Bullpen Report: June 28, 2016

• As some brilliant readers pointed out last night, we likely had the grid wrong for Tampa Bay and boy was that poor timing as Alex Colome was placed on the DL with biceps tendinitis. According to Marc Topkin “the DL move is retroactive to June 19, and Colome said he hopes to be ready to pitch again when eligible on Monday.” That might be a bit optimistic but it doesn’t look like Colome’s stay on the DL will be particularly lengthy. As the readers noted, Erasmo Ramirez has struggled so expect Xavier Cedeno to get the first look at saves but this could be a committee of sorts with Danny Farquhar and Matt Andriese in the mix as well.

• One closer gets hurt and another is on the mend. We gave a quick update on Jonathan Papelbon last night and he said he felt great after his outing last night, likely only needing one more simulated game before being ready to go. I would feel free to activate Papelbon as he’s likely to pitch this weekend for Washington and should return to his familiar role in the ninth.

• Although he’s young and cost-controlled, Arodys Vizcaino’s name has been floated in some rumors although nothing particularly promising with most people expecting the Braves to only consider an offer if it’s as robust as the Ken Giles deal this offseason. Vizcaino allowed three runs (one earned) receiving a loss today but still supports a 2.16/2.70/3.17 ERA/FIP/xFIP line with 46 strikeouts in 33.1 innings pitched. A bad outing or two won’t affect his trade value much but I still would bet on him staying in Atlanta.

• Jonathan Broxton entered the game in the seventh, up 8-4 suggesting that he’s not the favored for saves in St. Louis although he did throw a perfect frame with one strikeout. Kevin Siegrist threw in the eighth and threw a perfect inning with one K of his own. Siegrist faced switch, righty, righty so it’s not as though he was used for a lefty heavy part of the lineup. Seung Hwan Oh came on in the ninth and although he got himself into a bases loaded jam (two hits and a walk) he was able to escape without giving up a run. Oh didn’t receive a save (four run lead) and didn’t throw a particularly clean inning but I feel confident that Broxton -> Siegrist -> Oh is the new order in St. Louis. 

• Quick Hits: Francisco Rodriguez allowed a walk but threw a scoreless ninth for his 21st save. Vizcaino allowed for a save situation and Cody Allen pitched around two hits and an earned run for his 15th save on the year. Hector Rondon hasn’t had as many save opportunities as his owners would like and he blew the lead tonight, trying to get the four-out save for the Cubs. Brandon Kintzler preserved the four run lead in the ninth inning and his grasp on the role is firming up, I’ve upgraded him to yellow on the grid below.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jim Johnson	Hunter Cervenka
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Mychal Givens	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Zach Duke
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Ross Ohlendorf	Blake Wood	Jumbo Diaz
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Dan Otero
Colorado	Carlos Estevez	Jason Motte	Boone Logan	Jake McGee
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Will Harris	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria
LAA	Huston Street	Fernando Salas	Cam Bedrosian	Joe Smith
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Joe Blanton	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	David Phelps	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith	Tyler Thornburg
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Fernando Abad	Kevin Jepsen	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Jim Henderson
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances
Oakland	Ryan Madson	Sean Doolittle	John Axford
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Neftali Feliz	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton	Trevor Rosenthal
SD	Fernando Rodney	Ryan Buchter	Brandon Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cory Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Nick Vincent
TB	Xavier Cedeno	Erasmo Ramirez	Danny Farquar	Alex Colome
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Shawn Kelley	Felipe Rivero	Sammy Solis	Jonathan Papelbon

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