Bullpen Report: Sunday, August 30, 2015

Junichi Tazawa was unable to find the strike zone on Friday night, and now Jean Machi has been tabbed as the closer for the Red Sox. Tazawa walked four Mets and only found the zone with 11 of his 28 offerings. If you’re looking for a source of cheap holds, Robbie Ross has four in his last four outings and of late is getting those opportunities. His velocity is picking up, and with the volatility in the closer role, who knows? It’s not out of the realm of possibilities to see him getting a few save chances down the stretch. His peripherals aren’t the strongest, and he’s only rocking a 12.3% K%-BB% to go with a 3.88 xFIP, but the options in the Boston pen aren’t the greatest. Of course, if Machi(and his 5.8% K%-BB%) runs with the role, then it’s a moot point. Machi grabbed his third save on Saturday with a perfect ninth, generating three groundouts.

Greg Holland is dealing with some elbow soreness, and that’s not great news for the Royals. His velocity is down and so is his K%-BB%, all the way down to 13.3% from the lofty 29.2% and 33.3% he had attained the previous two seasons. The Royals grid is staying red for now, but they are blessed with a pair of capable replacements in Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera. Davis picked up his 13th save on Saturday and brought his ERA under 1.00, as he dropped to 0.99 with his perfect frame.

Tyler Clippard overcame a chipped nail, going an inning and a third and picking up the win over the Red Sox. Jeurys Familia found some trouble in the ninth, giving up a pair of hits, but he struck out two, including the final out of the game with the tying run 90 feet away. The Mets picked up Addison Reed from the Diamondbacks and are going to start him off in the seventh inning of games, hoping he can lock down that role.

Nate Jones has been hot fire for the White Sox in August. The only blip in his 9.7 innings was a two-run outing when he gave up a home run. Small sample, yes, but he’s toting a strong 32.3% K%-BB%, and has three holds. He’s replacing the injured Zach Putnam on the grid, and he’s hopping over Jake Petricka. He’s a strong pickup for holds. David Robertson picked up the win for the White Sox today in extras, striking out a trio over two perfect frames, and Jones continued his dominance, striking out three in 1.3 perfect innings of work.

Notes from Saturday: Mark Melancon picked up his league-leading 43rd save, and Tony Watson extended his lead on the holds leaderboard by notching his 34th, leaving him five clear of second place Joe Smith. Melancon did give up a pair of runs on three hits, but the Pirates gave him a three-run lead, so he still gets the save. Francisco Rodriguez was ESPN 30 for 30 in save opportunities heading into action Saturday, but he blew his first save of the year, surrendering four runs, three of them earned. Aroldis Chapman took advantage and struck out a pair to earn his 25th save. Drew Pomeranz struck out the side for his third save of the year. Ken Giles(11), Luke Gregerson(25), Andrew Miller(28), Tom Wilhelmsen(6), Shawn Tolleson(28) and Kenley Jansen(27) all saved games on Saturday.

Notes from Sunday: Alex Colome pitched a couple strong innings for the Rays, striking out a pair and keeping the Royals off the scoreboard, earning his third hold. He’s another source for cheap holds too. Brad Boxberger came on for the ninth and earned his 32nd save. Drew Storen picked up hold number four, and Jonathan Papelbon worked around a couple of hits for his 22nd save. Francisco Rodriguez bounced back from blowing his first save of the year on Saturday, by nailing down his 31st save Sunday afternoon. Glen Perkins is back in the closer role for now, but Paul Molitor has a solid option in Kevin Jepsen if Perkins’ neck flares up or if his back spasms return. Keep Jepsen for now if you have him, he could be a factor in September depending on the health of Perkins. Kevin Siegrist picked up his sixth save on the year, but Trevor Rosenthal returns from paternity leave tomorrow. Sean Doolittle pitched a strong inning for the A’s, striking out two in a perfect inning. Drew Pomeranz blew his third save of the year after giving up a run in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Diamondbacks to pull even in the contest. The A’s grid is redder than red. It may not be long before Doolittle reclaims that closer role.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	David Hernandez
Atlanta	Arodys Vizcaino	Edwin Jackson	Andrew McKirahan	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Brad Brach
Boston	Jean Machi	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando	Koji Uehara
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Tommy Hunter	Rafael Soriano
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	Scott Oberg	Christian Friedrich
Detroit	Bruce Rondon	Alex Wilson	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Pat Neshek	Chad Qualls
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Jim Johnson	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn	Bryan Morris	Carter Capps
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Will Smith	Jeremy Jeffress
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Kevin Jepsen	Trevor May
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Tyler Clippard	Addison Reed	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Drew Pomeranz	Fernando Rodriguez	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Joakim Soria	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Steve Cishek	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Shawn Kelley	Brendan Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Carson Smith	Logan Kensing
TB	Brad Boxberger	Steve Geltz	Alex Colome	Jake McGee
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Jake Diekman	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Aaron Sanchez	Brett Cecil
Wash.	Jonathan Papelbon	Drew Storen	Casey Janssen

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