4/0 K/BB in three appearances). Craig Counsell might be ready to throw him into the fire pretty soon, and he apparently thinks Smith might be an option to close games after a few initial outings. Remember, the original plan was to have Smith and Jeremy Jeffress pseudo-battle for the ninth inning gig in spring training. Jeffress has been rather solid this year, but Smith has a sub-3.00 SIERA for his career out of the pen and (if healthy) could prove to be another elite arm in the late innings. I’m shifting this pen to yellow, and Smith really should be scooped up if you are looking ahead (or want to ‘cuff Jeffress).

• Injury alert: Pedro Strop (not Hector Rondon) was warming in the ninth today in case Jon Lester couldn’t polish off a 2-1 win (spoiler alert: Strop wasn’t needed). Sounds like Hector Rondon is day-to-day with a stiff back, but we know who is second-in-line here. Strop and his 2.20 SIERA make for an excellent speculative gamble, especially if you have some flotsam you can jettison for a couple days to see what’s up.

• Quick notes: Hansel Robles had to leave today’s game with a sprained ankle. It doesn’t sound too serious, but the injury, combined with his poor pitching the last week or so has knocked him off the grid. Francisco Rodriguez, A.J. Ramos, Jeurys Familia, Zach Britton, and Wade Davis all got saves. Like they should.

Closer Grid:

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