Greg Holland’s velocity has been up and down this season, but he was hitting his usual ceiling of just above 95 against the Cubs on Friday. He struck out two in his perfect inning, throwing nine of his ten pitches for strikes. It wasn’t a save situation, but he looked sharp in his first appearance since Monday. Wade Davis struck out the side in his perfect eighth to keep his ERA at 0.00 on the year. Pedro Strop had another shaky outing for the Cubs, as he gave up three runs, one of them earned, in a third of an inning. He entered May with an ERA of 0.00 and has raised it to 4.09 with two days left in the month. He’s still sitting next in line for saves behind Hector Rondon, but how long will it be before someone like Justin Grimm takes that spot? The Cubs miss Neil Ramirez in that role.

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• It’s not earth-shattering news that fantasy owners have been somewhat concerned about Cody Allen thus far. The 26-year-old’s 6.16 ERA isn’t helping anyone’s bottom line. While the ERA might hurt, the righty’s 3.41 SIERA thus far in 2015 isn’t awful, however, it’s still a full run higher than his breakout 2014. While his strikeout rate remains north of 30%, he is walking batters at a Carlos Marmol-esque 14% this year. Fanning the flames of bullpen unrest, Allen has been used in non-save situations his last few outings, most recently pitching the eighth with the team down 4-3 a couple nights ago against the Rangers. While it might seem that something is afoot, the team has not publicly acknowledged any change and there is little-to-no-scuttlebutt from beat writers. It is probably worth noting that the Indians haven’t had a save opportunity since last Saturday. It went to Allen and he successfully converted it.

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John Axford nailed down the win for the Rockies over the Reds and firmed up the bullpen order in Colorado. It’s time we finally turned them green. And no, that’s not a terrible marijuana joke, so just cool your jets. He struck out one and lowered his ERA to a sterling 0.75. His BB% is a pretty ugly 13.6%, he’s owner of a 92.3% LOB% and a 4.51 xFIP. Just because those numbers aren’t pretty doesn’t mean he’s in danger of losing his job. He’ll have to start coughing up leads for the color to change back to a yellow or red. He’s safe for now, but monitor his results.

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• Fernando Rodney does not look good right now. “Captain Crooked Hat” gave up three runs on three hits and a walk to blow what should have been an easy save and force extra innings (The Mariners later took the lead off Brad Boxberger — lucky them). Some might argue Rodney should have escaped if not for a Robinson Cano errant double play throw, but it’s not like Cano put all those runners on to start. Rodney now owns a 4.57 xFIP, but, hey, at least it’s better than his 6.98 ERA. While Rodney’s walk rate is hovering at the cusp of acceptable (10%), that his whiff rate has dropped precipitously (down to 21%) is a big problem. His HardHit% is a bit elevated at 23%, but he’s been around those marks the last few years. Aside from the batted ball profile, owners might want to hang their hat on the fact his velocity is the same as last year and his SwStr% is still a fairly healthy 11%. Maybe there’s a rebound in store, but he’s going to need to turn it around fairly soon as the leash is getting shorter.

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In one of the few save opportunities that we saw on Sunday, Jason Grilli struck out three Brewers and earned his thirteenth save of the year. I don’t think anyone has any illusions about the where the Braves will be at the trade deadline, so Grilli likely won’t be saving games in Atlanta in August and September. The difference between fantasy owners of Jason Grilli and the Atlanta Braves, is that his trade value could be very different depending on where and if he gets moved. If he’s traded to a team that is going to use him in the eighth, then you’re going to be missing out on saves. Maybe now is the time to look at moving him if you have him, while you know that he’ll be saving games for a few more months at least, and the prospect of his saves drying up is still well off in the distance.
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Drew Storen is having a tremendous year closing games for the Nationals. He recorded his thirteenth save of the year, and lowered his ERA to 1.04 on Friday night. His FIP is 1.39 so he’s not fluking his way into anything. His K%-BB% is sitting at 28.1%, well above his career mark of 15.9%. His pitch mix and velocity haven’t changed much, but he’s getting more takes on pitches in the zone, with a Z-swing% of 56.1% which is well below the league average of 66.6% for relievers, and is down from the 61.5% mark he’s compiled over his career. And it’s not as if Wilson Ramos is stealing a pile of extra strikes for him, as he’s sitting 20th amongst catchers in extra strikes. His Z-contact% is way down too, so guys are missing the pitches that they do swing at in the zone. It’s sitting at 73.4%, way down from his career mark of 86.6% and the league average of 85.0%. Storen is having a heck of a year so far. In other Nationals news, Casey Janssen has been reinstated and he’s replacing Tanner Roark on the grid, as Roark is being tabbed to potentially start next week. Read the rest of this entry »

Drew Storen recorded his 12th save of the year on 15 pitches tonight for the Nationals. Storen is now 12-of-13 in save chances this season and lowered his ERA to 1.04, while his FIP sits at 1.41 in just over 17 frames on the bump. Storen’s K-BB% is currently a career best, possibly due to the slight uptick in velocity, but definitely thanks to a career-best swinging strike rate of 14.5%.

On 10 pitches — eight strikes and two balls — Jonathan Papelbon retired the Rockies in the home half of the ninth-inning to pick up his 11th save of the year in as many chances. The Phillies’ closer fanned two this evening, raising his strikeout rate to 31.5% on the year, while allowing just about 5.5% of opposing batters to reach via the free pass, none of which occurred in tonight’s effort. Outside of being rumored to be on the move in a potential trade at some point this year — even though, that may be a good thing for the 34-year-old closer — Papelbon is putting together a fine season.
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• I mentioned A.J. Ramos last night but failed to note that Steve Cishek was on the losing end of the game, allowing the go ahead run on three hits and a walk. Cishek’s ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line now stands at 8.22/4.91/4.76 with nine walks and 13 strikeouts in 15.1 innings. There has been chatter on Cishek regaining the role again, but I still feel Ramos’ job is relatively safe at the moment. Sure, the Marlins could try to save money on Ramos via arbitration and give Cishek the job but Dan Jennings, regardless of his exact title now, wants to win games and unless something changes, using Cishek in high leverage spots doesn’t give them the best chance.

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• Darren talked about Neftali Feliz yesterday and now we know that he’s no longer the closer. The exact roles haven’t been redefined, but a 5.51/4.19/4.48 ER/FIP/xFIP line from Feliz can’t be tolerated in the ninth inning any longer. It’s not a velocity issue, as Feliz is in line with last year in that regard and more a simple regression. Although Feliz had a 1.99 ERA last year it was all smoke and mirrors with peripheral stats suggesting his ERA should be 4.00+. He’s now regressed and finds himself out of the closing mix for now, and possibly the rest of the year. Shawn Tolleson should be the insta-add now as he’s been the most effective reliever on the Rangers. However, with no defined roles of yet, they could look to Keone Kela or even the recently called up Tanner Scheppers. I would highly recommend using some FAAB budget or a waiver claim on Tolleson, with Kela as more speculation.

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Happy Victoria Day long weekend! Here’s the bullpen report for Sunday with some Saturday tidbits sprinkled in.

The Giants decided that they wanted pretty much everyone in the bullpen to get a hold today. After Chris Heston struggled against the Reds, Yusmiero Petit shut them down for three innings, and he ended up with the win after Javier Lopez, George Kontos, Jeremy Affeldt and Sergio Romo paraded in from the pen to each earn a hold. Santiago Casilla ended the game in delicious fashion, striking out the side on nine pitches. He’s not known as being a strikeout guy, as his 9.8% K%-BB% is exactly in line with his career mark. It was his ninth save on the season.

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