Bullpen Report: May 21, 2017
There wasn’t too much noteworthy bullpen activity on Saturday, besides Addison Reed’s high-wire act against the Angels, which he and the Mets ultimately survived. Sunday was much the same, save for a few relevant items:
- Koda Glover was the first man out of the Nationals bullpen, and it came with the Nats leading 3-2 with two outs and the tying run on second base in the eighth inning. Despite the fact that lefty Nick Markakis was due up, and left-hander Oliver Perez was getting loose along with Glover, manager Dusty Baker went with the righty and the decision paid off. Glover fanned Markakis on a 96 mph fastball, then, with the same score in the bottom of the ninth, Glover came back out to the mound. He surrendered a leadoff single, but then induced a double-play lineout and a game-ending popup. It was the 24-year-old’s third save of the season, and it came just two days after Shawn Kelley, who was seemingly first in line for saves in a beleaguered Nationals bullpen, pitched in the seventh inning of a tie game. As such, the bullpen situation in Washington remains highly volatile and red. Glover slots into the closer’s spot on the chart for now, but that is subject to change at any moment. Expect future save opportunities to go to one of the two, at least, though neither is a clear long-term favorite.
- Greg Holland kept his streak of perfection alive on Sunday, as he secured his 19th save in 19 chances for the first-place Colorado Rockies. Holland has been nothing short of brilliant as the Rockies closer: he boasts a 37.5% strikeout rate, a 7.8% walk rate, and he has yet to allow a home run. He has a sparkling 0.96 ERA/1.23 FIP/2.49 xFIP that’s even more impressive when his home ballpark is taken into consideration. Holland boasts a career-best 52.8% ground ball rate, which, along with his high strikeout rate, explains why he has been able to prevent home runs thus far. Fantasy owners who were savvy enough to take a chance on Holland, coming off Tommy John surgery and moving to the least pitcher-friendly park in baseball, have been rewarded in great measure. Time will tell if Holland can continue to prevent the long ball, which has plagued so many Rockies pitchers historically, but at least so far, he’s been an overwhelming success and is an early front-runner to win the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
- Keone Kela — not Matt Bush — finished off the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Tigers on Sunday Night Baseball. Bush labored through his last appearance, a 33-pitch save on Friday in which he allowed two hits and a walk. Perhaps the Rangers wanted Bush to have another day of rest, and they felt comfortable enough to bypass him with a three-run lead. While the move was a little curious, Bush should resume his role as the team’s closer in their next series in Boston, which gets underway on Tuesday.
- Also of note from the Rangers-Tigers game: Sam Dyson made his first appearance in a week, and it was by far his best outing of the season. Amazingly, Dyson had gone nine appearances, spanning 8.2 innings, without recording a strikeout, but tonight he had three in 1.2 innings in which he only allowed one hit. Dyson’s numbers on the season still look dreadful, but he finished the seventh and pitched the entire eighth with the Rangers leading by two runs. Jeremy Jeffress has had difficulties of his own for the Rangers, who are in need of someone to take on high leverage innings along with Kela and Bush. Dyson will undoubtedly look to use tonight’s outing as a springboard, and it seems Banister is still willing to use him in high leverage innings if he looks sharp. Stay tuned.
- Dellin Betances was sensational in securing a four-out, one-run save against the Rays on Sunday. On just 16 pitches, 11 of which were strikes, he struck out three and induced a popup. While Betances has walked 16% of batters this season (10.2% in his career), he boasts a ridiculous 44.6% strikeout rate to go along with a 50% GB%. Betances has allowed just one earned run this season, and it came on April 8 in his second appearance of the year. Yankees president Randy Levine’s opinion aside, Betances is one of the best relief pitchers in baseball, worth owning in all but the shallowest fantasy formats whether or not he’s seeing save opportunities. Primary Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman will have his injured shoulder re-evaluated in New York on Monday, so Betances has a clear path to save opportunities for at least a couple more weeks.
- Kelvin Herrera (9), Roberto Osuna (6), and Tony Watson (10) also notched saves on Sunday. Closers Kenley Jansen and Brandon Kintzler appeared in ninth-inning non-save situations. Jansen allowed a solo home run, and Kintzler struck out two in a scoreless frame.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
Ben Kaspick is the host Locked On Giants, a daily San Francisco Giants podcast on the Locked On Podcast Network. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenKaspick.
