Bullpen Report: June 25, 2016
Things have been tough for Trevor Rosenthal lately, to put it nicely. Tonight’s game certainly did not help the Cardinals confidence in him, as he blew a two-run lead in the 9th. Rosenthal didn’t retire a batter after giving up a lead-off double, a walk, and then a walk-off three run homer by Adam Lind to seal the deal. Rosenthal has blown four of his last seven opportunities, and has not thrown a clean full inning since June 9th. His ERA is now up to 5.63 after this latest appearance. For more on Rosenthal’s struggles, check out this article by Paul Swydan. Regarding the current situation in St. Louis, nothing has been said whether or not he will lose the closer role just yet, but if I owned him, I would be prepared for a change coming up soon.
Carlos Estevez started off very strongly as the Rockies closer converting his first four save opportunities, while allowing only one hit. The last two appearances were quite different as Estevez took his fourth loss on Thursday and his fifth on Friday, while blowing his third save on the year. On Thursday, Estevez struck out the first two batters and then allowed three straight singles giving up a run in a tied ballgame. Friday’s loss hurt a little more as the Rockies entered the 9th with a one-run lead. Estevez gave up three hits, including a homer, and two runs to raise his ERA to 4.44. In that same game, Brad Ziegler earned his 16th save after giving up a lead-off double.
Matt Bush was given an opportunity for his first save of his career, as Dyson was unavailable, and instead earned his first loss and blown save. Jake Diekman was given a shot at the save first as he entered the 9th with a 3-run lead. Diekman gave up a walk and a double in 0.2 inning. After allowing the run-scoring double, Jeff Bannister called on Bush to get the final out with Mookie Betts representing the tying run. After throwing two sliders, Bush threw a 97 MPH fastball that Betts took out of the ballpark to tie the game. He then allowed a walk, a double, and a wild pitch to get the go ahead home. Bush has been excellent so far this season allowing a run in only two other appearances and should still hold a high leverage role. Bouncing back from a loss like this will be essential for Bush whose ERA shot up from 1.02 to 2.00. Also in this game, Craig Kimbrel was unavailable so Koji Uehara was called on to close the 9th and struck out the side to earn his 2nd save of the season.
Quick Notes: This BR definitely focused on the negative, but there were a lot of saves as well this Friday. Mark Melancon (21), Aroldis Chapman (14), Zach Britton (22), Hector Rondon (13), Jeurys Familia (25), David Roberton (19), Jeremy Jeffress (20), Ryan Madson (14), and Santiago Casilla (17) all earned saves on Friday. Familia got a four-out save after a pretty interesting 9th inning. After allowing the first two runners on in the 9th with no outs, Wilmer Flores turned a double play on a dropped short flare that caused confusion amongst the Braves baserunners. Familia then struck out the final batter, but the ball got by Travis d’Arnaud. d’Arnaud threw down to James Loney who made a great stretch to get the final batter out of by a hair.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
With Perkins done for the year, shouldn’t Trevor May appear on the grid as the more relevant DL pitcher?