Bullpen Report: May 10, 2016

A few notes from Monday:

• Aroldis Chapman is back playing for New York. There was no save opportunity but Chapman came in the game throwing is normal ~100 mph heat. Chapman allowed a run to score but he didn’t issue a walk and struck out two batters throwing his regular velocity. Whether or not he stays in the Bronx all season long, Chapman must be considered a top-five closing option in fantasy moving forward.

• Bryan Price has yet to name a closer but after his save last night, Cingrani has now recorded the last two saves for the Reds. Two successful saves is about as good as anyone has done on the Reds so I would expect Cingrani to continue to be the ninth inning guy.

On to tonight’s games:

• We mentioned the likelihood of Brad Boxberger becoming the closer in Tampa Bay once he returns from injury and that seems to remain the case with Marc Topkin suggesting that “the Rays aren’t going to have a closer controversy.” Alex Colome will move down a slot and if he keeps up his 50% ground-ball percentage and 32% stirkeout rate, he’ll be a top non-closing option with potential for some vulture saves.

• Andrew Miller was a perfect 6/6 on saves as closer so naturally when Aroldis comes back he starts blowing leads. Miller allowed a lead-off homer to Lorenzo Cain (which happened to be his third of the game) but he earned the win after Kelvin Herrera allowed three runs (two earned) in the eighth. Aroldis then threw a scoreless ninth for his first save as a Yankee. Aroldis has thrown two games in a row and considering it’s his first MLB action of the year, don’t be surprised to see him have a night off tomorrow.

• Kevin Jepsen allowed four baserunners and two runs in a tie game, receiving his fourth loss on the year. Trevor May meanwhile threw a scoreless eighth, dropping his ERA to 1.89 which is supported by an impressive 2.33 FIP and 3.04 xFIP. May recorded one strikeout and now has 27 on the year in only 19 innings. After tonight’s outing, Jepsen has a 5.40/4.94/5.10 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line and I’ve accordingly changed the Twins situation to red. No word out of Twins camp about a change but Jepsen doesn’t have many bad bullets left. Glen Perkins isn’t close to returning either so I would definitely recommend speculating on May. He’s worth owning if saves aren’t close and is a must own now.

• Quick Hits: K-Rod allowed two base runners, one of which included a Bryce Harper intentional walk, but otherwise held on for the lead and his eighth save of the year. Jeanmar Gomez allowed two hits including a homer to Freddie Freeman en route to his league leading 12th save. Hector Neris threw a scoreless eighth for his eighth hold of the year. Neris has a fantastic strikeout rate and a shiny 1.70 ERA but he’s also benefiting from an unsustainable .171 BABIP and a 100% Left on Base Percentage. Neris is undoubtedly the sexier reliever but he has some possible regression coming which could keep Gomez’ job fairly secure. Darren O’Day continues his run as a premier non-closing option throwing a scoreless eighth and getting the win (2) with Zach Britton closing it out for the save (8). Hector Rondon (7) closed the door for the Cubs, a somewhat rarity given that they have 25 wins.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jim Johnson	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Zach Duke
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Ross Ohlendorf	Caleb Cotham	Jumbo Diaz
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	Jake McGee	Chad Qualls	Boone Logan	Miguel Castro
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Mark Lowe	Justin Wilson	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Ken Giles	Pat Neshek
KC	Wade Davis	Joakim Soria	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas	Jose Alvarez	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Chris Hatcher	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	David Phelps	Kyle Barraclough	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Tyler Thornburg	Michael Blazek	Will Smith
Minnesota	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May	Fernando Abad	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Sean Doolittle
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	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter
SF	Santiago Casilla	Hunter Strickland	Javier Lopez	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joel Peralta	Nick Vincent	Joaquin Benoit
TB	Alex Colome	Erasmo Ramirez	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	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.]