Bullpen Report: June 3, 2014

• Cody Allen converted his fifth save of the year tonight and his second save in a row, getting four outs on only 12 pitches. It’s the fourth save opportunity in a row that Allen has nailed down and he’s definitely the guy in Cleveland. Bryan Shaw, Scott Atchison  and John Axford are still lingering in the Indians bullpen and are effective relievers but it’s Allen’s job to lose and considering he’s the best reliever in the pen, the chances are he’ll hold on tight. Of more interest tonight might be Nick Hagadone who also recorded four outs in relief, three via the strikeout. Hagadone is a relic from the Victor Martinez to Boston trade and has been largely unsuccessful in the majors but he can get whiffs from the left side and could see some higher leverage innings against left handed batters if he keeps pitching like he did tonight.

• Trevor Rosenthal was on the hook for his third loss of the year allowing three base runners and one run to score tonight.  Rosenthal is still striking guys out at a nice rate (11.52 K/9) but his elevated walk rate (4.94 BB/9) is causing him some trouble. He’s pitching better than his 4.28 ERA would suggest but fantasy owners expected more impressive results than their getting. If Carlos Martinez or Jason Motte were pitching exceptional I might suggest Rosenthal owners pick up a handcuff, but neither are performing any better than Rosie at the moment and his job remains secure.

• Joe Nathan entered the game in the top of the ninth in a save situation and left with the bases loaded and by the time the ninth inning ended he was charged with four earned runs. Nathan has struggled a lot lately and his seasonal ERA/FIP/xFIP now stands at an unsightly 6.86/5.21/4.34. Nathan’s fastball velocity has been on a decline and it’s the lowest it has ever been and lacking any real swing and miss stuff has really hurt Nathan this year. Joba Chamberlain safely looks like the man to own behind Nathan and I’m skipping the yellow designation and making the Tigers bullpen situation code red.

• Quick Hits: Greg Holland nailed down his 16th save of the year, securing the win for Wade Davis which was actually his fifth of the year. Davis has really found his groove in the Royals bullpen this year with an impressive 1.37 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 26.1 innings pitched. Fernando Rodney shot his 15th arrow in the air tonight, securing the win for the Mariners. Danny Farquhar was a popular choice for speculative saves earlier this season but Rodney is now 15/17 on saves with a 2.49 ERA and 2.84 FIP, he’s not losing the job anytime soon.  David Robertson had quite the implosion on Sunday so it was nice to see him rebound with a perfect inning tonight.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Addison Reed	Brad Ziegler	Oliver Perez	J.J. Putz
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	David Carpenter	Luis Avilan	Jordan Walden
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Ryan Webb	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Andrew Miller
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Neil Ramirez	James Russell	Pedro Strop
CHI (AL)	Ronald Belisario	Zach Putnam	Jacob Petricka	Matt Lindstrom
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	Sam LeCure
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Scott Atchison
Colorado	LaTroy Hawkins	Adam Ottavino	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Joe Nathan	Joba Chamberlain	Al Alburquerque	Joel Hanrahan
Houston	Chad Qualls	Kyle Farnsworth	Josh Zeid	Jesse Crain
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Joe Smith	Michael Kohn	Dane de la Rosa
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Chris Perez	Brian Wilson
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Will Smith	Brandon Kintzler	Jim Henderson
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jenrry Mejia	Jeurys Familia	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	David Robertson	Dellin Betances	Adam Warren	Shawn Kelley
Oakland	Sean Doolittle	Luke Gregerson	Jim Johnson
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Mike Adams	Antonio Bastardo
Pittsburgh	Jason Grilli	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Carlos Martinez	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Joaquin Benoit	Alex Torres
SF	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt	Jean Machi	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Tom Wilhelmsen
TB	Grant Balfour	Jake McGee	Joel Peralta
Texas	Joakim Soria	Alexi Ogando	Jason Frasor	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Brett Cecil	Steve Delabar	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen

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