Bullpen Report: May 31, 2016
A few quick notes from Memorial Day:
• It wouldn’t be an authentic Bullpen Report without bad news out of Cincinnati’s bullpen as Tony Cingrani blew his fourth save last night. Cingrani entered the ninth like a regular old closer but was unable to finish the inning after allowing four baseruners and three earned runs. Ross Ohlendorf threw a perfect eighth and JC Ramirez was able to get the final out for his first big league save. As usual this situation is ridiculously fluid with Ohlendorf and Cingrani likely still in some sort of job-share for the moment.
• Huston Street was activated off of the Disabled List and should be activated in all fantasy leagues immediately. Joe Smith and Fernando Salas will go back to their familiar roles in the seventh and eighth.
On to Tuesday:
• Joseph Biagini picked up his third win of the season tonight after throwing a scoreless seventh picking up two strikeouts. He doesn’t have such spectacular swing and miss stuff (if he did he probably would have been protected in the Rule-5 draft) but after tonight he’s supporting a fantastic 0.86/2.35/3.64 ERA/FIP/xFIP line and I’ve moved him ahead of Drew Storen in the grid. At this rate I’d also place Jesse Chavez ahead of Storen with those two and Gavin Floyd representing the bridge to Roberto Osuna. You also have to wonder if another team will take a shot on Storen and see if a change of scenery will help. His underlying numbers suggest a non-awful reliever and there would be some value in taking a flier on him.
• While the word was that Boxberger would return to the ninth soon after returning from the DL, he got his first action of the season in the sixth inning tonight. Unfortunately for Boxberger owners he was both ineffective (three baserunners, two earned) and left the game with a “left side muscle strain.” You always have to temper expectations with someone returning from injury and Boxberger will be evaluated by the Rays but his chances of getting the ninth inning soon seem to be more distant now. Expect the excellent Alex Colome to resume closing in Tampa Bay.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
When he's not focusing on every team's bullpen situation, Ben can be found blogging at Ben's Baseball Bias and on Twitter @BensBias
It might be time to brush up on your official scoring knowledge. Tony Cingrani did NOT get hung with a blown save yesterday, since he didn’t gave up the lead with the Reds hanging on in the 9th. An ugly outing to be sure, but not a BS.
Probably an unnecessarily nasty way to add that note, but he’s right, Cingrani came into the game with the Reds up 11-5 and allowed 3 runs to make it 11-8 so his buddy J.C. Ramirez could get the save. What a pal. /s
Posts like that just make ya wanna nitpick someone’s ungrammatical use of the verb “give,” don’t they? Let he who is without sin cast the first hanging slider…
Problem is when come reads Tony Cingrani blew his fourth save, they could be more likely to drop him based on bad information. Fangraphs has a lot of influence. Not only was it not a save because he didn’t blow the lead, it was never a save opportunity to begin with since he came in with the Reds staked to an 11-5 lead. I’m being completely serious, if only a tad blunt, when I point suggest the author pick up a rule book or bring a scorecard to the next game he attends.
You are right. The mistake here and not the fact that cingrani has been awful is the reason he gets cut. Anyone rolling with the reds bullpen doesn’t need to look any farther than a mirror for whatever happens to their fantasy team
Yeah, I have to agree with zwibi here, I don’t think this Fangraphs blog post would be the one reason anyone would immediately cut Cingrani. Not like it’s the first time Cing has allowed runs, and he’s blown 4 saves, so… I think anyone holding onto him right now is hoping for the saves and expecting bad outings here and there.
Don’t be a jag.
I want Josh Harrison back 🙁
Feel like TEX & COL should be green by now? At least TEX yellow?
Will Smith just activated from the DL late today.
What to make of the National’s lack of confidence in Shawn Kelley? He seems to be putting up good numbers (best RP they have at the moment, I’d reckon), and while his ratios and Ks are helping me in my 12-team SV+H league, his lack of use in high or even medium leverage situations is hurting me in the SV+H category.
Care to speculate?
also, what about Felipe Rivero? dude is on fire and has been their 8th inning holds guy for the Nats’ last 4 wins…
I would not interpret the above chart as indicating that the Nationals lack confidence in Kelley (or Rivero)…just that the author hasn’t been paying attention to the Nationals bullpen usage when he lists Treinin as #2. In truth, we won’t really know who is next in line until Papelbon goes down, but there is nothing in Treinin’s stuff, stats, or usage that puts him ahead of Kelley or Rivero.
The Jays have hardly given up on Storen. He got the save on Monday and they stuck with him even though he gave up a double to the first batter he faced, bringing the tying run to the plate.
Boating has been good, but he was also a fresh arm.
Jason Grilli just got traded to the Blue Jays