Bullpen Report: June 16, 2016

Reports today indicate that Twins’ closer Glen Perkins will likely miss the remainder of the 2016 season. In addition to experiencing rotator cuff issues, the former All-Star will need to go under the knife to repair a torn labrum. After numerous attempts to improve the condition via a throwing program, the southpaw finally shut it down and sought multiple medical opinions on the severity of the injury. Brandon Kintzler and Fernando Abad figure to share the closing duties in Minnesota with Kevin Jepsen being recently removed from the position. Abad features the better peripherals (0.79 ERA/1.99 FIP) and strikeout rates (18.8% K-BB%) at this time, so if you’re deciding between the two, he’s the one I’d be adding. Edit: Just after typing those very words, Abad surrendered a first-pitch three-run homer to Didi Gregorious in the seventh inning. My opinion hasn’t changed, but leaving the grid as is for the time being.

The Washington Nationals won’t be going with a closer by committee for long, Manager Dusty Baker noted. Baker and pitching coach Mike Maddux were exploring the CBC route, but were quoted as saying “It rarely works” and they were “looking for some semblance of an everyday-type situation depending on how many innings a guy threw before or something.” Shawn Kelley with his 2.52 ERA (2.10 FIP) and 12.6 K/9 appears to be the first in line for the job. He converted a save on Monday, retiring each of the five batters he faced — four via strikeout. Kelly has five career saves under his belt and is a perfect 1-for-1 in save opportunities this season. Left-hander Sammy Solis and his 1.71 ERA (3.04 FIP) and 15.3% K-BB% makes for an interesting option too, but we’ll likely see how Baker chooses to deploy the bullpen while Papelbon is on the shelf the next time the Nationals are in a save situation. Could be tonight in San Diego as they are up 6-4 at the time of this writing.

Steve Cishek dished a clean ninth-inning, fanning one, en route to his 15th save of the season in 19 chances. The right-hander needed just 16 pitches (10 strikes) to seal the deal and lower his ERA to 2.61 (3.78 FIP) on the season. Entering today, Cishek’s K-BB% sat at 23.3% — the highest of his career. Additionally, he’s inducing swings-and-misses at a 12.6% (SwStr%) clip — also a career high. The spike in strikeouts appears to be real. And some of this could be attributed to Cishek inducing more swings on pitches outside of the zone (31.3% O-Swing% vs. 28.4% career O-Swing%) with less contact (53.9% O-Contact% vs. career 62.1% career O-Contact%).

Quick Hits: Jeurys Familia (22) and Aroldis Chapman (12) each notched saves this evening, while Dellin Betances (17) and Andrew Miller (10) picked up holds for the Yankees. The Yanks/Nats could be a nice fit for a reliever swap should New York go into a “selling” mode.

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	Cory 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	Jason Grilli	Gavin Floyd	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Shawn Kelley	Felipe Rivero	Sammy Solis	Jonathan Papelbon

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