Bullpen Report: June 5, 2017

• Not a standard save in Chicago tonight as Mike Montgomery went 3.1 innings for his second save of the year. Wade Davis had thrown a couple days in a row so Koji Uehara received the save opportunity last night for the Cubs. Wade Davis is now ready to pitch but was actually placed on paternity leave. We won’t take him off the grid for such a short break but look for Uehara to get a look in the ninth if an opportunity arises tomorrow. Montgomery has only pitched out the pen to start the year and although his ERA dropped to 2.21 after tonight’s outing, his 3.78 FIP and 4.29 xFIP and 26 strikeouts against 20 walks in 36.2 innings don’t paint the picture of someone worth rostering at the moment.

• Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias each pitched a perfect eighth and ninth respectively to close out the win for the Reds against the Cardinals. Lorenzen has been more good than great but is cemented as the main setup man. Iglesias on the other hand has been outright fantastic, allowing only two earned runs in 29.1 innings pitched this year. His 0.61 ERA is a little misleading but a 3.30 SIERA and 10.79 K/9 are plenty good for fantasy owners. A correction might be on its way and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his ERA jump a bit but both Iglesias’ move to the pen and his role within are rock solid right now.

• No save situation in San Francisco as the Giants scored in the last two innings but Hunter Strickland closed out the end of the eighth with Mark Melancon putting up a zero in the ninth. Melancon started off the season with a loss and found his way to the DL with a minor injury but is pitching to a 2.20/2.19/2.89 line with a 15/1 K/BB ratio. As usual, his lack of elite strikeouts prevent him from being an upper echelon closer but he continues to find a way to finish games efficiently. Since 2013 Melancon has thrown 305.1 innings with a 1.83 ERA. If the Giants don’t get on a major winning streak Melancon could be on his way out but I would still bet on him finding his way to the ninth rather than be relegated to setup duty on a different team.

• Kelvin Herrera entered the game in a non save situation and allowed a couple of runs off of a Yulieski Gurriel homer. Herrera’s ratios are still fantastic with a 24/4 K/BB in 23 innings but he’s allowed six homers thus far, inflating his ERA to 3.91. Herrera isn’t an extreme fly ball pitcher and nothing suggests that homers will be an issue for him so in spite of the Royals stinking this season I would consider Herrera somewhat of a buy low opportunity. The homers should even out and you will likely get a closer with an ERA around three with excellent ratios, point to his ERA inching near four and make a deal.

• Ken Giles is still the man to own for saves in Houston still but they aren’t lacking quality alternatives as we saw tonight. James Hoyt allowed a homer tonight but also struck out two while getting four outs tonight and now has 30 strikeouts in 17.1 innings. Will Harris lowered his ERA to 2.22 while striking out two in the eighth and now has 27 in 24 innings against only three walks. Michael Feliz finished the game in a non-save situation and also struck out two, bringing his total to 35 in 25.2 innings. While Giles’ job is secure, it’s not out of the question to suggest he’s the fifth best reliever on the team, as I didn’t even mention Chris Devenski. The Astros are in first place for several reasons but their dominant bullpen has certainly been one of the major reasons why.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
ARI	Fernando Rodney	Archie Bradley	JJ Hoover
ATL	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez
BAL	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens	Zach Britton
BOS	Craig Kimbrel	Matt Barnes	Heath Hembree	Carson Smith
CHC	Wade Davis	Koji Uehara	Carl Edwards Jr.
CWS	David Robertson	Tommy Kahnle	Anthony Swarzak	Nate Jones
CIN	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
CLE	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
COL	Greg Holland	Jake McGee	Mike Dunn	Adam Ottavino
DET	Justin Wilson	Alex Wilson	Shane Greene
HOU	Ken Giles	Will Harris	Luke Gregerson
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Mike Minor
LAA	Bud Norris	David Hernandez	Blake Parker	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Josh Fields
MIA	A.J. Ramos	David Phelps	Kyle Barraclough
MIL	Corey Knebel	Jacob Barnes	Neftali Feliz
MIN	Brandon Kintzler	Matt Belisle	Taylor Rogers	Glen Perkins
NYM	Addison Reed	Jerry Blevins	Paul Sewald	Jeurys Familia
NYY	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard	Adam Warren	Aroldis Chapman
OAK	Santiago Casilla	Ryan Madson	Liam Hendriks	Sean Doolittle
PHI	Hector Neris	Pat Neshek	Edubray Ramos	Joaquin Benoit
PIT	Tony Watson	Felipe Rivero	Juan Nicasio
STL	Seung Hwan Oh	Trevor Rosenthal	Matt Bowman
SD	Brandon Maurer	Brad Hand	Ryan Buchter	Carter Capps
SF	Mark Melancon	Derek Law	Hunter Strickland
SEA	Edwin Diaz	James Pazos	Nick Vincent
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Tommy Hunter	Brad Boxberger
TEX	Matt Bush	Keone Kela	Jose Leclerc
TOR	Roberto Osuna	Joe Smith	Jason Grilli
WSH	Koda Glover	Matt Albers	Shawn Kelley

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