Bullpen Report: June 9, 2016
A couple of quick notes from today’s action…
Two consecutive days off seemed to be the gameplan for Sam Dyson this evening, making way for left-hander Jake Diekman in the ninth-inning of a save situation against the Astros. Diekman surrendered a leadoff walk to George Springer, but induced a Jose Altuve pop out and a double play off the bat of Tony Kemp to seal the victory, earning his first career save. Diekman’s ten pitch effort (four strikes) against a pair of righties and lefty was rather impressive, but Matt Bush’s trio of strikeouts in the eighth is worthy of a few words as well. Bush, the right-handed setup man, fanned Luis Valbuena and Carlos Gomez to start the frame, then yielded a free pass to Colby Rasmus before finishing off the innings with a strikeout of Jake Marisnick. Bush now owns a 1.42 ERA (1.46 FIP) with a 10.27 K/9 in 12.1 innings on the hill since being recalled. He’ll hang in the second chair for now, but his 96 mph heat will need to be monitored closely as the summer wears on
Roberto Osuna entered in the top of the ninth-inning of a tie game at home against the Orioles on Thursday. The 21-year-old surrendered a leadoff double to Hyun Soon Kim and the Orioles manufactured the only run needed to hand Osuna his first loss of the season. For Osuna, that’s three earned runs to pair with a loss and a blown save in his last three outings. He’s now 2-1 on the year with saves in 13-of-15 chances with a 1.91 ERA (3.38 xFIP) and a 10.48 K/9. Still green in Toronto. The bullpen beneficiary of Osuna’s mishap was Baltimore’s Zach Britton. He induced a trio of worm burners in the home half of the ninth to notch his 19th save of the year in as many chances and lowered his already sparkling ERA to 1.03 (1.75 xFIP) in 26.1 innings this season.
Jeurys Familia (20), David Robertson (14), Cody Allen (13), Trevor Rosenthal (11) and Aroldis Chapman (11) also earned saves on Thursday. Familia skated on thin ice Wednesday, but fanned a pair of Brewers in a rather routine day at the office to remain a perfect 20-for-20 in save situations this year. Robertson surrendered a pair of hits on Thursday, but escaped without allowing a run (or a walk!). Cody Allen gave up two hits, but also struck out two in a four-out save to seal the Indians’ 5-3 victory over the Mariners. Trevor Rosenthal needed just 11 pitches to induce a duo of ground outs and a pop out for his 11th successful save conversion in 12 opportunities. Aroldis Chapman also fanned two in a 13-pitch (9 strikes) outing, lowering his ERA to 1.93 (0.76 FIP) on the year with a 13.5 K/9.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
I think Seung-Hwan Oh is more likely to take the closer job than Kevin Siegrist. Both have been outstanding, but Oh has been a bit better and also throws from the right side.
He also has the lowest FIP, lowest xFIP, 2nd lowest ERA, highest K%, and highest K-BB% of any reliever with 30IP this year, so he’s can be a pretty good guy to have on your roster even if he never takes over the closer role.
Save your breath, authority to change the grid has to come from POTUS.
You’re right that Oh has pitched better than Siegrist, but Matheny has used Oh in the 7th inning and Siegrist in the 8th inning virtually all season. I would bet heavily on Siegrist being the closer if Rosenthal gets hurt or is removed from the role.