Bullpen Report: May 8, 2018
Not a particularly busy or thrilling night across the bullpens so here are a few nuggets of interest from last night…
• The Padres lost to the Nationals last night but Phil Maton threw a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout. In 13 innings this year Maton has 14 strikeouts and an unimpressive 7 walks leading to a 2.86 FIP and 4.10 SIERA but his minor league strikeout rates and 15.5% SwStr% this year suggest there is room to grow in the K department. We have Kirby Yates and Craig Stammen on the grid below but if Maton can up his strikeouts without walking the world, he could become a sneaky contributor in deep leagues.
• Keone Kela has struggled a bit of late in the ERA department, allowing five runs in his previous two appearances but he threw a scoreless inning last night, striking out two batters for his 7th save of the year. While Kela supports a 6.00 ERA rings the alarm, his 2.75 FIP and 3.40 SIERA suggest brighter days ahead. If Kela is able to string together a few good outings we will remove the yellow tag on him in the grid. Jose Leclerc pitched in the eight allowing a hit and an unearned run but also struck out two batters, lowering his ERA to 2.45. Jake Diekman pitched in the eighth, throwing a scoreless inning while also allowing a walk, something that is a legitimate issue as he now has issued 12 free passes in only 12.1 innings. Diekman has been setting up Kela thus far, so he’s second in line on the grid but if something were to happen to Kela I wouldn’t be surprised to see Leclerc leapfrog him for saves as he’s a righty with more swing and miss stuff.
• Jeurys Familia threw 15 pitches last night, getting two strikeouts and his 10th save as he held onto the one-run lead against the Reds. Watching Familia, I never feel too confident that he knows where the ball is going but he’s had a very solid season thus far. In spite of 3 blown saves, Familiar has a 2.05 FIP and 3.02 SIERA and his 12.5% SwStr% is up from his disastrous 2016, even if it’s not quite as good as peak Familia. While the days of the 11-1 Mets are long gone, they should still be competitive all year leading to solid save totals for Familia as a tier 2 closer.
• The Phillies won 11-0 but in that blowout was an interesting name – Seranthony Dominguez, who made his MLB debut pitching a perfect frame with one strikeout. Dominguez threw 13 impressive innings in AA to start the season and after throwing in three games in AAA he was called up to the majors last night. Dominguez threw 11 fastballs and 6 sliders with his heat nearly touching triple digits while averaging 97.7 mph. Matt Gelb has a great piece on the Athletic about his rapid rise and if he keeps pitching like he did last night, Dominguez could continue his rise and see some higher leverage innings.
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
May 8th, not May 5th…
Whoops – thanks for that.
Hey, the man said it’s the 5th. I’ll take any excuse to have a margarita.
With likelihood of Britten being traded, is O’Day a good pickup?
I’ve thought a lot about O’Day and the lack of Orioles saves chances plus the struggles that all O’s pitchers are having, I am staying away for now.
It’s hard to fully see O’Day closing all year but saves are saves, he’s worth picking up if you need them.
Is it worth dropping Cam Bedrosian and picking up Keynan on the assumption that he’ll 1) Be activated when first eligible (tomorrow) and 2) Go right back to closing? Or is predicting the behavior of Mike Scosia’s brain-worms too difficult to attempt?
Personally I’ve decided on the latter. I’ve spent the last 2 seasons playing around with that one and finally decided it’s just impossible to get anyone who is likely to remain the closer for any extended period. That’s part Scioscia, but it’s also recognition that they just don’t have anybody down there that is an obvious choice to take it and run with it, nobody with a blazing fastball or wicked off-speed pitch that makes them an obvious choice.
I’m pretty sure in my league, that is the only bullpen that nobody has any part of.
I don’t know if he’ll be activated ASAP but the rest have been bad enough where if he’s healthy I think he reclaims the job. With that said, someone outside the org is probably closing in the 2nd half.
Who’s gonna close in Toronto if Osuna is out a while?
Closer Monkey also has Tepera, but this is a toughy, Oh has some experience and Clippard’s been really good, although lucky as well
Clippard has been the hottest add, and would be my guess. Is Osuna droppable? He has trial in mid June, and it is likely he sees a suspension beyond that. He clearly is not going to be back until after trial.
I like Tepera as he’s consistently been used as the 8th guy but Oh has been used for saves already this year and ERA wise Clippard has been great. Hard to say, I’d hope to get more info as the day goes on and go Tepera/Oh/Clippard in that order but I don’t have any confidence in that. Tepera has also been the best so if the other two get a shot, maybe he comes in anyway after a blown opportunity.
“John Lott of The Athletic reports that Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with assault on a woman, per Toronto Police.”
I hear Knebel will be activated Weds.