Bullpen Report: May 3, 2017

In a largely boring night in Closerville, one of the more notable developments occurred in a non-save situation. Twins manager Paul Molitor decided to bring Brandon Kintzler in with a four-run lead in the top of the ninth against the A’s, and the closer got himself into a bases-loaded, no-out situation. Matt Joyce brought in a run with a single, keeping the bases loaded, but Kintzler prevented further damage by getting a force out at home, followed by a double play ball.

It’s not this near-meltdown that is significant, but rather the problems with Kintzler that this outing highlighted. Though he doesn’t profile as a typical closer, Kintzler has had success in the past due to good control and strong ground ball tendencies. He has had neither this season, at least not consistently. Meanwhile, he has allowed oodles of contact, sporting a 5.3 percent swinging strike rate.

It is only a matter of time before Kintzler gets into another jam, and he can’t count on getting out of the next one. Ryan Pressly does not appear to be part of the late-inning mix anymore, and I have moved him out of the grid. Molitor treated this game the same way he did the Twins’ last save situation (on April 30 at the Royals), as he brought Taylor Rogers in the seventh inning and Matt Belisle in the eighth. He also brought Belisle in to start the eighth in the save situation before that, though he yanked him in favor of the lefty Rogers for Alex Gordon with two outs and a runner on second.

This pattern suggests that Belisle is the Twins’ closer-in-waiting to target. He, like Kintzler, has not been getting grounders at his typical rate, but Belisle has been throwing strikes and getting whiffs at a more respectable 10.6 percent rate. In leagues where saves are scarce, Belisle should be a priority target.

The A’s closer situation has been one of the more complicated ones, and with Sean Doolittle going on the 10-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain, it got a little cloudier. Santiago Casilla is still the team’s primary closer, but Doolittle and Ryan Madson each have a save to their names this season. Manager Bob Melvin has favored Ryan Dull in setup situations more than Madson of late, but when Casilla needed a breather, it was Madson who got the save opportunity on April 22 against the Mariners. He would seem to be a better bet than Dull to be next-in-line to Casilla.

Shawn Kelley has not pitched since he threw an inning in a non-save situation April 29 against the Mets, but he did not appear to preserve the Nationals’ 2-1 lead at Arizona. Instead, Jacob Turner finished the game out with four innings of two-hit shutout ball. Dusty Baker told reporters that Kelley had been unavailable for the last two games due to illness. Turner was initially a candidate to start on Saturday at the Phillies, but now it would appear that assignment will go to A.J. Cole. Just maybe, though, Baker has found in Turner his answer to Chris Devenski.

Saves roundup: Craig Kimbrel (10), Cody Allen (7), Wade Davis (7), Aroldis Chapman (6), Mark Melancon (6), Edwin Diaz (5). All of the saves were scoreless one-inning performances, except for Diaz, who pitched an inning, but allowed a solo home run to Kole Calhoun.

Other closer activity: Roberto Osuna, Tony Watson, Raisel Iglesias and Kenley Jansen all pitched a scoreless inning in a non-save situation.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Jorge de la Rosa
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez	Mauricio Cabrera
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Matt Barnes	Heath Hembree	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Wade Davis	Hector Rondon	Koji Uehara
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Tommy Kahnle
Cincy	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Greg Holland	Adam Ottavino	Jake McGee	Mike Dunn
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Shane Greene
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Peter Moylan
LAA	Bud Norris	Blake Parker	David Hernandez	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Pedro Baez	Luis Avilan
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Neftali Feliz	Corey Knebel	Jacob Barnes
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Matt Belisle	Taylor Rogers	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Jerry Blevins
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard
Oakland	Santiago Casilla	Ryan Madson	Ryan Dull	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Hector Neris	Joaquin Benoit	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Felipe Rivero	Daniel Hudson
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand	Carter Capps
SF	Mark Melancon	Hunter Strickland	Derek Law
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Nick Vincent	Evan Scribner	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Austin Pruitt	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress	Jose Leclerc
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Joe Biagini	Joe Smith
Wash.	Shawn Kelley	Blake Treinen	Joe Blanton	Koda Glover

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