Bullpen Report: June 22, 2018

Although Bruce Bochy listed Sam Dyson and Tony Watson as his “primary options” to close with Hunter Strickland headed to the disabled list, could Mark Melancon work his way into at least a time share? While it’s not out of the realm of possibilities, keep in mind Dyson worked the three previous games prior to last night so he received a much needed day off. Melancon stepped in to record his first save, one year and one day since his last one before missing the majority of last season. For one night, San Francisco’s blueprint went exactly as planned with Madison Bumgarner firing eight shutout innings and Melancon locking down the save.

Overreacting to one game can be frivolous for fantasy owners, but, how will the Giants bullpen evolve with Strickland out? Dyson’s been solid all year with two wins, two saves and 13 holds. He’s a ground ball machine generating them 64.5 percent of the time which does contribute to his 41.9 hard hit percentage allowed. However, Dyson’s 2.94 ERA and 3.63 FIP with a strikeout minus walk percentage of 13 lag behind the other contestants for saves, but Bochy makes the decisions. It’s also interesting Bochy turned to Melancon over Tony Watson who has limited right-handed hitters to a .186/.240/.279 slash line this year to face Hunter Renfroe, Christian Villanueva and Jose Pirela to start the ninth inning. Playing the percentages made sense, but since suggesting Watson could be in the running for saves, he’s worked in the seventh inning in his only outing since Strickland landed on the disabled list.

One can add Dyson for the majority of saves, but keep in mind he’s had this opportunity before, in Texas and San Francisco only to give way as the season progresses. In the event Dyson’s been added in your league, here’s some food for thought on the rest of the Giants bullpen going forward:

• Tony Watson – One win, 17 holds, 1.82 ERA, 1.76 FIP, 40:6 K:BB, 31.8 hard hit percentage allowed.
• Mark Melancon – One save, four holds, 2.35 ERA, 2.44 FIP, 7:2 K:BB, 40.9 hard hit percentage allowed, yet to work in back-to-back outings.
• Will Smith – Five holds, 0.90 ERA, 1.29 FIP, 28:4 K:BB, 34.1 hard hit percentage allowed.

There’s no guarantees with this bullpen, especially given how the moving pieces could lend itself to a match-up based high leverage situations like many teams currently crave. Not suggesting it’s not Dyson’s job to lose, but due to the depth of the Giants bullpen, it may be fluid going forward depending on how Dyson performs which could force Bochy to adjust his initial stance regarding how to replace Strickland.

There’s much less controversy in the Yankees bullpen with both Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances surging. Chapman notched his 22nd save giving up a walk with a strikeout. He’s converted his last 15 saves in a row and turned in 11 straight scoreless appearances spanning 9.1 innings with 15 strikeouts in them. Chapman’s never surpassed 40 saves in a season for his career but pacing towards 50 after yesterday. After struggling with his command earlier this year, Betances has not allowed a run over his last 12 outings yielding only a hit with 22 strikeouts against seven walks.

After using both Wade Davis and Adam Ottavino in three of the prior four games, Jake McGee received the save chance on Thursday. McGee did record his first save of the year but allowed a run for the fourth time over his last five games. He’s yet to regain the form showed last year and remains on the periphery of high leverage for the Rockies in spite of this save. Rookie Yency Almonte made his major league debut entering with runners on the corners and no outs. He only allowed a sacrifice fly then induced an inning ending double play. With the Rockies desperate for help in the bullpen, Almonte could work his way into more appearances going forward.

Entering the game in the eighth inning with runners on base, Jared Hughes finished with his fifth save throwing 1.1 clean innings with two strikeouts. Raisel Iglesias owners will not enjoy seeing Hughes get the save, but if Iglesias pitched the ninth, it would resulted in a non-save outing. Hughes had his 19.1 inning scoreless streak snapped on Sunday but he continues to pitch well this season. If the Reds move Iglesias, Hughes should move back into the ninth inning. As for Iglesias, since his return from the disabled list, he’s worked 8.2 innings giving up 11 hits, three earned runs and two walks with nine strikeouts (3.82 ERA, 1.49 WHIP).

Last, but not least, Justin Anderson saved his third game allowing a hit with a strikeout. This marks his first save since June second, but puts the Angels bullpen back on notice for a committee. Blake Parker’s five for seven in save chances in June but has given up runs in three straight games pushing his ERA to 5.23 this month. Anderson has the lower ERA in June but the higher WHIP (2.17). It remains to be seen which reliever gets the next chance, but until the Angels make a trade, this remains a fluid situation since neither reliever has run away with the ninth inning.

Quick Hits: Losing saves by Kelvin Herrera hurts his fantasy owners, but those in weekly leagues will benefit from his win after a clean eighth inning versus the Orioles. Herrera’s worked back-to-back clean innings for the Nationals only needing 32 pitches to navigate them. Sean Doolittle continues to produce recording his 20th save with a clean ninth inning. He’s notched 10 straight saves with nine of the 10 being scoreless appearances. Doolittle’s 1.65 ERA and 0.55 WHIP with a 43:3 K:BB punctuate his dominance this year. While the Mets try to get Jeurys Familia back on track to increase his trade stock, keep tabs on Tim Peterson who retired all 10 batters he faced in Colorado in two appearances. Peterson’s whiffed nine against two walks during his 7.2 innings so far with the Mets with a 1.17 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. Noe Ramirez won his third game in relief striking out four over 2.2 clean innings. In this same game, John Axford served up two home runs to left-handed hitters resulting in four earned runs during his two innings.