As previously noted, we’ll be posting some of the weekend Bullpen Reports the morning after. With that said, here’s a few things that stuck out to me from Friday’s action:

Koji Uehara served up five earned runs on five hits and a walk last night to the Seattle Mariners in the top of the ninth. The blowup earned Uehara his third blown save of the year in 29 chances and he’s now yielded seven earned runs in his last three outings. Velocity may be down a hair at the moment, but I’m not sure it’s something that we could blame on his recent misfortune. The 39-year-old right-hander now owns a 2.28 ERA (2.66 FIP) with a 0.89 WHIP and a 28.5% K-BB% during his 2014 campaign.
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Just a couple of notes on this rather sluggish Thursday.

Kevin Quackenbush notched his first career save Wednesday evening in Chavez Ravine as the Friars clipped the Dodgers, 4-1. The Padres’ rookie reliever tossed a clean ninth-inning on 15 pitches (12 strikes), surrendering just one hit to seal the deal for the away squad. News out of San Diego today suggests that Quackenbush could see more save chances this season if current closer Joaquin Benoit’s shoulder continues to act up. And more importantly, Quackenbush could end up being the closer next season should the Padres move him “before the end of this month or in the offseason.” Moving the 37-year-old Benoit and anointing the 25-year-old righty the ninth-inning man would get the Padres off the hook for the former’s $8M salary next season, which seems like a realistic possibility for Friars. Quackenbush is 2-2 with a save and seven holds this season. He owns a 2.29 ERA (2.65 FIP) with a 15.6% K-BB% in 42 trips to the bump.
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• The dreaded “closer in a non-save situation” …and Casey Janssen strikes out 2! The Blue Jays are only 4.5 games back from the Wild Card and Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez was up to start the inning so manager John Gibbons appropriately went all out. Janssen struck them both out, even though he only induced one whiff in seven swings total for the inning. Still, 12 of of his 15 pitches were thrown for strikes/fouls.
• “Put it in the (anxiety-inducing) Books” says (thinks) Howie Rose. With Jenrry Mejia unavailable due to his back and not his hernia supposedly, Jeurys Familia relieved Vic Black in the 8th after he loaded the bases. While he walked Sam Fuld forcing in run, he struck out Andy Parrino and got Josh Donaldson to ground out to shortstop. He got away with two things in the innings: the third strike to Parrino was a bit outside and the breaking ball on a full-count to Donaldson was a bit of a hanger although IMO it needed to be a breaking ball. At least it was thrown for a strike. A Stephen Vogt double after a Derek Norris strikeout in the 9th was the only other damage to give Familia the 5-out save. In any case, I think if he can continue to locate the fastball running outside on a lefty, he could be effective to all handedness. I’m a fan of the 3-pitch Fastball-Slider-Sinker repertoire that induces enough swinging strikes (12.4%) and ground balls (56%). We’re seeing it already in the outcomes and on the pitch level: According to Baseball Pro’s Pitchf/x Leaderboard, Familia has the 12th fasted RP velocity on the Fastball; 7th best whiff rate (51.43%) and 9th best GB/FB rate (3.2) on the slider; and 6th best whiff rate on the sinker (22.37%) which balances the fact that it only induces a 3.33 GB/FB ratio on it. If he can control the BB-rate, he should be successful and consume closing duties for at least the remainder of this year based on Mejia’s ailments. P.S. I’m a Mets fan so I apologies for the longevity associated with this run-on.
• Mark Melancon picks up the win (+1K) with a perfect inning in the top of the 9th vs. the Braves due to a Justin Upton error on a routine fly ball that allowed Jordy Mercer to score on a sac fly in the bottom of the 9th.
• Neftali Feliz hasn’t let up a run since August 3rd (only 6 appearances since). On this day, he had a 100% HR/FB ratio as Marcell Ozuna and Jarrod Saltalamachhia both went deep.
• A Bullpen Report where I don’t get to talk about Ken Giles or Brad Boxberger is a report I don’t enjoy writing nearly as much. Luckily, Ken Giles struck out Chris Denorfia, Logan Morrison and Dustin Ackley – all swinging in the 8th. To date, for relievers (200 pitches minimum), Giles has the 6th fastest FB velocity (97.72 MPH) with a top 15 whiff rate (26.7%). He also has a top 15 whiff rate on the slider (50.6%).
• The 8-9 punch of Darren O’Day and Zach Britton continues to ensure wins for the AL East leading O’s. O’Day strikes out both batters he faces and Britton strikes out 1 in a perfect 9th. O’Day threw 8/10 pitches for strikes: 4 whiffs, 3 looking, and only 1 time did the bat make (foul) contact with an O’Day offering. But Zach Britton! Whose ballsiest forecast had him at a 2.00 ERA and 30 saves?! a 77+% (77!!!) ground ball rate (11% flies and 12% liners) backs up the elite .222 BABIP right now. Nothing else on him screams elite, but the balls in play breakdown verifies the 2.04 ERA through a sub-2.00 SIERA.

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Apologies for a more abbreviated Report tonight but I’ll be sure to hit the comment section hard throughout the day tomorrow.

