Bullpen Report: June 19, 2016
Sorry for a belated Bullpen Report as one forgot to click the submit button last night. Anywho, onto the updates…
• The Twins closing situation has largely been a bit of a circus but current closer Brandon Kintzler came in for a four out save last night and nailed down his second save of the season. He also allowed a solo shot but considering how poorly Kevin Jepsen and co. have been, that goes down as a fairly clean save in Minnesota. Fernando Abad didn’t enter the game and he has struggled of late allowing three earned runs on Saturday after allowing a home run on Thursday as well. He’s still a high leverage lefty but is firmly behind Kintzler at the moment. Kevin Jepsen blew the lead on Saturday but it was the first runs he allowed in his last five appearances and if Kintzler were to struggle, Jepsen could re-enter the mix along with Michael Tonkin who has been successful this year with a 3.09/3.47/3.78 ERA/FIP/xFIP line. Trevor May is still recovering from a sore back and had his bullpen session moved to Tuesday.
• It wasn’t a save situation but David Robertson struggled in a tie game in the ninth this afternoon, allowing four baserunners and the game winning run against the Indians. Those runs inflated Robertson’s ERA to 3.95 and while his FIP looks more like his usual self (3.15) his 9.89 K/9 and 5.27 BB/9 would represent career lows. Robertson’s velocity is still in line with what we would expect but it’s worth keeping an eye on his control. His job isn’t in danger but if Robertson is still walking ~14% of the batters he faces moving forward, things could get murkier.
• Trevor Rosenthal allowed two runs without recording an out on Saturday and his the previous appearance he allowed four baserunners and two runs while only recording one out. On the year he’s supporting a 4.91/4.04/3.61 pitching line and has generally been far less effective than Kevin Siegrist and Seung Hwan Oh. Mike Matheny threw support behind Rosie saying that they would have gone to him with a lead Sunday but I’m changing this situation to yellow. A move isn’t imminent but saves are saves are saves and I would look to pick up Siegrist and Oh as things could change fast if Rosenthal’s struggles continue.
• A.J. Ramos threw a perfect ninth inning and is now 22-22 on saves this year. Also perfect on the year in his own way is Fernando Rodney who maintained his 0.00 while striking out the side for his 14th save.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
When he's not focusing on every team's bullpen situation, Ben can be found blogging at Ben's Baseball Bias and on Twitter @BensBias
Felipe Rivero is struggling a lot lately in WAS. Not sure he’s “First” any longer. Any with Kelly a bit limited on usage, that “First” guy is probably going to land a save or two while Papelbon is out