A slow news day for the bullpens which is probably similar to everyone’s production at work after a holiday weekend…

• Rafael Soriano was moved to Double-A today and he was impressive in his first outing, striking out three batters on 16 pitches for the Smokies. With a few more appearances in the minors, Soriano could be in Chicago after the All-Star break.  However, rather than firm up any of the bullpen roles, Soriano’s addition is only adding to the confusion. He will help the bullpen’s depth and Maddon has seen Soriano close out games first hand on the Rays, but for now Jason Motte is getting the saves. The Motte bar isn’t a tough bar to clear necessarily but he also has Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop and possibly even more outside help. The latest Cubs rumors involve starting pitching and an OF bat so I think whoever will get saves moving forward is currently on the roster.

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Andrew Miller threw a bullpen on Saturday, and is slated to make a rehab appearance at AAA Scranton on Monday. If the rehab goes well, he could be activated after just the one appearance. This means good things for Andrew Miller owners, and not good things for Dellin Betances owners. Or does it? Joe Girardi didn’t make any proclamations regarding who his closer was early in the season, and Betances has done nothing to lose the job he’s held since Miller hit the DL. Girardi hasn’t come out and said that Miller will be thrust back into the role, so don’t be so quick to assume that’s where he’ll be when he is activated. Betances did blow the save on Saturday, giving up a two-run homer to Steven Souza Jr., but that’s not enough for an elite reliever to lose the closer gig. Pay close attention to the Yankees early in the week, and don’t hesitate to put both Betances and Miller in your lineups if they lock tonight.

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Glen Perkins notched his 26th save of the year in a 2-0 Twins victory over the Royals in Kansas City today. The Twins’ ninth-inning man needed just 11 pitches to fan one and induce a pair of groundouts to retire the Royals in the home half of the ninth. Perkins remains a perfect 26-for-26 in save opportunities with a 1.35 ERA (2.51 FIP). He’s inducing swinging strikes at an 11.1% clip — the lowest since since his 7.9% SwStr% during 2010, but still better than his career 9.3% mark — which explains the dip in strikeouts for Perkins in ‘15. But he’s walking fewer batters than he has in the past (3.9% BB%) so I guess it’s not all that bad. Velocity looks good on the fastball, but the slider seems to have lost another tick, so let’s keep an eye on that going forward.
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• Not a great day to be Santiago Casilla fan. Or a Giants’ fan. Or a Santiago Casilla owner. Or a Santiago Casilla owner who is also a Giants fan. Or… Well, regardless, Casilla had a game to forget today, giving up a pair of singles before Justin Bour walked the Marlins off with a three-run job. After seeing a pretty sizable gain in the DIPS department last year, Casilla has regressed somewhat in 2015, seeing his SIERA tend closer to where it was in 2010-2013 rather than 2014. This hasn’t been all bad for his owners, as the mark remains passable for the righty to notch some saves. Unfortunately, while Casilla’s K% is up, his BB% is teetering perilously close to the “uh oh” 10% mark, so it’d be nice to see him get the free passes under control. It’s worth noting that Sergio Romo appears to be back to the 2011-2012 version, as the slider specialist now owns a 2.00 SIERA. Unfortunately, the righty also owns a .367 BABIP so his 4.32 ERA does a pretty poor job of screaming “give me the ninth!” I still like rostering Romo as rates hold and a speculative saves add, but even with a couple rocky outings, my guess is Casilla remains safe for the time being.

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A few bullpen notes as we leave the month of June and officially enter the trade deadline season…

• The Cubs are making me bite my tongue a bit as Jason Motte was called on for the save again, converting his third of the season. Hector Rondon entered the game in the seventh, throwing a perfect inning himself with Pedro Strop also perfect in the eighth. Stubbornly, I’ll still call Rondon the best reliever in their pen but since it’s been almost two weeks since he’s received a save opportunity, it looks like Motte leapfrogged him in the pecking order. To make matters even more confusing, the Cubs could still look outside the organization for more relief options, not to mention Rafael Soriano working his way into form in the minors. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Rondon back in the chair but I’d go Motte then Rondon for now.

