Bullpen Report: May 12, 2017

Sometimes you try things and they don’t work out. The Brewers’ offseason signing of Neftali Feliz to be their closer always seemed a little superfluous, but it had a certain logic. The $5.35 million they paid for his services was less than what Joaquin Benoit and Koji Uehara got, and he was following up a comeback season with the Pirates. You could see the possibility of Feliz finding some consistency as the Brewers’ closer, and then they could always flip him at the trade deadline.

Feliz was 8-for-9 in save chances, but he was not consistent and certainly did not build up any trade value. When he coughed up a three-run homer to Mookie Betts in the top of the ninth on Thursday, Feliz was en route to his fourth loss. That was enough for Craig Counsell to make a change. He went on MLB Network Radio and said he was going to give Feliz “a break back there and get him right.” He also said Corey Knebel “has been outstanding,” but that doesn’t mean you should run out and pick Knebel up. Counsell told MLB.com he wants to use Knebel in a variety of situations, so essentially, the Brewers are going to a committee to close out games.

On Friday night, Counsell turned to Jared Hughes to get the save against the Mets. This was not a typical situation, though, as Knebel had thrown 41 pitches against the Red Sox the day before. Also, Friday’s game was not a save situation until Jacob Barnes had surrendered two runs in the top of the ninth, and left with one out and Lucas Duda on second base. With Knebel and Feliz unavailable and Barnes, Carlos Torres and Oliver Drake having already been used, Counsell did not have a lot of options.

Knebel is the best of the group, and maybe Counsell will come around to making him the full-time closer. For now, though, it’s best to avoid this entire situation outside of deeper leagues.

In Wednesday’s Bullpen Report, I speculated on the job security of Jeurys Familia, and not long afterwards, the reasons for his struggles became known. On Thursday, the Mets announced their closer had an arterial clot in his right shoulder, and on Friday, they placed him on the 10-day disabled list. Familia had surgery to remove the clot, and according to the New York Post, he will miss several months and possibly the entire season.

Addison Reed is back to closing for the Mets, and he is still available in more than 30 percent of CBS and Yahoo leagues and more than 50 percent of ESPN leagues. Until Reed is close to universally owned, he is underowned.

While the Mets lost Familia to the DL, the Nationals got both of their co-closers back. They activated both Shawn Kelley (back) and Koda Glover (hip) on Friday, and it should be back to the status quo. That means Kelley will get the bulk of the saves but will give way to Glover when he needs a rest.

Santiago Casilla blew his second save of the season, failing to protect a 2-1 lead against the Rangers. They tied the game on a Mike Napoli sacrifice fly, and that would be the only out Casilla would get. Two batters later, Joey Gallo would walk off with a three-run homer.

Casilla hasn’t given up all that much hard contact this season, but a low O-Swing rate (23.1 percent entering Friday’s game) has meant deterioration of his strikeout and walk rates. With Ryan Madson pitching well (36.1 percent soft contact rate, 13.5 percent swinging strike rate) and frequently working the eighth inning, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before he supplants Casilla as the A’s full-time closer.

The buy-low opportunity that Brandon Maurer created with his Thursday night meltdown is probably history. After allowing four runs — including a Napoli three-run walk-off homer — in a blown save and loss to the Rangers, Maurer bounced back in the series opener at the White Sox. He only gave up a leadoff single to Yolmer Sanchez on the way to his fifth save.

Aroldis Chapman was one of five closers to work in a non-save situation on Friday, and his appearances was easily the most dramatic. He allowed a run on three hits (all singles) before giving way to Giovanny Gallegos, who got the final out against the Astros. At one point, Chapman made an awkward pitch to Jose Altuve, shook his left arm and received a visit from trainer Steve Donohue, but he finished the plate appearance.

Saves roundup: Alex Colome (9), Brandon Kintzler (9), Wade Davis (8), Kelvin Herrera (6), Maurer (5), Hughes (1).

Other closer activity: Jim Johnson and Roberto Osuna entered the ninth inning with respective leads of five and four runs. Osuna pitched a perfect inning, while Johnson allowed a solo home run to Derek Dietrich. Kenley Jansen also pitched a perfect ninth inning with a four-run lead. Derek Law entered the top of the ninth in a 2-2 tie with the Reds, and he, too, worked a perfect inning.

Note: The Reds-Giants game was still in progress at the time of this writing.

Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Jorge de la Rosa
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez	Mauricio Cabrera
Baltimore	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens	Zach Britton
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Matt Barnes	Heath Hembree	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Wade Davis	Hector Rondon	Koji Uehara
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Tommy Kahnle	Anthony Swarzak	Nate Jones
Cincy	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Greg Holland	Adam Ottavino	Jake McGee	Mike Dunn
Detroit	Justin Wilson	Alex Wilson	Francisco Rodriguez
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Peter Moylan
LAA	Bud Norris	David Hernandez	Blake Parker	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Luis Avilan
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Corey Knebel	Jacob Barnes	Neftali Feliz
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Matt Belisle	Taylor Rogers	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles	Fernando Salas	Jeurys Familia
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard
Oakland	Santiago Casilla	Ryan Madson	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Hector Neris	Joaquin Benoit	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Felipe Rivero	Daniel Hudson
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand	Carter Capps
SF	Derek Law	Hunter Strickland	Josh Osich	Mark Melancon
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Nick Vincent	Tony Zych	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Chase Whitley	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress	Keone Kela	Jose Leclerc
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Joe Smith	Jason Grillih
Wash.	Shawn Kelley	Koda Glover	Matt Albers

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