Bullpen Report: March 28, 2016

Guess what’s back. Back again. OK, so we probably aren’t quite nightly yet (although we should hit the wire a handful more times before opening day). And the closer grid may need some tweaking as final roster cuts get made. This is our spring training. But, hey, at least there’s something to read at midnight again.

First goal is to get a semi-functional grid out tonight. Don’t worry, iterations to come. As for some notes and notes…

• With Brad Boxberger down and out for the count (sorry if you drafted a couple weeks ago), the Tampa Bay bullpen looks like a bit of a mess. And Joe Maddon isn’t even managing it anymore (it’s been two years!). Alex Colome seems like the guy with all the buzz out of Florida and is an interesting invest. While he started 13 games last year, the righty moved to the bullpen in the second half. His fastball played up and his FIP was a tidy 1.71 thanks to a massive jump in K% in relief. You may want to split the difference between his SP/RP stats as a projection to be safe, but anyone who ends up with a mid-90’s heater and big whiff numbers in one inning bursts should raise eyebrows. If you have a spot just sitting there doing nothing, take a flyer on Colome. Danny Farquhar and Xavier Cedeno are also options for the ninth in super deep leagues but Farquhar needs to prove his big step back in 2015 was a fluke (4.02 xFIP) and Cedeno has been a solid lefty the last few years, but one with pretty bad platoon issues. I want Colome.

• Who is Dalier Hinojosa and what does he do? Well, I know he didn’t pitch well in a brief audition for Boston, but after getting DFA’ed (for Brian Johnson) he ended up playing out the rest of 2015 for the Phillies. He wasn’t terrible in an auditioning role, either, posting a 2.92 FIP. His rates were solid, albeit a tad unspectacular. His FIP was normally in the mid-3.00s in the minors and guys don’t normally suddenly become better in the bigs, but perhaps more important than raw skills is the fact that Hinojosa is square in the middle of a dumpster fire (sorry, rebuilding) bullpen in Philadelphia. Andrew Bailey pitched back-to-back days this weekend for the first time in camp and seems to have a slight leg up on the closing gig should his arm stay attached (well, his manager is unsure, but hey). However, Hinojosa may have leapfrogged David Hernandez into spot 1A. To be honest, I have no desire to invest in anyone in the Philly pen unless the league is absurdly deep and screams “need closers!” but those in NL-onlies might want to speculate on Hinojosa if someone already blew their priority on Bailey.

• Hopefully you already know that Will Smith is going to be out for a while after tearing his LCL taking his shoe off. Ah, to be a big league ballplayer. While there’s been a bit of a smokescreen about this still being a full-blown committee, I’m buying Jeremy Jeffress after the top 20 closers are off the board until I hear otherwise.

Closer Grid:

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