Bullpen Report: May 12, 2016

For the first time since undergoing “core muscle repair in mid-March,” right-hander Brad Boxberger of the Rays took the bump in a live game during extended Spring Training. Boxberger surrendered two hits and a walk but fanned two batters in the 22-pitch outing. If he feels well tomorrow, Boxberger could head out on a rehab assignment as early as Monday and target a return to the Rays toward the end of this month or early June. Keeping the closer’s chair warm in Tampa has been 27-year-old Alex Colome. He’s a perfect 9-for-9 in save opportunities with a 1.80 ERA (1.88 SIERA) and a 29.1% K-BB%. His velocity is up a couple of ticks on each of his offerings and his swinging strike rate (13.9%) is currently a career best. Despite the stellar start for Colome, Rays’ skipper Kevin Cash indicated he’ll settle back into the eighth-inning setup role once Boxberger is deemed ready for the show. Box is only owned in 61% of Y! Leagues and should be added if available. Even with the “demotion,” Colome is one of those relievers I’d consider giving a roster spot given his ability to close, steady strikeouts and fine ratios. If you need the roster spot, I’d still hang with him for a week or two to make sure Boxberger transitions well back into his former gig.

Zach Britton dished a clean inning of work in the Orioles 7-5 victory over the Tigers in Baltimore. The save was Britton’s ninth of the season in as many chances. He now owns a 1.88 ERA (2.10 FIP) to pair with 11.3 strikeouts per nine in 15 appearances (14.1 IP) on the hill. He’s owned across the board in fake baseball formats, but I continue to believe that Zach Britton is one of the more underrated players in the game at his position. The strikeouts are up quite a bit so far in the early part of the season for Britton — and for the third consecutive season in-a-row dating back to ‘13. And heading into Thursday, the 28-year-old posted a career-best 20.9% SwStr% through 14 appearances, so the spike in strikeouts is relatively legit.

Jeanmar Gomez of the Phillies continues to be on this season’s first-half surprise stars for both real and fake baseball. The current Phillies’ closer notched his 13th save in 14 chances on the year tonight in Atlanta to seal a 7-4 victory for Philadelphia. Tonight’s effort lowered Gomez’s ERA to 2.61 one the season in 19 chances (20.1 IP), but both FIP and SIERA believed he’s more of a 3.64 guy heading into Thursday.

Quick Hits: Arodys Vizcaino of the Braves pitched a clean frame with two strikeouts in a tie-game situation. Jason Grilli surrendered a leadoff triple to Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera, plunked Andres Blanco and struck out Maikel Franco before being yanked in favor of Ian Krol. Krol proceeded provide Freddy Galvis with a free pass and give up a bases-clearing double to Cameron Rupp — leaving Grilli on the hook for the two runners he allowed. If you can stomach the infrequent save opportunities in Atlanta, Vizcaino is still available in close to 40% of Y! Leagues. Will Smith of the Brewers was cleared to throw off a mound tomorrow for the first time since injuring his knee in the Spring. Southpaw Ryan Buchter earned the first save of his career with the Padres due to Fernando Rodney shooting arrows the two previous evenings. Nothing else to see here.

This article ran prior to the completion of the late games. We’ll catch up on relevant notes from those contests on Friday or in the comments below. Cheers.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jason Grilli	Hunter Cervenka
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	Ross Ohlendorf	Tony Cingrani	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.]