Bullpen Report: June 18, 2018

Wade Davis has been among the wildest relievers of 2018, but for the first two months of the season, it scarcely seemed to matter. He rolled into June having blown only two of his 20 save opportunities, and he sported a 2.35 ERA. Even at Coors Field, Davis had overcome his wildness, holding opponents to a .276 wOBA with only two extra-base hits (one homer and one double) allowed over 9.2 innings.

The Rockies’ closer has been largely successful, despite a 33.6 percent Zone% that is the second-lowest among qualified relievers, because he has been extremely stingy with hard contact over most of the season. Through May 31, Davis was allowing an average exit velocity of just 88.4 mph on flyballs and line drives (per Baseball Savant). Since then, that average is sitting at 94.4 mph.

In Sunday’s game at Texas, Davis’ wildness, growing tendency for allowing hard contact and long-standing trend (since 2016) of reverse splits conspired against him. In an already-tumultuous 12-9 game, Davis began the bottom of the ninth inning with walks to Delino DeShields and Nomar Mazara. He could breathe a little easier after retiring Jurickson Profar, but ratcheted up the tension by allowing a hard-hit Rougned Odor single that loaded the bases. Walks to Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Joey Gallo trimmed the Rockies’ lead to one, but Davis had a chance to escape the jam with light-hitting backup catcher Jose Trevino due up. The right-handed rookie’s bloop single brought in Odor and Kiner-Falefa for the tying and winning runs.

Davis has now blown his last two save chances and has allowed eight runs in 4.2 June innings. Now that Adam Ottavino is back from his oblique injury, the Rockies have a viable replacement for Davis if he continues to struggle. Ottavino is still available in roughly half of Yahoo’s leagues and in more than 60 percent of CBS and ESPN leagues, so go get him if he is unowned. While Davis could still rebound and salvage his job, he currently appears to be on the shakiest ground of any closer.

While reverse splits may have played a role in Davis’ demise against the Rangers, they would have served Brad Boxberger well against the Mets on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks’ closer, his track record suggested that trouble was looming when he was about to face Brandon Nimmo with two outs in the top of the ninth inning with a 3-2 lead and Jose Bautista on second base. Boxberger headed into Sunday’s game having held lefties to a .162 batting average but also a .189 Iso. Nimmo had been feasting on right-handed pitching, posting a .342 Iso, including eight home runs in 144 plate appearances. Home run number nine against righties (and number 10 overall) came on an 0-1 changeup from Boxberger, it gave him his third blown save and third loss for the season. Boxberger’s struggles continued, as Asdrubal Cabrera — batting left-handed — made it back-to-back homers on a deep drive to right center field.

With an average exit velocity of 94.2 mph on flyballs and line drives, Boxberger is a threat to allow home runs, and he has now given up 11 of them in just 25.1 innings. Like Davis, Boxberger’s season has taken a turn for the worse in June, with two blown saves in five tries and an 11.81 ERA. In fairness to Boxberger, his stat line for the game and the month would look much better if Jon Jay had made the play on Bautista’s flyball that enabled Nimmo to come up and hit the go-ahead homer. Boxberger may also get some slack from Torey Lovullo, since Archie Bradley has ceased to get swings and misses (one whiff in his last 75 pitches).

Then again, Lovullo has been loathe to use Bradley as a closer, but maybe he could warm up to the idea of using Yoshihisa Hirano in the role. He has not allowed a run over his last 19 appearances covering 16.2 innings. During that span, Hirano has struck out 18 batters and allowed only one extra-base hit — a Trevor Story double at Coors Field.

Boxberger’s loss was Jeurys Familia’s gain, as he was credited with a win in his first appearance since returning from the DL. Though Mickey Callaway had said that Familia could go immediately back to his customary closer’s role, the manager put him in for the eighth inning with a one-run deficit. For his part, Familia gave up a run on three hits and a walk.

