• There is no word on who the next closer in Toronto will be as a save situation did not present itself tonight but we do know that Brett Cecil is officially out. Steve Delabar entered the game in the ninth inning down by a run. He proceeded to allow a homer to Asdrubal Cabrera and a walk to Brandon Guyer but then retired the next three batters. Tonight’s outing likely won’t play a role in Delabar’s role in the pen and although there might be a current committee in Toronto without a closer announced, I’m still buying more stock in Roberto Osuna.

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• After losing the closing gig earlier this year, we figured that Addison Reed could have regained his role with improved performance in lower leverage innings. However, since then he’s only struggled and has now been demoted to AAA. It stands that Reed could theoretically still regain his familiar role in the ninth, but he’s far off the radar as of now. With Reed’s demotion comes Enrique Burgos‘ return from the 15-day DL. Burgos has nasty stuff, generating tons of strikeouts and is in someways the antithesis of current closer Brad Ziegler who has a paltry 4.50 K/9. Ziegler is converting the opportunities he’s given though, and his grasp on the job is fairly secure. Once Burgos gets a few innings under his belt, he could leapfrog Dan Hudson in the pecking order.

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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.

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There were all sorts of happenings in Toronto on Friday night regarding the Jays pen. Roberto Osuna was tossed in the eighth after dotting Adam Jones. He gave up two hits and was charged with an earned run. Steve Delabar cleaned up the eighth after Osuna was tossed, lowering his ERA to 1.15 in the process. That left the ninth, and a rare save opportunity, for Brett Cecil. He gave up three singles, hit a batter and surrendered two runs, allowing the Jays to win by a single run while getting save number five. The Jays have been linked to Francisco Rodriguez and Jonathan Papelbon, and with a pair of replacements ready in the pen in Osuna and Delabar, the days of Cecil as closer are numbered.

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The power outage wasn’t scary at all because it stays light out here until 11:00, so I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.

The Phillies back end power trio shut down the Orioles to win by a run Thursday afternoon. Once Jonathan Papelbon is traded to Canada, Ken Giles will capably take over saving the few games that the woeful Phillies will keep close. Just because they’re bad doesn’t mean they won’t have close games though. The Jays are playing great and save chances have been few and far between in Toronto. Luis Garcia will slide into the eighth-inning role. The trio struck out four over three scoreless innings.

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Dellin Betances doesn’t have Dellin Betances to set him up, except when he does. Joe Girardi was forced to bring him in with one out in the eighth inning against the Marlins when Justin Wilson wasn’t able to take care of his business. He walked Adeiny Hechavarria and gave up a single to Ichiro Suzuki, and that was it for him. Betances got a grounder to first that Garrett Jones used to nab Dee Gordon at home, then got a liner to right to end the inning. It’s great to see a team bring their best reliever out with the game on the line, and not have to feel as though they have to wait for the start of the ninth. Betances hadn’t pitched since Sunday, so 24 pitches tonight are not a big deal. He worked around a hit and a single, striking out two to claim his fourth save on the year.

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• A quick recap from last night: Greg Holland entered a non-save situation up six runs but ended up handing Wade Davis a save opp after allowing five baserunners and three earned without recording an out. Jeurys Familia has been quite good this year but he blew his second of the year. Similarly, Brett Cecil couldn’t hold onto the lead in the same game, blowing his second save chance as well. Cecil, unlike Familia, has not been particularly great this year and also hasn’t been handed many save opportunities, even with Toronto’s recent winning ways. A.J. Ramos (9), Jason Grilli (17), Shawn Tolleson (9) and Luke Gregerson (16) all recorded saves. Kevin Siegrist received and nailed down his second save of the year as Trevor Rosnethal was unavailable due to “tightness”.

• For the second game in a row Kevin Siegrist received a save opportunity and for the second game in a row he recorded a save. The tightness in Rosenthal was “a little sore after Saturday” but a DL trip is not likely at the moment for Rosenthal. We will take Matheny’s word and Rosenthal is said to be progressing but any injury to a pitcher is worthy of concern and I would pick up Siegrist in even shallow leagues. At worst you waste a roster spot vulturing for a save, but if Rosenthal’s arm doesn’t improve you could be picking up a high quality closer.

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The Braves are now three games below .500, and a huge reason is because, as we’re reminded on an almost daily basis by Chip Caray, the Braves were unable to outscore their bullpen again. Mike Foltynewicz couldn’t get past the fifth inning, and Brandon Cunniff had to come in to spell him. He struck out a pair of Mets, but not before giving up a bomb to Travis D’Arnaud and walking a pair. Luis Avilan gave up a three-run homer to Juan Lagares in the sixth, to erase all memory of the Braves 8-3 lead. New additions David Aardsma and Dana Eveland each pitched a scoreless frame. The Braves will need that to continue, or maybe they turn to a few of their minor-league starters to work out of the pen in Atlanta in an effort to keep their innings down, and also start reaping benefits from them sooner rather than later. Matt Wisler and Manny Banuelos would seem to be logical options if the Braves choose that route.

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Sorry for the lateness of the Bullpen Report today, but here it is.

Who is closing for the Chicago Cubs today? Jason Motte pitched a perfect eighth, and Pedro Strop pitched the top of the ninth in a tie game Friday, the spot usually reserved for the closer. He struck out one and didn’t give up a single baserunner. Hector Rondon was saddled with the loss after he gave up a pair of hits and was the victim of some shoddy fielding behind him, as a Kris Bryant error greased the track for the Reds to score one in the top of the tenth. Rondon did give up those two hits, so he could have mitigated the error, but this is one reason why he isn’t the number one choice to close right now. Strop has slid into the closer slot on the grid for today, but who knows what the grid will look like Sunday night. Across the diamond, J.J. Hoover sucked up his fifth win of the year after throwing two scoreless innings and lowering his ERA to 1.71. Aroldis Chapman struck out a pair of Cubs in the bottom of the tenth to procure the save, his 13th.

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The latest out of the Bronx on Andrew Miller indicates that the southpaw could miss up to a month on the disabled list while recovering from a forearm strain. Miller will be shut down for about two weeks before starting a throwing program with the hopes of returning in about four weeks. Like we discussed yesterday, Dellin Betances jumps into ninth-inning action for the Yankees and we can probably have a fair discussion that he also jumps into the top spot in our reliever rankings until Miller returns from the shelf.

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