Bullpen Report: June 10, 2015

Just two days ago, the Bullpen Report team alongside colleague Paul Sporer ranked Andrew Miller the top relief pitcher in our May/June update. We’re doubtful the news is a curse of the Bullpen Report, but Andrew Miller landed on the disabled list today with a strained forearm muscle. An MRI on Wednesday did in fact reveal a strain in the flexor mass, a muscle in his left forearm. When discussing Miller’s injury with the media, skipper Joe Girardi mentioned that fatigue could be an issue with the left-hander appearing in 26 of the Yankees’ 59 games, so upon his return from the disabled list, maybe we’ll see more of a balance between Betances and Miller in save situations. Or, we could just be falling into the manager’s trap and Miller will get all the chances when healthy, but I’m guessing the former. In said 26 trips ot the bump, Andrew Miller is 0-1, a perfect 17-for-17 in save chances, a 1.03 ERA (1.93 FIP) and a 32% K-BB%. Get well, Andrew.

With Miller on the shelf, the aforementioned Dellin Betances will assume his former ninth-inning role for the Yanks. He’s been elite this year as well. In 29 appearances, the right-hander is 4-0 with two saves in three chances, owns a 0.28 ERA (1.06 FIP) and boasts an impressive and slightly better K-BB% than Andrew Miller, 32.8%. Even without the saves Betances should have been owned just about everywhere — except NL-Only formats obviously — but if by some random chance he’s still available, you’re leaving this page and adding him immediately.

The Jonathan Papelbon trade talks have apparently heated up, according to our friend Ken Rosenthal. Rosenthal reports that over the past week the Phillies have been actively engaged in trade talks with both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago Cubs. But the recent signing of Rafael Soriano either suggest that the Cubbies are balking at the Phillies price for Papelbon — despite the fact that Philly is willing to eat a decent chunk of the veteran’s contract — or, they’re giving themselves a little insurance so they don’t get left twiddling their thumbs at the trade-deadline altar. For fantasy purposes, one may assume that he’ll carry more value in Chicago, especially since the Blue Jays only own six saves on the year as a team and haven’t had an opportunity since May 4th. But according to Kenny’s notes, the Phils may prefer to send Papelbon to the American League, if he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause to do so.

If-and-when Jonathan Papelbon is moved, the name that immediately comes to mind for save chances in Philly is Ken Giles. He was a hot topic in the preseason during fantasy drafts, struggled just a bit to start the season, but is 2-1 with nine holds, a 2.16 ERA (2.87 FIP) but just a 13.7% K-BB%. Giles’ K-BB% is down about 18 points from last season’s efforts. Additionally, his velocity is down a couple of ticks on each of his offerings. Although down from his ‘14 numbers, Giles is still inducing more swinging strikes (13.5%) than the league average for relievers (10.9%), so we still have him next-in-line for saves in the CIty of Brotherly Love.

Quick hitters: Drew Storen notched his 19th save of the year today in extra-innings for the Nationals in the Bronx. The right-hander needed just ten pitches to retire the Yankees in order, inducing two strikeouts and a groundout. Washington’s closer is now 19-of-20 in save chances this season with a 1.11 ERA (1.09 FIP), rightfully earning his top-ten slot in our most recent reliever rankings. In fact, maybe I should’ve slotted him a spot higher. Aroldis Chapman earned his 12th save of the year, fanning one on 12 pitches at home against the Phillies.

Trevor Rosenthal needed 19 pitches to close out the Rockies at Coors, but fanned two and induced a groundout to pick up his 20th save for the Cardinals. Darren O’Day fanned the Red Sox side of the final frame Boston — but, needed 26 pitches and two-innings to do so — to pick up his second save of the year in three opportunities. Jim Johnson dished a clean ninth for his third save of the season. And for all of you invested in the Rays’ bullpen, Jake McGee notched his first handshake of the ‘15 season on 13 pitches.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Addison Reed	Daniel Hudson	Enrique Burgos
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Luis Avilan
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Jason Motte	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Tony Cingrani	J.J. Hoover	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Rafael Betancourt	Boone Logan	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Joba Chamberlain	Angel Nesbitt	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Yimi Garcia	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps	Steve Cishek
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Sean Gilmartin	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson	Chasen Shreve	Andrew Miller
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Matt Belisle	Kevin Siegrist	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Carson Smith	Fernando Rodney	Mark Lowe
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Tanner Scheppers	Keone Kela	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Casey Janssen	Casey Janssen

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