Bullpen Report: June 2, 2015

• Steve Cishek has been demoted to the minors to work on his mechanics. Specifically, he’ll be moving to Double-A Jacksonville where the Marlins are “hoping pitching coordinator Charlie Corbell (Cishek’s minor-league pitching coach) can help him find his groove.” The Marlins are trying to get Cishek back on track but considering the way A.J. Ramos is pitching, I wouldn’t bet on Cishek returning to the ninth inning quite yet. Ramos allowed three base runners in today’s outing but struck out two en route to a scoreless inning for his fifth save of the year.

• Tyler Clippard recorded his eighth save of the year, throwing a perfect ninth inning with two Ks. With Sean Doolittle back on the DL, expect Clippard to be closing for the rest of the year in Oakland. If the A’s decide to sell, Clippard could be on the move but so long as he’s in Oakland he will be seeing saves. As the amateur draft approaches, we are not too far from open trade season and we’ll do our best at the BR to keep track of the rumors and how save situations might be affected.

• Rough night for the back of the Reds pen. Jumbo Diaz blew the lead in the eighth allowing two earned runs while Tony Cingrani received the loss, allowing the winning run to score in the ninth. The other options behind Aroldis Chapman aren’t too appealing but J.J. Hoover and Ryan Mattheus could jump a slot or two in the pecking order.

• Quick Hits: Drew Storen was perfect in the ninth for his 17th save and John Axford secured his 10th save for the Rockies. Koji Uehara earned his 11th save of the season, putting some injury concerns behind him. Jonathan Papelbon earned his first win of the year after throwing a perfect ninth with two strikeouts. Papelbon carries a hefty price tag, but he should be involved in trade rumors over the next couple of months. Papelbon has actually pitched fantastic all season long with a 1.29 ERA and 2.29 FIP, which will certainly make him more appealing as a late inning option on a contending team.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Addison Reed	Daniel Hudson	Enrique Burgos
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Luis Avilan
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Alexi Ogando	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Jason Motte
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Rafael Betancourt	Boone Logan	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Joba Chamberlain	Angel Nesbitt	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Yimi Garcia	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps	Steve Cishek
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Brian Duensing	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Sean Gilmartin	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson	Chris Martin
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Seth Maness	Matt Belisle	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Carson Smith	Tom Wilhelmsen	Danny Farquhar
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Ross Ohlendorf	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Casey Janssen	Casey Janssen

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