Bullpen Report: May 13, 2013
• Edward Mujica recorded his 10th save of the season tonight, throwing a perfect ninth inning against the Mets. In 15 innings pitched Mujica has struck out 15 batters and continued his strike throwing ways by only issuing one free pass, good for a 15.00 K/BB. Not bad. It goes without say that there is regression coming for Mujica as he won’t maintain a .172 BABIP or a 96.8% Left On Base Percentage all year, but you can’t deny he’s pitching quite well with a particularly strong grip on the roll at the moment. Behind Mujica for saves is the young Trevor Rosenthal, who after struggling earlier this season has brought his ERA down to 2.84 and after two strikeouts tonight, he now has 27 in 19 innings pitched with only five walks. As the eighth inning guy in St. Louis, Rosenthal is a great source for holds who can help your ratios and strikeout totals, and if anything were to happen to Mujica, he’d see the ninth inning again.
• Although Don Mattingly said today that Brandon League is still his closer for now, the fact that he had to address the situation means that League’s job is in big trouble. It also doesn’t help when you have a 6.28 ERA with nine earned runs in your last nine appearances or end the vote of confidence with a “for now.” It probably should have come to this point sooner than it has but it seems like it’s now closer to a matter of when not a matter of if League will lose his job to Kenley Jansen. League’s ugly ERA isn’t a result of some bad luck either as his non existent strikeout ability (4.40 K/9) has led to a disappointing 5.79 FIP. League likely isn’t this bad and should regress closer to his career norms, but Jansen’s always been the better pitcher. To the surprise of no one, Jansen’s had a great year pitching to a 2.29/2.49/2.35 ERA/FIP/xFIP and a 35.1% K%. League’s next blown save might be his last and I’d pick up Jansen if he’s available or look for a more competitive league next year.
• After struggling with soreness on his left side and missing the last few games, Perkins was apparently available to pitch yesterday and would have pitched tonight, but the Twins scored four runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning removing the opportunity for a save. It looks like Perkins is back but if he were to miss any more time, Jared Burton will continue to be next in line for ninth inning duties in Minnesota. Glen Perkins 3.55 ERA might seem pedestrian but he has an absurd 40% K% leading to a fantastic 2.05 FIP. I’d like to think it’s because he reads FanGraphs, but no matter the reason Glen Perkins remains a great closing option both in the Twin Cities and on fantasy teams.
• Not that anyone was losing any sleep over Frank Francisco’s rehab, but Frank2 was “diagnosed with mild strain of flexor pronator in right elbow.” Francisco will require 72 hours of rest before he will continue his rehab but whenever he’s finally able to return to pitch, including in Queens, Bobby Parnell looks to remain as closer.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
When he's not focusing on every team's bullpen situation, Ben can be found blogging at Ben's Baseball Bias and on Twitter @BensBias
Indians’ close Chris Perez had a sore shoulder Sunday and was not available to pitch. It may be nothing but it’s worth watching. Setup man Vinnie Pestano may be off the DL by week’s end and a bullpen arm that intrigues me is Bryan Shaw, who has become a 1-pitch pitcher with an excellent cutter and hopes to follow, even distantly, in the footprints of Mariano Rivera.
I saw this earlier today and forgot to mention it in the BR, apologies for that but thanks for bringing it up.
Chris Perez appears to be fine, but if something were to happen Shaw is definitely a name to keep in mind. Pestano (when healthy) and Smith have been pitching later innings but Shaw momentarily received save opps ahead of David Hernandez last year in Arizona and maybe the same would happen in Cleveland. I’d still have Pestano and Smith ahead of him on the chart but Shaw’s pitching well and would have to be in any conversation if something serious were to happen to Perez.