Bullpen Report: May 21, 2013

• A day after blowing his third consecutive save chance, Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless tenth inning against the Yankees in a tie game this evening. Although it obviously wasn’t a save opportunity, Johnson was the pitcher of record when Nate McLouth hit the walk-off home run and before the game, Buck Showalter said that Johnson would still be used as the closer. While Johnson can’t really afford to blow another three consecutive saves, he’s still the man in the back of the bullpen with the support of his manager. Behind Johnson is Darren O’Day, who has been fantastic in 2013 (and 2012) with a 1.74 ERA, 3.56 FIP and a 9.58 K/9 on the season. O’Days control has left him a little this year with a 10.1 BB% after posting  a 5.3% BB% in 2012 and 6.8% in 2011 but if he can regress back to those normals this year, he should have the fancy peripherals to match the ERA.

• Jordan Walden is now off of the DL and with Eric O’Flaherty and Johnny Venters both out with Tommy John Surgery, expect Walden to be the primary set up man in Atlanta. Those in holds leagues should certainly take notice as well. I wouldn’t be scared off by his unsightly 4.85 ERA as that’s on the heels of an unsustainable .436 BABIP. Although he’s only pitched 14 innings, Walden’s showcased his swing and miss stuff with a 12.4% SwStr% and a 27.1% K% and should continue to provide solid innings for the Braves and fantasy squads in needs of holds, ratio help or strikeouts in the eighth innings in Atlanta, and wherever they play on the road.

• One set up man comes back and another one goes down today as Santiago Casilla was placed on the 15-day DL with a cyst on his knee.  Jeremy Affeldt should now be the main set up option in San Francisco and like Jordan Walden, should again be counted on to receive some holds and any saves if anything were to happen to Sergio Romo. Behind Affeldt, I’d expect Javier Lopez to continue his LOOGY ways in the late innings and as a shot in the dark, I would think Jean Machi will be used in more higher leverage innings with Casilla on the shelf. In 13 innings pitched this year Machi’s struck out 13 batters against only three walks with a fastball that can reach the mid-90s.

• Nobody could have expected many saves out of Steve Cishek this year closing games in Miami but they really shouldn’t now, as Miami appears to have moved the closer-by-committee approach (hat tip to Marlins 12 from last night’s BR). Teams in need of saves should certainly pick up (or at least take a look at) Mike Dunn, Chad Qualls and/or A.J. Ramos but please be reminded that as the primary closer for the Marlins all year until now, Cishek still only received six save chances. My guess is that Cishek works his way back into the role with Mike Dunn receiving opportunities against a lefty heavy lineup in the ninth, but be sure to keep an eye on Qualls or Ramos if you are still desperate for saves, and I mean desperate. Saves are saves are saves but any way you slice this situation, it’s neither pretty nor fruitful with many saves.  Closer controversies are normally must see drama, but I’d understand if you would rather just change the channel on this season of The Real Housewives Closers of Miami.

• Fernando Rodney’s job was never in actual danger but Joel Peralta was a nice speculative add for saves down the road. However, Peralta struggled in the eighth inning tonight and Rodney pulled out the five-out save, for his ninth of the season. It wasn’t necessarily a clean one for Rodney as he let two runners reach base while allowing one to score on a wild pitch but with back-to-back saves for TB, his job is secure, or in our world, green.
Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Heath Bell	David Hernandez	Matt Reynolds	J.J. Putz
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Jordan Walden	Cory Gearrin
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Darren O’Day	Pedro Strop
Boston	Andrew Bailey	Junichi Tazawa	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Kevin Gregg	Kyuji Fujikawa	Carlos Marmol
CHI (AL)	Addison Reed	Jesse Crain	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	J.J. Hoover
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Vinnie Pestano	Joe Smith
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Wilton Lopez	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Phil Coke
Houston	Jose Veras	Wesley Wright	Hector Ambriz
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Tim Collins
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Scott Downs	Jerome Williams	Ryan Madson
LAD	Brandon League	Kenley Jansen	Ronald Belisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	Mike Dunn	Chad Qualls
Milwaukee	Jim Henderson	John Axford	Michael Gonzalez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	Brandon Lyon	LaTroy Hawkins	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Mariano Rivera	David Robertson	Joba Chamberlain
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Mike Adams	Antonio Bastardo
Pittsburgh	Jason Grilli	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Edward Mujica	Trevor Rosenthal	Fernando Salas	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt	Jean Machi	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Carter Capps	Charlie Furbush
TB	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Tanner Scheppers	Jason Frasor
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Steve Delabar	Darren Oliver	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Drew Storen	Tyler Clippard

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