• Trevor Rosenthal blew his fifth save late last night, continuing some of his recent struggles. Pat Neshek has had an incredible season thus far and is worth owning regardless of how well Rosie is pitching but he’s certainly more of a must add considering Rosenthal has allowed earned runs in his last three outings. However, Mike Matheny is still behind Rosie and it’s worth putting his struggles in some context. From July 8th to August 13th, Rosenthal allowed only two earned runs in 14.1 innings pitched with a 19/4 K/BB and since then has walked 6 batters, allowing four earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched. If Rosenthal was a starter we would chalk it up to a bad outing, but as a closer it carries more meaning, often more than is deserved.

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• Jenrry Mejia’s woes continued in today’s game against the Cubs. Mejia entered in the ninth inning with the Mets down 2-1 and allowed two runs off of a Javier Baez homer. Mejia has dealt with a calf issue previously and will need surgery on a hernia in the offseason and it’s clearly affected his performance of late. As of this writing, Terry Collins hasn’t said anything about Mejia’s role moving forward but Jeurys Familia should be owned in all league’s, check your wire immediately.  It’s also worth noting that with knowledge of all these ailments, Terry Collins had Mejia pitch the fourth time in five games, probably not the smartest decision by his manager. A few weeks ago I felt safe assuming Mejia as the Mets closer on opening day 2015 but there is a real chance Familia takes the role this year, muddling Mejia’s chances next year along with Bobby Parnell who should be back from TJ surgery. Also of note, Vic Black recorded two outs in today’s game, lowering his ERA to 2.01. Although he profiles as a potential closer, he’s still behind Familia in the pecking order but that may be the best for his future health on the Mets.

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• The dreaded “closer in a non-save situation” apparently bit Aroldis Chapman today. Chapman warmed in the top of the ninth with the Reds up by two, but Jay Bruce and Bryan Pena singles stretched the lead to a four-run cushion. Rather than sit Chapman down, Dusty Baker Bryan Price brought him in, thinking “what’s the worst that could happen?” Well, four walks later (28 pitches, 12 strikes) and Chapman was yanked without recording an out. His consecutive games without a strikeout streak has now reached two. J.J. Hoover was tasked with putting out the fire, but only threw gasoline on it, eventually giving up a two-out, walkoff home run to Drew Stubbs (taking the “L” in the process).

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For my first Bullpen Report, I wanted to provide additional value so I blasted “Enter Sandman” and sprinted toward my office to write this.

Below the report of yesterday’s games, you will find rankings for 5×5 (W,ERA,WHIP,K,SV) and 6×6 (+Holds) leagues based on Zach Sander’s FVARz approach. For reference, I used 108 active Pitchers = 9 P x 12 teams and 25 IP as a qualifier. Why 25? I didn’t want to leave Ken Giles off the list.

But there’s more. In addition to their fantasy value, I’ve z-scored outcomes on the plate appearance level to depict pitcher skill (K%-BB%, Ct%, GB/FB, F-Str%, and IFFB% weighed by their correlations to ERA) and luck (BABIP, HR/FB and LOB% weighed by their correlations to ERA) thus far this season. To back up the top 20 relievers ranked by my “Skill” Score, I also furnished grids on their pitch outcomes, which depicts how well their individual pitches induce whiffs and grounders vs. flies.

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–Jenrry Mejia dished a clean ninth frame with a strikeout on just nine pitches in a non-save situation against the Nationals. This outing is an interesting one considering Mejia is apparently pitching with a sports hernia. He’ll have these issues taken care of in the offseason, but for the time being, the Mets’ medical staff has cleared him to to take the hill. In 43 appearances this season, the 24-year-old is 5-5 with 17 saves in 20 chances. He currently owns a 3.84 ERA (3.58 FIP) and owned a 1.55 WHIP with a 12.8% K-BB% entering tonight’s contest. If-and-when Mejia does goes under the knife for the sports hernia, he could “gradually return to baseball activities between three-and-six weeks after therapy.”
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• Koji Uehara had pitched four of the last five days, so John Farrell decided the 39-year-old needed a break. In came Edward Mujica to nail down a one-run game. The Red Sox righty opened the inning by allowing a pair of hits, meaning the situation had all the making of another Mujica meltdown (reminscient of his 10.00 April ERA). Luckily for the Sox and unluckily for the Reds, he was able to retire the next three in order, preserving the win for Boston. Mujica fell off of everyone’s radar after a rough start to the season. It wasn’t just bad luck either — strikeouts were down and Mujica’s notoriously stingy walk rate were on the rise. Life has gotten better since then, however, as he owns a 24/5 K/BB in 35 innings since that first month. His LD% is still well above his career average but the whiff rate on his splitter (bread and butter) has ticked upward. Interestingly, Mujica has mixed in his slider more frequently this season, in contrast to the notion of him being a two-pitch (fastball, splitter) pitcher. While still negative, his linear weights on the pitch are the best they have been since 2009. Correspondingly, this was the last time he used the slider more than 10% of the time. Regardless, it looks like he’ll be an OK holds and scab save option down the stretch, just don’t expect a ton of help in the strikeouts department.

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• Matt Lindstrom will be activated tomorrow and while he may see some time in the ninth inning before the year is over, I wouldn’t drop Jacob Petricka just yet. Petricka isn’t as good as his ERA suggests (2.02) but he’s done well enough to merit holding the job over a just off the DL Lindstrom. If you really need saves then take a flier on Lindstrom but he only has value if he’s seeing the ninth inning as he doesn’t have swing and miss stuff and is unlikely to even help your ratios. However, those in holds leagues could take a more serious look, as Lindstrom should find his way into some later, higher leverage innings, even if it’s not in the ninth.

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