Bullpen Report: September 28, 2015

• Although Matt Williams let Jonathan Papelbon stay in the game after his throat grab on Bryce Harper, he’s now been suspended by the Washington Nationals for four games. Other people have been discussing the fight all day so I’ll only talk as it relates to the bullpen. I wouldn’t necessarily expect Papelbon to be welcomed with open arms after his suspension is over so his days of closing might be done this season and possibly even next year as well. I’ve removed him from the grid, putting Casey Janssen in his place. Matt Thornton threw a scoreless ninth today in a four-run game and could also be used in the ninth in Papelbon’s absence.

• Roberto Osuna recorded two outs for his 20th save on the year tonight after Brett Cecil stayed on for the first out of the ninth with the lefty Chris Davis at bat. Osuna taking over as closer coinciding with the Jays turnaround has been particularly fruitful for his fantasy owners. On the year Osuna is pitching to a 2.36 ERA with 73 strikeouts in 68.2 innings pitched while issuing only 14 walks. Osuna will have just turned 21 when next season starts and although there are other closers who have higher strikeout ability, it wouldn’t shock me to see him improve in that area and enter the fray of top tier closers.

• Robbie Ross Jr. was warming up with a three run lead but the Red Sox scored in the top half of the ninth to put the save out of reach. Either way, Ross pitched around two baserunners to lead off the inning and ended the game with a clean inning. Ross has been a decent option for the Red Sox in place of Koji Uehara late this season but expect Uehara to return to the ninth by April as he recovers from his wrist injury.

• Glen Perkins threw a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts and should be closer to his familiar ninth inning role as he comes back from a back injury. In the meantime, Kevin Jepsen continues to see saves and closed his 14th save on the year. Jepsen’s shiny 2.39 ERA might be a little misleading given his 3.62 FIP/4.06 xFIP but he’s certainly been a solid addition to the Twins pen, keeping them in striking distance of the second wild card spot.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	David Hernandez
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Matt Marksberry	Edwin Jackson	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Brad Brach
Boston	Robbie Ross	Jean Machi	Noe Ramirez	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Fernando Rodney
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Jacob Petricka
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Jairo Diaz	Boone Logan
Detroit	Neftali Feliz	Alex Wilson	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Pat Neshek	Will Harris
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Ryan Madson	Greg Holland
LAA	Trevor Gott	Mike Morin	Joe Smith	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Chris Hatcher	Yimi Garcia
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Kevin Jepsen	Glen Perkins	Trevor May
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Tyler Clippard	Addison Reed
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Sean Doolittle	Drew Pomeranz	Ryan Dull
Philly	Ken Giles	Dalier Hinojosa	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Joakim Soria	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Steve Cishek
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Kevin Quackenbush	Brendan Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Carson Smith	Logan Kensing
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Alex Colome
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Jake Diekman	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Aaron Sanchez	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Casey Janssen	Casey Janssen	Blake Treinen	Jonathan Papelbon

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