Bullpen Report: September 8, 2018

With attention shifting to football for many fantasy owners, remaining vigilant with baseball will be important when projecting roles for next season. For example, Ty Buttrey notched the first save of his career last night for the Angels striking out one in a clean outing. His role continues to grow in high leverage and Buttrey’s been scoreless in eight of his nine appearances this season. He, along with Jose Alvarez own the best peripheral numbers in the Angels bullpen over the last 30 days. As for Buttrey, he’s pitched 9.1 innings since his promotion with a 0.96 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 10:3 K:BB, 16.9 swinging strike percentage, an ERA- of 23 and limiting contact to 65.5 percent. Keep in mind, Blake Parker recorded the previous two saves for the Angels but has not pitched since September third. This could just be a preview of next year for Buttrey, but if he moves into a share of the closer role, he’s an intriguing pickup for the remainder of the season.

As for his former team, Boston’s bridge to Craig Kimbrel struggled on Friday night. Both Ryan Brasier and Joe Kelly allowed runs in their appearances leading to an Astros win. Since almost every team in the playoff picture tried to beef up the bullpen at the trade deadline, the Red Sox remained rather quiet, including trading away Buttrey. Friday night could be a blip, or unfortunate foreshadowing. Brasier’s been very solid yielding only one walk over his last 15 outings and scoreless in 12 of them. He allowed two hits and an earned run resulting in his first blown save of the year. Kelly’s been very streaky this season and entered Friday giving up only one run his last 10 games. However, Kelly coughed up four hits, the lead and three earned runs with a strikeout in the eighth inning. With last night included, Kelly owns a 2.74 ERA his last 20 games with 20 strikeouts against six walks in 19.2 innings. Can his volatility be trusted in October? At least Craig Kimbrel’s rounding into form. He did not pitch last night but in the midst of allowing only one run his last seven appearances and Kimbrel’s struck out 21 his last 11 games since July 29th. Stay tuned as Boston tries to figure out the bridge to Kimbrel in high leverage going forward.

Trying to navigate the late innings will be fluid for new Cardinals manager Mike Shildt. Bud Norris will no longer serve as the “traditional” closer for the team due to recent performance. Over his last eight games, Norris has allowed eight hits, seven earned runs, six walks, three home runs and a hit batter against five strikeouts. He’s struggled with commanding his fastball and will remain in the mix, but has not pitched since Monday. Jordan Hicks incurred his fourth loss in a multiple inning appearance last night. Hicks retired the Tigers in order in the eighth and returned for the ninth inning. After striking out Dawel Lugo, he yielded a hit to Victor Reyes then a walk-off home run to Jeimer Candelari0. Hicks had been scoreless his previous four outings but this was his first appearance past an inning since August 11th. Look for Hicks, Carlos Martinez and Norris all to be in the mix for saves going forward as the Cardinals push for an appearance in postseason.

Pin the tail on the Phillies closer of the week landed on Tommy Hunter once again. Hunter recorded his fourth save in a clean ninth and has the last two saves since Pat Neshek’s blown save on August 28th. Hunter’s in the midst of a four game scoreless streak giving up only two hits with two strikeouts his last 5.2 innings. Seranthony Dominguez notched his 12th hold with a clean eighth inning. Dominguez has pitched well of late with nine strikeouts over his last 5.2 innings but not in the saves picture for now, converting two holds and a win since his last save on August 16th.

While the Diamondbacks sent out mixed messages on Twitter throughout the day on Friday, Brad Boxberger did record his 32nd save but limited, once again, to a two-thirds inning outing. It’s been a wild last seven games for Boxberger during which he’s blown a save, converted three saves in a row, lost two consecutive games and saved last night’s win. Here’s an example of why his owners worried:

"I’m not going to let situations run by me if I feel like there’s a better option. I’m going to absolutely consider it every time.”

The conventional definition of "closer" and Torey Lovullo's are pretty far apart.https://t.co/aao0XD6j6U

— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) September 7, 2018

Manager Torey Lovullo did recant and say Boxberger’s his primary closer going forward, reflected in their win on Friday, but the “bridge” leading up to him may be fluid. Andrew Chafin continues to get the first out in the ninth and limited left-handed hitters to 11 hits over their last 53 at-bats against him with 16 strikeouts since June second. Plus, with Archie Bradley’s 8.20 ERA, 4.33 FIP and 1.60 WHIP since the All-Star break, both Brad Ziegler and Yoshihisa Hirano could see more chances to pitch in the eighth inning.

In case it’s been missed, Milwaukee’s new blueprint for high leverage goes as follows: Josh Hader, when available for multiple innings or to give Jeremy Jeffress a break, Joakim Soria in the eighth inning and Jeffress as the primary closer. Hader won his fifth game striking out five in two innings and walking one on Friday night. He’s up to 121 strikeouts in 71.2 innings over 47 games. Due to his usage patterns, Hader will be used when needed going forward but not overworked. Soria bounced back with a clean outing and his ninth hold with a strikeout and Jeffress notched his ninth save striking out two. Jeffress has not allowed a run his last three appearances and converted five of his last six saves.

Quick Hits: Although Tayron Guerrero looks like a future closer, hits triple digits in the radar gun and could be a fantasy asset someday, he’s best left on the bench right now. Guerrero’s allowed runs in three straight outings, eight earned runs over his last 2.2 innings on nine hits and a walk, blew his fourth save and lost his third game last night. Perhaps he could use some time off to work on mechanics, right Miami?

Remember when owners panicked about Felipe Vazquez? He converted his 21st straight save last night giving up a hit with a strikeout. Over his last 37 games, Vazquez owns a 1.19 ERA in 37.2 innings with 54 strikeouts in them.

Brad Hand recorded all four of his outs via strikeout on Friday night and has struck out seven of the last nine batters he’s faced. Hand’s also notched Cleveland’s last three saves while Cody Allen works in a setup role. Overall, with Cleveland, Hand has eight saves with a 1.74 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 32 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.

A non-save outing for Ken Giles. He yielded one hit in a scoreless appearance, his third straight, and second in non-save situations, something he needs to improve upon to build owners trust for next season.

Roberto Osuna secured his fifth straight save with Houston, and 14th save of 2018 in a clean ninth inning. Osuna’s cemented his status as Astros closer with a 1.80 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 15:2 K:BB in 15 innings with Houston.

Win number three for Shane Greene. He worked around a hit with a strikeout in the top of the ninth in a tied game and benefited with the win after Candelario’s walk-off home run. With no competition in the Tigers bullpen, Greene will close the rest of the season despite weak ratio statistics.

While Wily Peralta’s eight-for-eight in save chances, he’s allowed runs in three straight games and not recorded a save since August 18th. Peralta’s 10 earned runs in 15 non-save innings makes him a risky play as the season winds down when fantasy owners need to protect ratios.

Both Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers turned in clean innings on Friday in non-save outings. Hildenberger’s converted five saves since the Fernando Rodney trade and not given up an earned run his last four games. Rogers extended his scoreless streak to 16.1 innings and has an eye popping 19:1 K:BB within it.

Playing games with playoff implications in Coors without their closer, the Dodgers turned to Kenta Maeda for the save and he responded striking out one in two-thirds of an inning. Maeda’s secured two saves this year since transitioning to the bullpen.

Blake Treinen lowered his major league leading ERA for relievers to 0.90 with a scoreless ninth walking one and striking out one. He’s converted his last 12 saves in a row, 33 of his last 35 chances and within eight strikeouts of his first 100 strikeout season.