Bullpen Report: June 11, 2015
The latest out of the Bronx on Andrew Miller indicates that the southpaw could miss up to a month on the disabled list while recovering from a forearm strain. Miller will be shut down for about two weeks before starting a throwing program with the hopes of returning in about four weeks. Like we discussed yesterday, Dellin Betances jumps into ninth-inning action for the Yankees and we can probably have a fair discussion that he also jumps into the top spot in our reliever rankings until Miller returns from the shelf.
The Yankees also recalled right-hander Chris Martin from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre of the International League. Coming back from tendinitis in his pitching elbow, Martin made four trips to the hill for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, dishing four frames with a 4.50 ERA (4.45 FIP) and a 28.6% K-BB%. Prior to the injury, Martin appeared in 15 games for the first-division Yankees, posted a 3.55 ERA (2.00 FIP) with one save, five holds and a 17.8% K-BB%. No need to consider Martin in traditional formats, but if you’re in a deeper holds or holds+saves league, he could be the last guy on your staff or streamer type. Martin is owned in 0% of Y! leagues at the time of this writing.
Jeurys Familia took to the bump in the top of the ninth at home in a tie game. Familia faced just one over the minimum — a two-out single off the bat of Andrew Susac — but retired the Giants without surrendering a run. And he was rewarded for his efforts with a win in the bottom of the ninth as the Metropolitans rallied courtesy of a sub-par performance from Sergio Romo, to beat San Francisco 5-4. The 25-year-old Familia is now 2-0, 17-for-18 in save opportunities, owns a 1.26 ERA (2.52 FIP) and a 10.05 K/9. Terry Collins noted today that Familia is “firmly entrenched” as the team’s closer even with the return of Bobby Parnell.
Kevin Jepsen got shelled in the seventh-inning today. He surrendered a walk and two singles before being yanked in favor of Brad Boxberger. Boxberger couldn’t get the Rays out the jam and was pulled following a two-run double off the bat of Mike Trout, leaving Jepsen on the hook for all three runs. Expect Boxberger to get the night off on Friday after two consecutive appearances on the heels of a triceps injury.
Quick Hitters: Zach Britton surrendered a single, but fanned one en route to his 17th save of the season. Putting together a pretty first-half, Britton is now 17-of-18 in save opportunities with a 1.75 ERA (1.51 FIP) and a career-best 11.57 K/9. In Wrigleyville today, Pedro Strop pitched a clean eighth-inning of work and Hector Rondon earned the call in the ninth in a save opportunity, although it should be noted that Jason Motte was warming as well. Rondon notched the save, his 11th on the year, while striking out one, despite allowing a two-out single. Since Saturday June 6th the Cubs have had three save chances. Strop, Motte and Rondon each have one. Joe Maddon is playing with our emotions right now. And…a couple of grid updates.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
Moving Box and another piece for Jose Reyes- best option on the wire?
Tolleson, Scribner or Carson Smith? S + H league…
Tolleson hasnt had a big misstep yet, and doesn’t have much competition. Carson is great too tho, would be a close 2nd for me. Now, should you listen to a random dude named after a car posting on a messageboard? Entirely up to you
Yeah, aligning oneself with a super rich car makes it easier to give cheap comments!!!
Tolleson’s been fine. I’d select him.
Why is Tolleson on the wire? Why does anybody want to trade for Boxberger instead of just picking up Tolleson?
I don’t understand how leagues like this exist and you have to ask questions on what to do. There clearly isn’t any realistic competition.
Tolleson had 69 K’s in more than 70 IP last season, Boxberger had 104 in 65 IP. We use K/9 and S+H so the mixed use of the Rays pen and possibility of fewer save opp’s for Boxberger don’t hurt you vs Tolleson being “the guy” and getting more save opp’s. Box’s going to help you more with the ratios and raw K’s.
Most owners target the high ratios and don’t just chase saves, which is why guys like Smith and Tolleson are out there. I’m less worried about the ratios since I also own Chapman.
Tolleson safest. Mariner’s coach still in love with Rodney and can stick him back in at anytime or at least do a committee since he doesn’t want to “tire” a rookie out.
Tolleson.
Would you rather own Jake McGee or Carson Smith right now? Both are total question marks regarding their chances for saves, but Smith seems to have less competition for potentially getting saves, so I am leaning towards him even with the Rodney threat.
Rodney still looking broken – even in mop-up duty he couldn’t keep runs off the board. He was a house of cards all last year, which is legitimately the only reason he got as long of a leash as he did this year to blow game after game.
McLendon seems to be a big believer in “don’t buy into the small sample size, trust the analytics” so Rodney getting pulled in the first place indicates to me that they don’t see him righting the ship anytime soon. They’ll keep giving him chances, but he’s got a steeper hill to climb than one might think.
Then again, Smith did a pretty solid 2014 Rodney impersonation on Tuesday, so he’s not exactly running away with the job.
Boxberger is up to 15 saves now. The Rays want to limit the arbitration awards for what is essentially a bit of a silly stat; they only care about wins, and the critical inning may well not be the 9th.
The Rays know that letting McGee get 19 saves last year meant a $3.6M deal (they avoided arbitration, but you can bet it would have been around there). I would be really surprised if Boxie gets more than 4 more saves this year.
McGee is already being paid to get 19 saves, so I am sure he is OK for a few more months. And if anyone is going to go past 20, it should be McGee, because arbitration awards tend to multiply; the key is keeping the amount down early. I’d bet they’ll be OK till McGee gets near 30, when the saves total starts getting in the higher end among closers.
I don’t think Boxberger is a safe bet at all right now, not so long as he is with Tampa Bay… unless he signs a long term deal like Doolittle did last year. And that deal doesn’t look so good right now.
This makes a lot of sense. McGee back to closing now.
How did Seth Maness get dropped from the STL list? Last I heard, he’s the 8th inning guy.
Seth Maness handed eighth-inning duties
http://fantasy.usatoday.com/news/seth-maness-handed-eight-inning-duties
I pulled Maness off simply because there isn’t enough room for all who should be listed, but probably should’ve left him and yanked Belisle in favor of Siegrist. Since that article was published, eighth-inning appearances are as follows: Siegrist (11), Maness (7), Belisle (4). Want to look more into the specific situations they were used (with a lead, tie, or down), but I’m traveling today. So will look into it when I land.
Great info. Thanks.
Thinking about it more, my guess is that Strop and Boxberger are in similar situations. It’s worth noting that Boxberger came in to the last couple games against the Angels best hitters and last night Strop came in the 8th and faced the heart of the Reds line up. My guess is Strop would have closed out last nights game if Frazier and company were due up in the 9th.
I expect Maddon and Cash to keep cycling through guys based on situations.
How much longer is Zeigler the guy? Reed isn’t necessarily blowing people away.
I think he will hold onto that job until Ziegler has a blow up or two. I know Hale has said he wants to go back to Reed, but managers do not make changes if a guy is rolling and Ziegler has been pretty good since becoming the closer. The Reed footsteps started getting louder last week after he had made some mechanical changes and had some crisp outings, but he had a tough outing this week and Ziegler is 6/7 in save chances.
I wouldnt feel super confident rolling with Ziegler, but for the time being I think he will keep that job.
Cingrani is seriously going to close if Chapman gets traded if the C’s sell?
Have been wondering the same thing.