Bullpen Report: May 23, 2013
It was a slow day on the diamond with just five games on the schedule, so here are just a few bullpen notes to hold you over…
Jason Grilli’s early season ninth-inning heroics vaulted him to the number seven slot in the Bullpen Report’s “Updated Consensus Closer Ranks,” and this afternoon’s 14-pitch effort did nothing but solidify that ranking. The Pirates closer faced the minimum in the ninth and struck out the final two Cubbies to remain a perfect 19-for-19 in save chances this year. The two looking strikeouts — courtesy of Luis Valbuena and Welington Castillo — inflated the right-handers whiff rate to 41.4% on the year, which as of tonight, is a major league best. In addition to the fantastic strikeout rate, Grilli lowered his ERA and WHIP to 1.25 and 0.74 WHIP on the year respectively.
To be fair, Jason Grilli isn’t the only story coming out of the Pirates ‘pen these days. Twenty-eight-year-old Mark Melancon owns a 0.72 ERA, 0.80 WHIP a 27.4% K%, a 1.1% BB% and has notched a league-leading 16 holds in 25 trips to the hill. Yes, those numbers are real. Parlay those ratios and whiffs with a scab win here, a scab save there and you could have yourself a top 100 player. Melancon is owned in just 20% of Y! leagues, but at this point, he’ll be more than useful in all 12-team and deeper mixed formats.
Papa Grande shook hands for the fifth time this season as the Tigers closed out the Twins, 7-6. Valverde sat down the Twinkies in order — including two via the strikeout — to raise his strikeout rate to 25% on the season. In 11 appearance since rejoining the Tigers, Valverde is 4-of-4 in save chances with a 0.82 ERA and a 0.54 WHIP. Today’s save pushes Jose Valverde’s career save total up to 282, placing him 28th on the all-time career saves list and only behind Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan and Francisco Rodriguez among those still in the game. Watch out Mo, Jose is just 343 saves away!
There are seven middle relievers that have earned four or more holds in the past two weeks. Joel Peralta (6) notched the most of the bunch, while Trevor Rosenthal and David Robertson are the only two with a minimum of four holds and ten strikeouts. Four of the seven — Jesse Crain, Sean Doolittle, Jake McGee and Trevor Rosenthal — own a perfect 0.00 ERA. And what do you get when you add Rosenthal, McGee and Doolittle’s efforts together over that time? A 2-0 pitcher who sports a glistening 0.00 ERA and a 7.6 K/BB. Yes, that’s Chris Sale territory. Moral of the blurb? If the top 20 starting pitcher you’re looking to acquire continues to elude you, simply stack a few elite middle relievers and get close to the same result — if you have the roster spots.
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.
Frieri’s 6.97 BB/9 is finally coming back to haunt him. 4 ER in his last 3 appearances with 4 K/6 BB and he got pulled from his save opp tonight after letting up two runs. He looked real bad out there. If Madson didnt have another setback then he would be looking good right now. I dont know who Scioscia would go with if Frieri continues to struggle.
Looked like Coello last night and the rookie’s been decent no? It’s not Jerome anymore in there, is Richards a candidate?
Coello has been more than decent. 23Ks in his last 12 inn at AAA where he was closing. 12Ks in 7.1 inn so far in the bigs. BBs were an issue in the past, but no walks so far. He’s not a rookie. Pitched 6 innings for TOR last year. 12Ks.
That forkball has a chance to be something special. He’s mesmerizing hitters right now. Ironically could be this year’s Frieri. I picked him up. Scioscia might just promote him to get a reaction out of his team (like Frieri’s promotion last year).
Kelvin Herrera was sent down, Aaron Crow should probably be up there. Roberto Coello was called on for the last out and has pitched well, J. Williams isn’t likely to pitch the 9th. Axford?
Doesn’t the 0.00 ERA and 7.6 K/BB end up worth less due to the number of IP? Counting stats count over the number, right? (IE 5 IP of 0 ERA does less to bring down your total ERA of 3.00 than 9 IP of 0 ERA) On the year they have 81.1 IP, which is slightly more than most pitchers…but also takes up 4 slots. Wouldn’t you get better stats out of, say, a James Shields + a Chris Sale? It seems like the person in the middle relief will end up getting less total even if the opponent has less, though I guess maybe IP limits are made to avert that? But even then, the middle reliever needs to balance them with starters to get enough IP if there is a limit rather than leaving some on the table…
Plus, it’s not like they’ve been that good the whole time, just look at McGree’s ERA so far.
Then again, you did only say close to the same, so…uh…the moral of the story is don’t write comments at 5:17 AM.
Thanks for the article, though! The effort that goes into Bullpen Report every week is excellent and helpful.
It’s early here too, but if I remember correctly, those three actually accumulated more IP over the two week span than Sale did.
And remember, I said if you’re lacking a staff ace (or two) this could be a direction to go. While nothing is ever guaranteed, this could help you seal the ERA & WHIP categories — if you have the roster spots.
I understand that 3 relievers can equal one starter, and the 3 relievers will be much cheaper. However, who has the roster space for 3 ace set-up guys? If you’re in a deep league, the middle relief aces are gone. In a more shallow league, you’re not going to use 3 roster spots for “one theoretical ace.” I think it’s useful to have a middle relief ace here or there, but I don’t know if it’s great strategy to fill your roster with them.
I typically carry a few more middle relievers than bench bats, if that means anything.
In a roto league this will be a tougher strategy to employ, although keeping your ERA & WHIP low through the early part of the year can’t hurt, right? You’d probably need to look for a last minute surge in wins/k’s from folks out of innings.
In a head-to-head league of just about any size, this could all but win you ERA/WHIP for the week. At that point, you need to find just four more categories to to win in a standard 5×5.
Who is filling the 8th inning role in KC? I imagine it’s Crow over Collins?
Guys, is it safe to drop Madson in a deep 12-team, closer focused roto league? Being shut down indefinitely does not sound good. For reference, the best middle relievers on waivers are Pestano, Broxton, Burton.