According to the box score on MLB.com, Kenley Jansen gave up 1 ER on a HR.
Thanks, somehow I missed that.
about Holland “an early front-runner to win the Comeback Player of the Year Award”
Ryan Zimmerman is asking if someone could please hold his beverage
I said Holland is “an” early front-runner to avoid controversy!
I got Holland for $4. Wish I could take credit for believing in him, but this was really just a case that all of the top and middle tier guys went over my price range (even though I thought I had budgeted more than enough).
13 guys went for $15-$22, and another group of 10 went $9-14. So it was either pay $20 for Edwin Diaz, $12 for K-Rod, or $4 for Holland. Stroke of luck, that.
Whats up with Archie Bradley? Seems way too good to be pitching in long relief and Rodney is terrible. Over under on number of saves rest of season? Im gonna say 7.
Also what do you think happens when/if Cam Bedrosian comes back? think he goes right back to closing or nah?
Even if Rodney loses the job, it seems like de la Rosa and Hoover might be closer to closing, with Bradley as more of a Andrew Miller/Devenski type. He’s SO good, it might actually hurt him in terms of possibly getting save chances, as he could continue to be used as more a fireman in the highest leverage situations.
Angels reporting Cam Bedrosian to throw from the mound Monday for the first time since going on the disabled list April 22 with a groin strain. If all goes well, I would think he might be ready to re-join the Angels in early-June.
I just still can’t believe Banister would foist Dyson on us as a 7th/8th inning setup guy, with his hideous -9.2 K-BB% and 10.66 ERA/8.73 FIP/6.23 xFIP/5.97 SIERA/2.37 WHIP line. Even his ground balls are down from last season, and that’s like the only thing he can do well right now.
I think everyone is well aware that there are no bright spots in any of Dyson’s numbers to date. I’m assuming that Banister is holding out hope that Dyson can find his good form again, as they desperately need another arm capable of pitching high leverage innings in the bullpen? Will he find it? Who knows, but Banister is giving him every chance he can due to their shared success over the past couple of years.
I totally understand holding out hope that Dyson can re-find his form, but is it really necessary that that happens in high leverage innings? Why not pitch him in lower leverage ones until he’s back to good Dyson (assuming that happens)? Right now, he’s the worst arm in that bullpen. I respectfully disagree that they need another arm capable of pitching high leverage innings in the bullpen. They have Leclerc (when healthy), Bush, Kela, Claudio, and Barnette (despite ugly surface stats). Hell, they should even ride Dario Alvarez and Austin Bibens-Dirkx until regression comes. The only arms they should probably keep out of high leverage innings for now are Jeffress and Dyson.
Is Matt Belisle really next up in Minnesota? He has a 7.20 ERA, a 7.70 K/9, 6.60 BB/9, 4.70 FIP, 5.88 xFIP, and a below average 9.0 SwStr%. He doesn’t throw hard (average fastball 90-91), and he’ll be turning 37 in a couple of weeks. How about Ryan Pressly? He’s averaging 95-96 with his fastball, and has a much more traditional closer’s arsenal. He’s got an 11.93 K/9 versus 2.51 BB/9, 3.94 FIP, 3.01 xFIP, and a 13.1 SwStr%. Better numbers across the board. It seems to me he got burned by 3 home runs early in the season, which messed up his ERA early on, but he’s pitched very well lately, and while the ERA is still high (6.91), the underlying metrics say it’s coming down.
While Pressly is unquestionably the better pitcher, I think for the chart, it comes down to usage. And Belisle has consistently been used in higher leverage situations/to set up for Kintzler much, much more often than Pressly. It seems like right now, Rogers gets the 8th and Belisle gets anything before that. If they need someone besides Kintzler/Rogers/Belisle, Duffey or Pressly might get it, but that’s not really consistent. For further proof just look at their holds totals:
Rogers: 1 hold in the last week, 4 holds in the last 2 weeks, 8 holds in the last month
Belisle: 0/2/6 for the same timeframes
Pressly: 0/1/2