Bullpen Report: June 30, 2016

Today the San Diego Padres dealt closer Fernando Rodney to the Miami Marlins for farmhand Chris Paddack — the 17th best prospect in the Marlins’ system according to MLB Pipeline. Entering today, Paddack was 2-0 in six starts with a 0.95 ERA (1.55 FIP) and a 46.9% K-BB% in 28.1 IP for the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the South Atlantic League. For the Padres, that means Ryan Buchter and Brandon Maurer will likely battle it out for ninth-inning duties. Word on the street suggests that Ryan Buchter will get the first crack at the closer role, but General Manager A.J. Preller indicated via conference call that he will defer to manager Andy Green to formally name a replacement for Rodney.

Entering today — and even following Ryan Buchter allowing a five-piece to the Orioles on Wednesday — Buchter appears to be the (slightly) superior pitcher and favorite for saves in San Diego. Both have issues with free passes, but Buchter has allowed fewer home runs and less hard contact up until this point. Beat writers suggest that Maurer is “thought of highly and his slider is back,” so I guess we won’t know officially until the skipper makes a move. I’m adding Buchter, then Maurer — in that order. Things will be red for now until something is formally settled. Keep a close eye over the weekend — if you can keep them open.

In Miami, it’ll be tough to navigate the new-look bullpen. Rodney is the more experienced arm, but he also has some incentives attached to his contract regarding “games completed,” so maybe there’s a financial benefit to the Marlins slotting the right-hander into a set-up/insurance role for A.J. Ramos. Both have been fantastic this season, but Ramos will remain the top dog on the chart for now with a green light until further notice.

There have been some Sean Doolittle back to the ninth-inning questions/whispers over the past week, but that should settle for the short-term as the southpaw hit the shelf (again) with a shoulder strain. Prior to this trip to the disabled list, Doolittle was 2-2 with four saves in five chances, a 2.93 ERA (3.78 FIP) and a 22.3% K-BB%. Right-hander Ryan Madson is 15-of-18 in save opportunities with a 3.00 ERA (4.12 FIP) and a 12.4% K-BB% so far this season. He’ll remain in the closer’s role for now, but 26-year-old Ryan Dull and his 21.7% K-BB% and 2.23 ERA (3.36 FIP) is an interesting name to keep tabs on. Dull will move on to the chart for the time being with Doolittle hitting the shelf.

Apologies for the abbreviated piece this evening, but we’ll have to jump directly to the quick hitters portion at this time.

Quick Hitters: Trevor Rosenthal dished a clean frame of work for the Cardinals, inducing a pair of groundouts and a line out on 12 pitches to keep St. Louis within striking distance at home in an eventual loss. David Robertson surrendered one hit, but fanned the side in the bottom of the ninth to record his 21st save of the season and defeat the Twinkies, 6-5. Green. Cody Allen needed just 11 pitches to notch his 17th save in 19 opportunities this season. Allen now owns a 3.12 ERA (3.71 FIP) with a 10.90 K/9 in 34 appearances (34.2 IP) for the Indians. Green. Francisco Rodriguez picked up his 22nd save of ‘16 in a seven-pitch effort to seal a 10-7 victory for the Tigers over the Rays. That’s the 408th save of Rodriguez’s career, slotting him sixth all-time among closers. He needs just 14 more saves to surpass John Franco on the all-time saves leaders list. Wade Davis (19) and Jeurys Familia (27) each locked down saves this evening. Green and green.

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	Fernando Rodney	David Phelps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Tyler Thornburg	Will Smith
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	John Axford	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
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	Ryan Buchter	Brandon Maurer	Kevin Quackenbush
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cory Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Vidal Nuno	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.]