Bullpen Report: June 11, 2016

As if the Reds bullpen wasn’t frustrating enough, they elected to use their closer Tony Cingrani in the 8th to match-up with Oakland’s 2-3-4 hitters, instead of saving him for the 9th. He did his job and earned his 7th hold of the year, paving the way for Ross Ohlendorf to earn his first save of the season. Ohlendorf made it slightly interesting giving up 2 hits, but managed to strike out Billy Butler with two on to close it out. Save opportunities are few and far between for the Reds, and the usage shown today makes this situation one I will continue to avoid with the exception of the deepest of leagues.

Rockies placed Jake McGee on the DL today with left knee inflammation. This move occurs the day after McGee blew two-run lead giving up four runs, including a three-run homer by Wil Myers. Despite having a 4.98 ERA (4.51 FIP), this was only his third blown save as he was able to convert 15 of 18 save opportunities this season. No official announcement was made regarding who will be the closer while McGee is out. In today’s game, Carlos Esteves received the save opportunity, but Walt Weiss said that was not the plan today. Esteves threw 28 pitches yesterday, so the goal was to have Motte close out the 9th. Motte got a big out in the 8th, but then let the first two runners on in the 9th, leading Weiss to call on Estevez who was able to earn his first save of the season. Estevez has a 4.43 ERA (4.35) along with a nice K rate (26.8%), but a high BB rate (12.2%). Here are some fun small sample size numbers: he has given up more HRs on the road (2) then at home (1), and has more K% at home (31.9%) then on the road (20%). He throws hard with an average fastball velocity of 96.8 MPH and definitely has strong potential. Will he be the everyday, reliable guy? Not too sure about that, hence the yellow designation in the chart. Jason Motte appears to be next in line and has only thrown 6.1 innings since being activated from the DL a couple of weeks ago, so it is tough to get a definitive read on how he will perform moving forward. Based on Weiss’ comments, it seems as if Motte could be in line to get a few saves as well.

Will Harris earned his 3rd save of the season, though it was not pretty. Harris allowed the first three runners on with two of them walking, but then gave up a sacrifice fly and induced a game-ending double play to get the save, and raising his ERA to 0.63. This was the first time Harris has given up a run since his first game of the year on April 7th. That’s 26 games he went without giving up a run. Luke Gregerson earned his 1st hold of the year, pitching a clean 8th and striking out one. Last night, the Astros pen looked strong as Michael Feliz and Ken Giles each pitched scoreless innings, with Giles striking out three.

Jonathan Papelbon (16), Alex Colome (18), Tony Cingrani (6), David Robertson (15), Jeurys Familia (21), Fernando Rodney (12), A.J. Ramos (19), Steve Cishek (14), and Kenley Jansen (17) all earned saves on Friday. Santiago Casilla took the loss on Friday and has been struggling as of late. Still, Bochy says he’s their closer and it doesn’t appear a move is imminent, especially after pitching a scoreless 9th tonight. Brad Brach and Tyler Clippard also earned losses on Friday. Jeremy Jeffress (17), Francisco Rodriguez (18), and Trevor Rosenthal (12) both inherited and worked out of jams to earn saves today.

Closer Grid:

	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	Blake Wood	Jumbo Diaz
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Dan Otero
Colorado	Carlos Estevez	Jason Motte	Boone Logan	Jake McGee
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Will Harris	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria
LAA	Huston Street	Fernando Salas	Cam Bedrosian	Joe Smith
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Joe Blanton	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	David Phelps	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith	Tyler Thornburg
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Fernando Abad	Kevin Jepsen	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Jim Henderson
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances
Oakland	Ryan Madson	Sean Doolittle	John Axford
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Neftali Feliz	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seung Hwan Oh
SD	Fernando Rodney	Ryan Buchter	Brandon Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cody Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Nick Vincent
TB	Alex Colome	Erasmo Ramirez	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Gavin Floyd	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.]