Bullpen Report: September 12, 2013

Ernesto Frieri locked down his 33rd save of the year as the Angels clipped the Blue Jays 4-3 tonight in Toronto. He yielded a hit and a free pass, but fanned two Jays in a 35-pitch effort to seal the deal. Frieri is now 33-of-37 in save chances on the year with a 3.79 ERA (3.44 FIP) and a 1.26 WHIP. Considering the fact it took the right-hander 35 tosses to finish off the Blue Birds — just one night after throwing 17 pitches — fantasy baseballers may want to t take a chance on Dane de la Rosa as a streaming reliever on Friday in case Frieri needs the rest. De la Rosa is 2-of-5 in save chances this year with 16 holds and sports a whiff rate just barely north of 20%. But at this point in the year, a save is a save is a save.

Fernando Rodney’s ERA may have been a bit flukey in twenty-twelve thanks to a career-best average allowed on balls in play (.220 BABIP vs. .285 career) and a strand rate (89.4%) significantly higher than his career average of 72.9%, but the guy with the crooked hat continues to shoot the moon — or whatever that business is. Tonight, Rodney yielded a walk and a hit, but escaped the visitor’s half of the ninth without causing his team any damage. The save became his 34th on the season in 42 chances. Unfortunately, the Dominican’s eight blown saves is the second-most of any reliever with at least 30 successful conversions this eason — just one behind Jim Johnson’s nine blown chances entering tonight.

After a restful evening and a Kyle Farnsworth save sighting, Mark Melancon trotted back to the bump for his 16th save opportunity with the Bucs leading the Cubbies, 4-1. Melancon surrendered a one-out hit to Anthony Rizzo, but induced a couple of quick out and snuck away with his 14th save of twenty-thirteen. The Pirates’ bullpen carried a 2.91 ERA — good enough for third-best in the majors — heading into tonight’s game against the Cubs.

Quick Hitters: Jim Henderson tossed a meatball to Matt Adams, who sent the ball sailing into the stands, but overcame the homer to earn his 25th save on the year. Mariano Rivera picked up a win, while Jim Johnson took a loss in the same game. In the same game, David Robertson served up three earned in last night’s outing for the Yankees.

Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Heath Bell	David Hernandez	J.J. Putz
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Jordan Walden	Scott Downs
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Tommy Hunter	Francisco Rodriguez
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Craig Breslow	Andrew Bailey
CHI (NL)	Kevin Gregg	Pedro Strop	Blake Parker
CHI (AL)	Addison Reed	Nate Jones	Matt Lindstrom
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Sam Lecure	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Joe Smith	Cody Allen
Colorado	Rex Brothers	Matt Belisle	Wilton Lopez	Rafael Betancourt
Detroit	Joaquin Benoit	Jose Veras	Drew Smyly
Houston	Chia-Jen Lo	Josh Fields	Josh Zeid	Jose Cisnero
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Dane de la Rosa	Kevin Jepsen	Robert Coello
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Paco Rodriguez	Brian Wilson
Miami	Steve Cishek	Mike Dunn	Chad Qualls
Milwaukee	Jim Henderson	Brandon Kintzler	Michael Gonzalez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	LaTroy Hawkins	David Aardsma	Scott Rice	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	Mariano Rivera	David Robertson	Shawn Kelley
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Justin De Fratus	Jake Diekman	Mike Adams
Pittsburgh	Jason Grilli	Mark Melancon	Justin Wilson
St. Louis	Edward Mujica	Trevor Rosenthal	John Axford	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Danny Farquhar	Yoervis Medina	Tom Wilhelmsen
TB	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee	Jesse Crain
Texas	Joe Nathan	Tanner Scheppers	Jason Frasor
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Steve Delabar	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen

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