Bullpen Report: Sunday, June 21, 2015

The Blue Jays bullpen is all kinds of red right now. Steve Delabar came on with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh. He gave up a single, allowing the inherited runner to score and tie the game. He didn’t give up a run in the eighth, giving way to Brett Cecil to try to preserve the tie and give the Jays a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. After getting Matt Wieters to ground out, he went walk, walk, single, triple, strikeout before being replaced. The single was a soft flare up the middle that Jose Reyes just gave up on, thinking that Munenori Kawasaki was going to get it. Cecil was visibly upset on the mound. He was charged with four earned runs, and you’d have to think that he won’t be pitching the next time the Jays have a job that calls for a closer. He thinks he may be tipping his pitches http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/mlb/toronto-blue-jays-drop-game-and-series-to-baltimore-orioles-and-expose-their-dire-pitching-situation. Roberto Osuna was unavailable Sunday after pitching in the first two games of the series. Who will get the next opportunity remains to be seen, but it would likely be between Osuna and Delabar. Delabar has a 21.1% K%-BB% on the year and he’s sporting a stellar 1.06 ERA. That’s been aided by an unsustainable .097 BABIP and 100% LOB rate. His 3.61 FIP is not so sharp. Osuna has a similar K%-BB% at 20.6%. He has a 2.26 FIP, and if I had to guess who would be getting the role, and I do, I’m going with Osuna. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Delabar and you couldn’t be faulted if you grabbed him, but I’m going with Osuna. Cecil is still listed as the closer on the closer grid and will continue to be until John Gibbons sends someone else out there in that role. It could be Monday in Tampa.

The White Sox bullpen pitched four scoreless innings of relief. Jake Petricka was the last pitcher for the Sox and he got the win when Gordon Beckham hit a game-winning home run. David Robertson has pitched three days in a row and won’t be available Monday. Zach Putnam and Zach Duke have each pitched two days in a row, with Duke pitching five of the last six days, so it may be Petricka who comes on for a save opportunity tomorrow night in Minneapolis. Obviously Petricka is second in line on the closer grid, I’m just pointing out the usage of the other guys behind him. They need a long strong outing from John Danks.

Pedro Strop pitched the eighth inning of a tied game Saturday, Jason Motte got the ninth, and then Hector Rondon closed out the Twins in the tenth. It looks like that’s the way Joe Maddon is going to slot them in the bullpen for now. Neil Ramirez will be returning soon and Rafael Soriano will be joining the Cubs in the not-too-distant future as well. How they will fit into the late-inning mix remains to be seen.

Of Note: Aroldis Chapman struck out the side for his 15th save, and J.J. Hoover was perfect in the eighth for his sixth hold. As we’ve discussed previously, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Chapman could be moved, and Hoover looks to be the guy who would slide into that role. Cody Allen got his first win of the year, pitching a scoreless ninth. Kevin Jepsen took the loss after giving up the only run of the game in the bottom of the ninth. Tyler Clippard threw 34 pitches to record five outs and earn his 12th save of the season. He gave up one run. With Jason Grilli getting the afternoon off, Jim Johnson nabbed his fourth save, picking up after Nick Masset and Dana Eveland shut out the Mets in the eighth.

Notes From Saturday: Darren O’Day loaded the bases with nobody out and then proceeded to strike out the side in the eighth. Zach Britton also gave up three hits but held the Jays to a run and earned his 19th save. Trevor Rosenthal threw 23 pitches Saturday, striking out one and walking one in his scoreless inning. He hit triple digits with his heater. It was his first appearance since last Sunday, after being shut down for a couple of days with tightness in his biceps. The Royals shutdown trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland reprised their familiar role and shut down the Red Sox over the last three innings, striking out three and they didn’t surrender a run. Fernando Rodney got two groundouts to end the seventh inning for his first hold on the year. Mark Lowe and Charlie Furbush each got an out before handing the ball to Carson Smith to get the last out of the eighth and all three in the ninth. Addison Reed removed himself even further from any slim chance he had at resuming closer duties by giving up four runs on four hits and a walk. David Robertson(14), Tyler Clippard(11), Jason Grilli(20) and Brad Boxberger(18) all nabbed saves.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Addison Reed	Enrique Burgos
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	David Aardsma
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Jason Motte	Pedro Strop	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Boone Logan	LaTroy Hawkins	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Joba Chamberlain	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Yimi Garcia	Adam Liberatore	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Carter Capps	Steve Cishek
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Bobby Parnell	Carlos Torres	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson	Chasen Shreve	Andrew Miller
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seth Maness	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Brandon Maurer	Joaquin Benoit
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Fernando Rodney	Mark Lowe
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Tanner Scheppers	Keone Kela	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Casey Janssen	Matt Thornton	Aaron Barrett

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