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• Koji Uehara entered ninth in a 3-1 game tonight, and closed the door against the Blue Jays for his 17th save. Uehara has had a few hiccups this season but he’s still putting in a fine year with a 3.00/2.50/3.45 ERA/FIP/xFIP line in 27 innings pitched. In spite of his advanced age and a 86.9 mph fastball, Uehara still gets well tons of swinging strikes (18.7%) to get over a strikeout per inning (10.00 K/9). He’s not quite the top tier of closer any more but expect him to continue to put up good numbers and saves for the Red Sox. It’s expected that the Sox could be sellers at the deadline, but there are no imminent deals lined up and trading the contracts of Pablo Sandoval and/or Hanley Ramirez could prove problematic. Uehara would be a nice addition to any bullpen and it wouldn’t shock me to see him moved even though he’s still owed $9 million next season. This trade might not be as likely as Jonathan Papelbon (who also has an expensive contract in 2016) changing teams but keep an eye on the rumors.

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Lloyd McClendon said on Saturday that he wants Fernando Rodney to reclaim the closer role. Late on Friday he also confirmed that he went with Carson Smith in the eighth because it was the toughest matchup with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols due up. If he’s going to mix and match to close out games until he has full confidence in Rodney again, don’t drop Smith just yet. He’s still going to help you with ratios and strikeouts, and I think he’s still going to pick up a few saves. Huston Street grooved a sinker to Kyle Seager, and Seager tied the game in the top of the ninth on Sunday. In the bottom half, Rodney got the nod and he gave up a hit in his seventh consecutive scoreless outing to get the game to extras. Carson Smith had pitched the last two outs of the eighth, coming in after Trout was intentionally walked. He got Pujols to fly out and then struck out Kyle Kubitza. A Tom Wilhelmsen wild pitch provided the rare wild pitch walkoff victory for the Angels in the tenth.

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Zach Britton kept humming right along for the Orioles, notching his 22nd save. He continues to lead qualified relievers with a 71.6% GB%. He has an excellent 23.2% K%-BB% and a 14.3% whiff rate, both numbers putting him in the top 25 of relievers. He throws his 95 mph sinker over 90% of the time, no reliever throws his fastball more. As a result of the sinker usage, he hasn’t induced a single pop up this year. He’s having one of the best seasons of any reliever. His 1.99 ERA is right in line with his 1.91 FIP.

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• Jeurys Familia is back. After dealing with a bit of groin tightness, the righty closer saw his first in-game action in about a week this afternoon, cleaning up a 2-0 win for the Metropolitans. Good news for fantasy owners? Familia said he was discomfort-free after the outing, meaning the green light is on going forward. The Mets’ closer has been outstanding this year, notching 20 saves with a minuscule 1.34 ERA. While some regression is to be expected, Familia’s 2.48 xFIP implies that his overall line isn’t going anywhere. It’s been an impressive transformation for the righty, who has seen his velocity tick up 2 mph with his full-time move to the bullpen last year. While he’s always generated big whiffs on his slider, he also is generating 10+% SwStr% marks on both his sinker and four-seamer. It seems like a long time ago we were wondering if Bobby Parnell would regain his old gig before July.

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• In “as the closer turns” in Toronto, it was righty Steve Delabar, not Roberto Osuna, notching the save in this afternoon’s matinee versus the Rays. Of course, the game wasn’t your run-of-the-mill affair, as it garnered most attention due to Marco Estrada’s bid for a perfect game that was foiled by a chopper up the middle. When the righty starter gave up hit number two in the ninth inning, Osuna was called on to try to preserve the 0-0 tie, which he did by retiring the only batter he faced. When the Jays finally did go ahead and take the lead a few innings later, it was Delabar who jogged in and set Tampa down 1-2-3, fanning a pair in the process. What does it all mean? Well, it probably means Osuna is not quite 100% “the guy,” although it’s worth noting that he is still only a full rest day removed from a 6-out save, so it’s possible the team didn’t want to push him for more than a batter or two. To Delabar’s credit, he’s posted a 1.42 ERA on the season, although his .128 BABIP will surely go up just as his 100% LOB% will trend down. For now, I’ll go ahead and bump Delabar ahead of Cecil (who picked up the win today, although he allowed three baserunners scattered around a pair of punchouts) on the grid, but will leave him behind Osuna for now. However, those desperate should go ahead and scoop him up for the time being — at least until this pen shakes out with a bit more certainty.

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