Bullpen Report: May 14, 2014
-Just when we thought we figured this whole Angels bullpen thing out, Mike Scioscia sent Ernesto Frieri to the hill in the eighth-inning with a three run lead, then provided Joe Smith with the opportunity to close out the Phillies and earn the save. Scioscia’s comments following today’s game indicate that he’ll continue to mix-and-match Frieri and Joe Smith in the ninth frame depending on the particulars of the save situation. Two factors — the score, and part of the order due up (among other foreign forms of managerial reasoning) — will be considered when the skipper calls for his choice closer. Although Scioscia’s comments suggest he would eventually like to name one closer for the remainder of the season, this continues to feel like a closer-by-committee situation. If you’re chasing saves, you’re looking to grab shares of both players until one of these guys — presumably Frieri — proves worthy to work closing situations regardless of situation.
–Joe Nathan notched his tenth save of the season today as the Tigers clipped the Orioles, 7-5. Nathan induced a groundout and a line out off the bats of Manny Machado and Adam Jones respectively, issued a free pass to Chris Davis, but sealed the deal with a Nelson Cruz worm burner to shortstop. Nathan came out of the gate a bit slow this season, earning just one save in his first three opportunities, but he’s converted nine consecutive save chances since, dating back to April 9th. Although Nathan’s average velocity still appears to be down a tick since last season, it looks as if the velocity on each of his offerings has slowly increased since the start of the year. Good news. Nathan has converted saves in each of the last three nights, so tomorrow’s off day will comes well-deserved.
–Fernando Abad surrendered three runs to the White Sox in the top of the ninth-inning, taking Sean Doolittle and the Athletics out of a save situation. With that said, Melvin indicated that Doolittle would have taken the ball in the ninth if the A’s held the one run lead for the save chance. Doolittle is 2-for-3 in save situations with a 33% K% on the season. He should be owned in more than his current 28% of Y! leagues.
–Matt Lindstrom surrendered a hit and a walk in the ninth, but got out of the jam to pick up his sixth save of the year. Lindstrom is now 6-of-9 in save chances with a 3.50 ERA (4.93 FIP) with a 12.8% K%. The 12.8% K% is a career low for the lanky right-hander and his matching career low 7.0% SwStr% leads us to believe his strikeout rate isn’t exactly a bad stroke of luck.
-Quick Hitters: Mark Melancon surrendered a two out single in the ninth, but escaped unscathed to notch his fifth save of the season. Jason Grilli tossed two 12-pitch innings in a simulated game tonight at Miller Park. The Pirates’ closer indicated that “he felt great, is ready to return,” and “probably doesn’t need a rehab assignment” before being reinstated. We’ve heard from the player, now lets wait and see what the brass decides to do. The Mets released Kyle Farnsworth this evening, saving them $750k and a whole lot of heartache. I used my best darts to update the chart to reflect said transaction.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
Nothing about Hunter and the situation with the Os? That’s very intriguing. Does Buck give Hunter a rest? He has notched 11 saves, but very few if any have been clean. Does he give O’day a clear shot at winning the role or does he mix and match with him and the lefty Britton?
Ben wrote about the O’s and some of your questions last night: http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/bullpen-report-may-13-2014/
Seriously considering dumping Trevor Rosenthal for Sergio Romo in my 11-team points league. Am I crazy for considering this? I just get the feeling Rosenthal isn’t going to keep the job if he keeps letting in runs (even it just cuts the lead)
(Reliever points in my league: earned runs allowed -1, saves or wins +5, strikeouts +1, relievers get +1 for each 1/3 of an inning)
Walks worry me too. I don’t mind this move, especially since Jason Motte is returning soon. Could get a ninth-inning look – along with Carlos Martinez – if Trevor doesn’t settle down.
I think that’s a good move, Jason. Rosenthal has me worried. So worried that I’m considering doing the same in my points league, except my pickup would be Doolittle. Currently, Rosenthal has 69 points and Doolittle has 65. Same scoring as Jason but we also get 2 points for holds. My thought is that with as filthy as Doolittle is right now, even if he bounces around getting saves, holds, and vulture wins, he’ll still put up good points and if the A’s give him the keys to the closer role, he could be a top 5 closer. The problem I’m having making the move is that Rosenthal could easily be top 5 as well. I’m holding for now but my gut is saying it might soon be time to make the move.
I think the A’s played the White Sox (not the Tigers).
Just can’t get the Tigers out of my mind. Corrected, gracias.
So Shaw pitched the 8th inning with a 5 run lead. Hmm..
chances that motte regains the closers role if rosenthal keeps this up?
I’d be surprised if Motte takes over after being out for such a prolonged period of time. Maybe after he’s eased his way back in and the coaches are confident he can throw several days in a row.
Agree with you here. From what I read, he’s a few weeks away, then he’d probably need to get eased back into those high leveraged situations. Motte is more of a speculative stash at this point.
Is there any chance the Mets start using Carlos Torres in save situations? Seems like he had some higher leverage appearances in April.
I read that Showalter mentioned Britton as the potential “next-up” man for the closer’s role in Baltimore. I picked him up to handcuff him to Hunter.
I think Withrow has to move ahead of Wilson on the Dodgers chart at this point. Wilson looks like he’s done.
he might not be “done” but there’s definitely something wrong with him
also, in addition to withrow, league (of all people) has been throwing well lately, and the team has a lot of money invested in him, so he could have an edge to sneak back into the mix at some point
If closers are kind of like a marriage, where the manager promises, foresaking all others and regardless of the particulars of the situation, to use only that one player in save situations (except for certainly very narrowly defined exceptions such as three days in a row), does that make what the Angels are currently doing akin to bigamy?
Why is Doolittle listed as “second” when Gregerson was working the 8th and Melvin said Doolittle was getting the save opp instead of that bum Jim Johnson yesterday?
Also, how is Romo a FA in Jason’s league?
We only play 1 RP.
We used to do 2, but cut that back (went from 25-man roster to 23-man also) a couple of years ago when we expanded to 14 teams. Guys have dropped out and took us back down to 11 teams this season, but the roster rules weren’t changed.
Though believe me, I’m just as shocked as you to see him sitting on FA.
The team is in “red,” meaning the bullpen is pretty much a mess. If a guy pitches the eight inning one night, that doesn’t mean we’ll move him around the “red” pen. We typically look for clues/patterns of usage before making the switch. In “yellow” or “red” pens, this might not happen daily.
What should I do with Jim Johnson? I got him in exchange for Axford a few weeks ago, but is he even ownable in a 12 team league if I can get Doolittle?
I’d say Jenrry Mejia, after Familia, is most likely to get save opportunities. Mejia will be the closer in a couple weeks.