Bullpen Report: May 23, 2016

• Injury update for the Angels as Huston Street is heading to Arizona Friday for extended Spring Training. He also threw 20 pitches today and “could be back before the end of May.” All promising signs for Street as he comes back from a strained oblique and provided there aren’t any setbacks he should be replacing Joe Smith and return to his familiar role in the ninth very soon. Until then, Smith will close as he did tonight getting his sixth save.

• The Pirates didn’t start the ninth with a save situation but after Jared Hughes allowed two singles, Mark Melancon was called on for the save. Melancon allowed a single of his own, forcing an inherited runner to score but got the final two outs for his 15th save on the year. Melancon has never wowed anyone with strikeout rates, but in spite of that he has a startling 1.90 ERA in 237.1 innings over the past four seasons with an equally impressive 2.27 FIP. He’ll always remain second tier after the slew flamethrowers getting saves but remains a top notch source for consistent and successful saves.

• Justin Wilson was mentioned in the comments last night and he threw a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts this evening against Phillies. Although he still has a 4.50 ERA his 1.79 FIP, 1.86 xFIP and 24/4 K/BB ratio suggest Justin Wilson is still doing just fine. Mark Lowe threw a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts of his own indicating he’s likely still next-in-line but Justin Wilson is probably the most effective reliever in Detroit. Francisco Rodriguez also threw a scoreless inning for his 13th save and has lowered his ERA to 3.24 after a couple of early season hiccups.

• Quick Hits: David Robertson recorded his second save (12) in as many days for the White Sox and setup man Nate Jones needed only one out to record his 11th hold on the year. Jones didn’t throw a full inning over the last three games but after appearances in three straight it’s safe to say he could be seeing an off day tomorrow. A.J. Ramos (14) saved the win for the Marlins and David Phelps who has continued to enjoy life in his new relief home. Phelps now has a 1.38/1.84/3.23 ERA/FIP/xFIP line with 31 strikeouts in 26 innings, becoming one of the better non-closing options in baseball this year. Matt Bush threw a scoreless inning throwing 14 of 15 pitches for strikes, which is pretty darn good control for a former hitter. He’s only thrown 5.2 innings but Bush has allowed just three baserunners with seven strikeouts and only one walk. He’s being eased into higher leverage innings but Bush should find himself moving up the chain if he keeps this up

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Tyler Clippard
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Jason Grilli	Hunter Cervenka
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Mychal Givens
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Justin Grimm
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Zach Duke
Cincy	Ross Ohlendorf	Tony Cingrani	Jumbo Diaz
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Dan Otero
Colorado	Jake McGee	Carlos Estevez	Miguel Castro
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Mark Lowe	Justin Wilson	Bruce Rondon
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Ken Giles	Will Harris
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria
LAA	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas	Jose Alvarez	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Joe Blanton	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	David Phelps	Kyle Barraclough	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Jeremy Jeffress	Tyler Thornburg	Michael Blazek	Will Smith
Minnesota	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May	Fernando Abad	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Hansel Robles
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances
Oakland	Ryan Madson	John Axford	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	David Hernandez	Hector Neris
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seung Hwan Oh
SD	Fernando Rodney	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter
SF	Santiago Casilla	Cody Gearrin	Hunter Strickland	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Steve Cishek	Joaquin Benoit	Joel Peralta
TB	Alex Colome	Erasmo Ramirez	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Gavin Floyd	Drew Storen	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Blake Treinen	Shawn Kelley

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