Bullpen Report: May 24, 2016

• Trevor May was called on to finish out the third inning last night and although May recorded the final out his troubles continued as he allowed two hits and an earned run in the fourth. May still recorded two strikeouts and has a decent 3.51 xFIP with a fantastic strikeout rate (30%) but his recent outings have been downright terrible. Over his last five appearances spanning 3.1 innings pitched, May has allowed 15 baserunners and 10 earned runs. When you combine that performance along with entering the game in the third inning, it’s safe to say you have lost your role. I’ve moved Fernando Abad as the next-in-line and put Michael Tonkin on the grid with May exiting. Kevin Jepsen threw in a non-save situation last night allowing two earned and now supports a 5.89/5.30/4.86 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line. Gross. If May was cruising he’d be getting save opportunities by now as the back end of the Twins bullpen has collapsed. Jepsen is on red alert and I would snag Abad and Tonkin in that order for speculative saves. To add more to the confusion Tonkin pitched in the fourth and fifth inning tonight with Abad getting the last two outs in the ninth down three runs. Who really knows what’s going on in Minnesota.

For now Jepsen remains the closer and we’ll hopefully be able to glean more information on the Twins order of operations the next time they have a lead.

• Alex Colome was called on for the Mariano Rivera a/k/a the six out save and was able to throw two scoreless innings for his 12th save on the year. The Rays have stated that Brad Boxberger will gain the job upon his return so enjoy Colome’s saves while you can. Boxberger is currently on a rehab assignment and just pitched in back-to-back games. He could be back in Tampa before the end of the week. While Colome owners will be losing a closer, I would still advise to hold on tight as he’s been one of the top relievers in the game thus far with a 1.29/1.59/1.79 ERA/FIP/xFIP and the sexy strikeouts (36.6 strikeout rate) that fantasy owners crave. Also, if Boxberger has a set back Colome will slide right back into the ninth. With all of that said, I would expect Colome to have the day off tomorrow after throwing last night and two frames this evening.

• Sam Dyson recorded his fifth save with a perfect ninth inning and two strikeouts tonight. Jake Diekman threw a scoreless seventh and Matt Bush pitched in the eighth allowing one earned. I expect Tolleson to have a chance to regain higher leveraged innings if he succeeds out of the closer’s chair moving forward, but I’m going to take a mini leap and put Matt Bush in his place on the grid.

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	Fernando Abad	Michael Tonkin	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	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
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	Matt Bush	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.]