Bullpen Report: June 11, 2017

The weekend’s most momentous closer development did not take place on the mound or in a manager’s office. It happened in the shower.

Koda Glover tweaked his back while bending over to pick up his body wash, but he kept the incident to himself until after Saturday’s game against the Rangers. In the interim, he was brought in to the preserve the Nationals’ 3-1 lead in the top of the ninth inning, but before he even got his first out, he allowed a Shin-Soo Choo solo homer and a game-tying RBI double to Nomar Mazara.

On Sunday, the Nationals placed Glover on the 10-day disabled list. Dusty Baker has not announced who his replacement will be, and in losing to the Rangers 5-1, they did not need the services of a closer. Once again, the Nationals’ closer situation is so murky that it makes little sense to speculate on a saves source. Matt Albers has been reliable when called on to provide the eighth-inning bridge to Glover, and he served briefly as closer in early May. Then again, Baker has also used Oliver Perez to face lefties in the late innings, so a closer platoon seems like a plausible option. Shawn Kelley has also been a part of the late-inning mix, so maybe he could get another chance to close. Or maybe the team finally swings a long-rumored deal for another team’s closer.

Of the Nationals’ existing options, Albers seems like the most likely candidate. If trade rumors start to heat up over the next few days, it may make more sense to target Tommy Kahnle, who could succeed David Robertson as the White Sox’s closer, or Joakim Soria, who could inherit Kelvin Herrera’s saves if he gets dealt to the Nationals.

While the Nationals are entering a new act in their ongoing closer saga, it looks as if the drama is subsiding in Pittsburgh. When Clint Hurdle removed Tony Watson from the closer’s role on Friday, he announced that Felipe Rivero and Juan Nicasio would share the job. The Pirates needed a closer against the Marlins on both Saturday and Sunday, and both times it was Rivero who got the call. All he did was turn in two perfect four-out saves. While it’s not advisable to draw too many conclusions from two appearances, Rivero’s dominance in these outings, along with his consistently strong performance in the setup role, suggests that he may already have a strong grip on the closer’s job.

Raisel Iglesias was the only closer to blow a save on Sunday, as he walked three straight batters and then gave up a grand slam to Corey Seager. The appearance was not only notable for being the low point for a closer on Sunday’s schedule, but also for how unusual the outcome was for Iglesias. He had not allowed a run over his previous 19 outings, which covered 20 innings and dated back to April 28. Iglesias has been effective at avoiding contact, striking out batters at a 31.2 percent rate, and flyballs hit off him have traveled an average distance of just 294 feet, per Baseball Savant. However, he may have been due for an outing like this, as Iglesias walked 10 batters over that 20-inning stretch.

In Friday’s Bullpen Report, I had pointed out that Seung Hwan Oh had been highly reliable since his early-season struggles, but on Sunday, he made a save chance with a three-run lead against the Phillies a little too interesting. Oh gave up two runs on four singles. Three of those hits were on ground balls, and Oh picked up a couple of strikeouts, so despite the ugly stat line, it was not an especially discouraging performance.

With the Phillies unable to pull out the win, they lost their fifth straight game. They also haven’t needed a closer since Pete Mackanin told reporters he was considering making a change for that role. Mackanin was prepared to use Pat Neshek in place of in place of incumbent Hector Neris on Wednesday, but the need didn’t arise in that game or in any of the subsequent four contests. For what it’s worth, Neris did not help his chances of returning to the ninth inning with his Sunday performance, as he gave up a run on a walk and two hits in an inning of work. Neshek, for his part, pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing only a Matt Carpenter double.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
ARI	Fernando Rodney	Archie Bradley	JJ Hoover
ATL	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez
BAL	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens	Zach Britton
BOS	Craig Kimbrel	Matt Barnes	Heath Hembree	Carson Smith
CHC	Wade Davis	Koji Uehara	Carl Edwards Jr.
CWS	David Robertson	Tommy Kahnle	Anthony Swarzak	Nate Jones
CIN	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
CLE	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
COL	Greg Holland	Jake McGee	Mike Dunn	Adam Ottavino
DET	Justin Wilson	Alex Wilson	Shane Greene
HOU	Ken Giles	Will Harris	Michael Feliz
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Mike Minor
LAA	Bud Norris	David Hernandez	Blake Parker	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Josh Fields
MIA	A.J. Ramos	David Phelps	Kyle Barraclough
MIL	Corey Knebel	Jacob Barnes	Neftali Feliz
MIN	Brandon Kintzler	Matt Belisle	Taylor Rogers	Glen Perkins
NYM	Addison Reed	Jerry Blevins	Paul Sewald	Jeurys Familia
NYY	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard	Adam Warren	Aroldis Chapman
OAK	Santiago Casilla	Ryan Madson	Liam Hendriks	Sean Doolittle
PHI	Hector Neris	Pat Neshek	Edubray Ramos	Joaquin Benoit
PIT	Felipe Rivero	Juan Nicasio	Daniel Hudson
STL	Seung Hwan Oh	Trevor Rosenthal	Matt Bowman
SD	Brandon Maurer	Brad Hand	Ryan Buchter	Carter Capps
SF	Mark Melancon	Derek Law	Hunter Strickland
SEA	Edwin Diaz	James Pazos	Nick Vincent
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Tommy Hunter	Brad Boxberger
TEX	Matt Bush	Keone Kela	Jose Leclerc
TOR	Roberto Osuna	Joe Smith	Jason Grilli
WSH	Matt Albers	Shawn Kelley	Oliver Perez	Koda Glover

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