Bullpen Report: May 30, 2013

Bobby Parnell notched his ninth save of the year in a 3-1 Mets victory over the Yankees tonight. For the Metropolitans, the win surprisingly sealed a series sweep against their crosstown rivals, providing them with some momentum as they head back into divisional play against the Marlins, Nationals and the Marlins again over the course of the next two weeks. For Parnell, it was his third consecutive save and the third outing in-a-row without surrendering a hit. The lanky right-hander whiffed one-of-three batters this evening, bringing his whiff rate to 25% on the season. The current 25% K% is actually higher than he’s had in the past two seasons — 23.9% and 21.2% respectively — despite missing fewer bats (8.6% SwStr%) than he has over that same time (9.8% SwStr% in ‘11, 10.1% SwStr% in ‘12). The previous data leads me to believe that Parnell’s strikeout rate could continue to rise if his ability to miss bats regresses toward his career 9.6% SwStr%. His recent success parlayed with the news that Frank Francisco was transferred to the 60-day disabled list today with continued elbow issues further proves that Parnell’s grip on the closer’s role in Flushing continues to get stronger.

Jim Johnson experienced a few bumps in the road over the past two weeks — if you consider allowing 12 earned runs in six outings “bumps” — but could be back to his old self after dishing two consecutive clean innings in which he earned saves. Johnson secured tonight’s save like we all expected, two worm burners and a strikeout. And this evening’s save, Johnson’s 17th on the year, lands him in a three-way tie with Addison Reed and Edward Mujica for the third-most saves in Major League Baseball. We’ll need to see at least two-to-three more outings like this to convert the Orioles bullpen situation from yellow back to green.

Sergio Romo isn’t missing as many bats this year as he has in the past — he sports an 11.3% SwStr%, the lowest swing-and-miss rate since his 2009 campaign — but that has yet to impede on his ability to close out games. Romo needed just 13 pitches to retire the top of the Athletics’ order tonight, inducing three consecutive fly outs to Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes, to earn his 15th save on season. And although Romo doesn’t “look” like your prototypical closer or have the overpowering velocity on his offerings, his “stuff” is absolutely filthy, keeping him firmly in my top five among closers.

Just at publishing time, Fernando Rodney (11, Hey Now!) and Jared Burton (2) each earned saves tonight.

And on a side note, those in holds leagues should check out my updated middle reliever rankings that published earlier this afternoon.

Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Heath Bell	David Hernandez	Matt Reynolds	J.J. Putz
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Jordan Walden	Cory Gearrin
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Darren O’Day	Pedro Strop
Boston	Andrew Bailey	Junichi Tazawa	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Kevin Gregg	Carlos Marmol	James Russell
CHI (AL)	Addison Reed	Jesse Crain	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	J.J. Hoover	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Vinnie Pestano	Joe Smith	Bryan Shaw	Chris Perez
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Rex Brothers	Wilton Lopez
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Phil Coke
Houston	Jose Veras	Wesley Wright	Hector Ambriz
KC	Greg Holland	Aaron Crow	Tim Collins	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Scott Downs	Robert Coello	Ryan Madson
LAD	Brandon League	Kenley Jansen	Ronald Belisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	Mike Dunn	Chad Qualls
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	John Axford	Mike Gonzalez	Jim Henderson
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	Brandon Lyon	LaTroy Hawkins	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Mariano Rivera	David Robertson	Joba Chamberlain
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Mike Adams	Antonio Bastardo
Pittsburgh	Jason Grilli	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Edward Mujica	Trevor Rosenthal	Fernando Salas	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt	Jean Machi	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Carter Capps	Charlie Furbush
TB	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Tanner Scheppers	Jason Frasor
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Steve Delabar	Darren Oliver	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Drew Storen	Tyler Clippard

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