Bullpen Report: Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Ken Giles owners, rejoice!!!! Drew Storen owners, I’m so sorry. Who saw that coming? As you all know by now, Jonathan Papelbon has agreed to be traded to the Nationals, but one of his conditions was that he was guaranteed to be the closer, bumping Drew Storen to a setup role. Don’t hastily drop Storen as he’ll still help your ratios, grab you holds and still grab the odd save. Giles earned his first save of the season for the Phillies with a scoreless ninth in Toronto. Jeanmar Gomez moves into the back end of the Phillies grid.

Edward Mujica will be slotted into the closer role in Oakland. The last couple of nights we’ve suggested that Fernando Rodriguez would be the guy, but the A’s are going with the guy with the experience. The grid has been updated accordingly.

Neftali Feliz had an atrocious line in Tampa tonight, giving up five runs and only retiring one Ray, making my decision to even place him on the grid in the first place look pretty foolish. In the Tigers roleless bullpen, it’s anyone’s guess as to who is third on the grid behind Al Alburquerque. I like Bruce Rondon ahead of guys like Blaine Hardy, Ian Krol, and Alex Wilson, even though he gave up a pair of runs on Monday. Behind Joakim Soria, the pickings are quite slim.

There was some ugliness on the Wrigley mound in the late innings on Monday. Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon put up scoreless frames, handing a 7-4 lead to Jason Motte in the ninth. After Motte gave up a homer, a single, and a double, Joe Maddon had seen enough and called on Rafael Soriano with the tying run at second with no outs. In what turned out to be his last at bat as a Rockie, Troy Tulowitzki grounded out to bring in a run, followed by a Carlos Gonzalez homer to give the lead to the Rockies. What this does to the back of the Cubs pen is anyone’s guess. Over the weekend, Maddon said he has no problem at all using a bullpen-by-committee approach, and actually prefers it.  I still have Motte sitting in closer chair, with Rondon and Soriano next in line. Strop could push Soriano out and Rondon will keep the heat on Motte. For the Rockies, John Axford couldn’t hold the lead and gave up a walk-off homer to Kris Bryant. He’s in no danger of losing his grip on the closer role. A few changes to the Rockies grid, with LaTroy Hawkins going to Toronto, and Tommy Kahnle sliding into his spot.

Trevor Rosenthal pitched a perfect ninth for the save on Monday in his first appearance since Thursday, notching his 31st save. Randy Choate and Kevin Siegrist picked up saves over the weekend, as it appears that Mike Matheny is going to do all he can to ensure that Rosenthal is fresh for October. Siegrist did get the eighth inning ahead of Steve Cishek, allowing him to face Jay Bruce and flip Brayan Pena to the right side.

Of Note: Carson Smith entered in the top of the tenth inning Monday night and didn’t fare well. He walked Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Hill, and hit Welington Castillo to load the bases. That was it for Smith, and it was his second shaky outing in a row. The Mariners seem to think that Fernando Rodney has been tipping his pitches and are working with him to straighten that out. Santiago Casilla had saved games on Saturday and Sunday, so he got the night off Monday. Sergio Romo got the save, and Hunter Strickland continued to build on his impressive campaign with a scoreless eighth, striking out a pair. Many of us would love to see him leap over Romo on the grid, but usage suggests that isn’t going to happen just yet. Jenrry Mejia failed another drug test, and now he will be suspended for 162 games. He’s been removed from the grid. Tyler Clippard made his Mets debut, pitching a scoreless ninth. Greg Holland saved his 22nd on Tuesday with Wade Davis picking up his seventh win. The Royals were one of the seemingly few teams that didn’t see any changes to their grid today. A.J. Ramos loaded the bases for the second game in a row and wriggled out of it without allowing a run. He’s got 17 saves on the season now.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	David Hernandez	Addison Reed
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	David Aardsma	Jason Grilli
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Jason Motte	Hector Rondon	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Putnam
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Tommy Kahnle	Boone Logan
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Al Albuerquerque	Bruce Rondon	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	Pedro Baez	Juan Nicasio
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Carter Capps	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Tyler Clippard	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson
Oakland	Edward Mujica	Fernando Rodriguez	Drew Pomeranz	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Jared Hughes
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Steve Cishek	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Brendan Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Mark Lowe	Fernando Rodney
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	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.]