Bullpen Report: June 5, 2016

Well, the Houston situation just got interesting. A.J. Hinch said they will are going to use multiple guys to close games. In other words, they are going to use fantasy players favorite term and have committee closers. This is the day after Luke Gregerson blew his fifth save of the season giving up a game-tying homer to Jed Lowrie. In today’s game, Will Harris was given the save opportunity and pitched a clean ninth tallying one strikeout. Gregerson’s K’s are in line with his career norms, but his walks are up and his ERA sits at 4.56, which is a career high. There is still hope he can earn the role back as his FIP is 3.16, which is higher than his career FIP (2.99), but not by much. Though he has struggled pretty mightily in May, so taking this weight off his shoulders may help him right the ship. Harris has been absurd this year posting a 0.34 ERA (1.40 FIP) with improvements in his K% and BB% from last year and his career. Ken Giles may have been called on to close the 9th tonight, but he pitched two scoreless innings last night so he was due the night off. Hinch has indicated that he will use all three guys, and will even throw Michael Feliz into the mix as well.

On Friday, Darren O’Day was placed on the 15-day DL with a hamstring strain. Doesn’t seem like it will be a long stint, but it appears that Mychal Givens will be in next in line behind Zach Britton, though Brad Brach will certainly get some chances. This weekend may have fooled you a bit as T.J. McFarland pitched in the two wins this weekend, earning himself a win on Friday, with Brad Brach seeing no action. McFarland is a lefty and seemed to match up better this weekend, but with the way Brach has pitched (0.91 ERA, 2.28 FIP) and the high K% (27.2) accompanied by a lower BB% (7%), I see him getting more high leverage situations moving forward, along with more holds as he is currently sitting at 7. Givens has also looked strong this season, and even though it’s never good losing a guy like O’Day, the middle of the Orioles pen should be able to hold things down in the 8th until he gets back.

Huston Street earned his first save since being activated off the DL on Monday. He ended the 8th well getting the final out, but had some trouble in the 9th. After giving up a one-out walk to Gregory Polanco, Street gave up a double to Jung Ho Kang and then intentionally walked Starling Marte to get to Sean Rodriguez. Street was able to get the necessary double-play to end the game, getting his 6th save of the year. The K’s are way down for Street this year, as has been his overall velocity. This does not mean he can’t be trusted, but I would certainly tread lightly. When healthy, he is in no doubt the 9th inning guy for the Angels, but I’m worried about some collapses moving forward. He has a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings, but his FIP is 4.82. Those K’s need to come back for me to have more confidence in him.

Quick notes: Jonathan Papelbon earned his 15th save, but struggled giving up two hits and two walks (one intentional) that led to a run. Thankfully for him, the Nationals were up two and the one didn’t hurt them. Sam Dyson is really embracing the closer’s role earning his 7th save today, and also pitched a scoreless inning on Friday to drop his ERA to 1.95 (2.80 FIP). Ryan Madson took the loss on Saturday, after giving up a run in extra innings of a tie game. The typically reliable Tony Watson has struggled recently giving up a total of 7 runs in his last 3 outings. His ERA has skyrocketed to 4.50 (5.04 FIP), and could lose his 8th inning role if this continues.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Hunter Cervenka	Alexi Ogando
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	Jake McGee	Carlos Estevez	Jason Motte
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Mark Lowe	Justin Wilson	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris	Ken Giles
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
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	Kevin Jepsen	Fernando Abad	Michael Tonkin	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	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seung Hwan Oh
SD	Fernando Rodney	Ryan Buchter	Brandon Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cody Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Joel Peralta
TB	Alex Colome	Erasmo Ramirez	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Gavin Floyd	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Blake Treinen	Shawn Kelley

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