Quick hits: Hector Rondon pitched a scoreless inning for a save against the Royals. He has now received four of the Astros’ last five save opportunities, and he has converted each of them…Sergio Romo recorded a save against the Yankees. He now has received each of the last two save chances for the Rays, and has been credited with three of the team’s last four saves…Blake Parker was brought in for a ninth-inning save with a two-run lead against the Athletics, but he was removed after allowing a Marcus Semien home run and two walks. While Parker earned a hold for his performance, he has now allowed a home run in back-to-back appearances…Ryan Tepera returned from a day of rest to get the final four outs against the Nationals. In getting the win, he improved to 4-2…In his third appearance of the season, Zach Britton finally got the pitch in the ninth inning, but it was with a six-run lead against the Marlins. Britton worked around a Derek Dietrich leadoff single to pitch an otherwise clean inning…The Phillies recalled Jake Thompson on Saturday, and on Sunday, he recorded a one-out save against the Brewers. Thompson relieved Hector Neris, who gave up four runs on four hits, including two home runs. The team also put Luis Garcia on the 10-day disabled list with a right wrist strain…The Braves demoted Luiz Gohara to Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday…Greg Holland (hip) is expected to join the Cardinals for their series against the Phillies that begins on Monday. The lefty made rehab appearances with Double-A Springfield on Friday and Saturday.

Not Very Stable
Hot Seat
Committee
Bullpen Report — 6/18/2018
Team Closer First Up Second Up Minors/DL
ARI Brad Boxberger Archie Bradley Yoshihisa Hirano
ATL Arodys Vizcaino Dan Winkler A.J. Minter
BAL Brad Brach Zach Britton Darren O’Day Richard Bleier
BOS Craig Kimbrel Joe Kelly Matt Barnes
CHC Brandon Morrow Pedro Strop Steve Cishek Carl Edwards Jr.
CWS Joakim Soria Bruce Rondon Jace Fry Nate Jones
CIN Raisel Iglesias Jared Hughes Amir Garrett
CLE Cody Allen Neil Ramirez Oliver Perez Andrew Miller
COL Wade Davis Adam Ottavino Harrison Musgrave
DET Shane Greene Joe Jimenez Buck Farmer
HOU Hector Rondon Ken Giles Chris Devenski Joe Smith
KC Kelvin Herrera Jason Adam Kevin McCarthy
LAA Blake Parker Justin Anderson Noe Ramirez Keynan Middleton
LAD Kenley Jansen Josh Fields Scott Alexander Tony Cingrani
MIA Kyle Barraclough Drew Steckenrider Brad Ziegler
MIL Corey Knebel Josh Hader Jeremy Jeffress
MIN Fernando Rodney Trevor Hildenberger Addison Reed
NYM Anthony Swarzak Robert Gsellman Jeurys Familia
NYY Aroldis Chapman Dellin Betances Chad Green
OAK Blake Treinen Lou Trivino Yusmeiro Petit Santiago Casilla
PHI Seranthony Dominguez Hector Neris Edubray Ramos Pat Neshek
PIT Felipe Vazquez Kyle Crick Edgar Santana
STL Bud Norris Jordan Hicks Sam Tuivailala Greg Holland
SD Brad Hand Kirby Yates Craig Stammen
SF Hunter Strickland Tony Watson Sam Dyson
SEA Edwin Diaz Alex Colome Ryan Cook Juan Nicasio
TB Sergio Romo Chaz Roe Jose Alvarado
TEX Keone Kela Jake Diekman Jose Leclerc Chris Martin
TOR Ryan Tepera Tyler Clippard John Axford Roberto Osuna
WSH Sean Doolittle Ryan Madson Justin Miller Brandon Kintzler





Al Melchior has been writing about Fantasy baseball and sim games since 2000, and his work has appeared at CBSSports.com, BaseballHQ, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster and FanRagSports. He has also participated in Tout Wars' mixed auction league since 2013. You can follow Al on Twitter @almelchiorbb and find more of his work at almelchior.com.

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MikeInNJ
5 years ago

Re: Boxberger — Not only should John Jay have caught Bautista’s fly ball, but Alex Avila allowed Jose Reyes to reach first when he played a bunt that was clearly about to go foul. Two bad defensive plays came before Nimmo’s shot.

Also, Jason Adam has been in AAA since 6/15.

chri521
5 years ago
Reply to  MikeInNJ

One of the few rare breaks that went the Mets way recently. Boxberger got 2 K’s before the implosion right?