• *Fangraphs “breaking news” chime* Reports are out that Rangers closer Joakim Soria has been traded to the Detroit Tigers for a package of prospects. Soria has posted fantastic numbers in 2014, thanks in large part to the return of his elite changeup. His 1.84 SIERA is 11th best among all qualified relievers, 7th among closers. While Joe Nathan has constantly been propped up by Brad Ausmus, the Detroit skipper is going to have an interesting decision on his hands. Nathan has the big contract and has not operated in a setup capacity recently. Soria’s contract is more reasonable and he has experience working out of the 7th and 8th innings. Nathan’s 3.40 SIERA isn’t great, but implies that he has been BABIPed (.333) and LOB%ed (64%) a bit more than you’d expect. But Soria is still the better pitcher. Who is the ninth inning guy? My gut tells me Nathan keeps the job for now, but his leash got dramatically shorter.

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• Casey Janssen struggled this evening and Brett Cecil came on for the one-out save, his fourth of the year. In spite of Janssen’s struggles in his last couple of outings, his job is still fully secure. Rather than have Janssen labor in a tough outing, taking him out earlier tonight might actually give him a chance to pitch in tomorrow’s game. I wouldn’t rush to pick up Cecil, but along with Aaron Loup he’s a primary setup man in Toronto’s pen.

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• Does anyone really know what is going on in Joe Maddon’s head? Just as we were debating moving the Tampa Bay bullpen situation yellow (in Jake McGee’s favor), the Rays’ skipper used elite relievers Brad Boxberger and McGee prior to the ninth inning in Sunday’s tilt with the Twins. Who got the ninth? Old friend Grant Balfour. Don’t run to the wire just yet; Balfour retired the first hitter before issuing a pair of walks with a two-run lead. Maddon had seen enough and yanked the righty for former Triple-A closer Kirby Yates who induced a ground out and a pop out for his first career major league save. Worth noting: Joel Peralta missed Saturday and Sunday’s games with an illness.

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The Bullpen Report team welcomes you back from a much needed All-Star Break rest. While there are lots of news and notes that could be covered, tonight I’ll hit you with what appears to be the most essential tidbits. However, if by chance there’s something I missed that you feel should’ve been addressed, please just drop a line in the comments below.

While we were away, the San Diego Padres shipped All-Star closer Huston Street up the 5 freeway to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a handful of Halos’ prospects. The addition of Huston Street parlayed with the recent acquisitions of Jason Grilli and Joe Thatcher, should bolster an Angels’ bullpen that ranked 21st in the majors with a 3.75 ERA (3.90 FIP). Street will likely take on the ninth-inning for Mike Scioscia’s bullpen, sending Joe Smith back into the eighth-inning setup role. Not a bad problem to have for the Angels as long as both hurlers continue shoving.
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• Jake McGee returned from spending a few days with his new daughter and was immediately greeted with a save opportunity. He did his job, nailing down a 3-0 victory, whiffing two in a perfect ninth inning. The lefty now has six saves over the last month, the rest of the bullpen has four combined. It’s pretty clear he heads up this committee, although Joe Maddon has not quite gone the distance in committing to the southpaw.

There has been some chatter in the comments lately about Brad Boxberger. Read the rest of this entry »

Some quick notes from today’s bullpen action:

-The Reds ran Aroldis Chapman to the mound on each of the four previous days, leaving Jonathan Broxton to man the ninth-inning in a save situation with a one-run lead. Broxton surrendered a leadoff longball to All-World Andrew McCutchen, his second of the game, resulting in the right-hander’s fourth blown save on the season. He is now 6-of-10 in save chances and his ERA sits at 1.19, which is still far off from what his xFIP (4.30) suggests he should be posting. More rough outings could be on the horizon for the Reds’ set-up man. Broxton remains to be an emergency only reliever to own, with the exception of hold leagues, deep standard leagues and daily leagues when streaming.
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• Did Jonathan Papelbon punch his ticket out of Philadelphia yesterday? After polishing off a Roberto Hernandez gem last night, the Philly closer addressed any potential trades involving him by saying “Some guys want to stay on a losing team? That’s mind-boggling to me. I think that’s a no-brainer.” Ouch. The team (and fantasy owners) would be wise to sell high if possible. While the 33-year-old owns a 1.24 ERA, his BABIP stands at a paltry .229, implying regression is likely around the corner. There’s also no guarantee that he remains in the closer role with a new team (although we have to admit, his “proven closer(TM)” track record helps). Manager Ryne Sandberg has previously said that Ken Giles and Jake Diekman would be the likely ninth-inning beneficiaries of Papelbon being unavailable (either through usage or, conceivably, trade) so both should be scooped up in all deeper leagues. The 23-year-old Giles and his 38% K% is the more intriguing pickup. Diekman has pitched much better than his 4.32 ERA would indicate, so he remains an option, but has some degree of platoon splits which could hurt him against good righty batters.

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An quick Bullpen Report return since writing after a Boston-to-Ann Arbor trek is not high on my list of desires this evening. Good news? At least I got to listen to a lot of Gameday Audio of the White Sox pen imploding…

• Robin Ventura is going to have to answer some interesting questions. After Chris Sale cruised against the now-punchless Red Sox (who started five rookie position players in a game before August for the first time since 1952 according to their radio broadcast) for exactly 7 2/3 innings, the White Sox skipper lifted his ace lefty with a runner on third. Jake Petricka (the closer du jour for Ventura’s squad) face four batters and retired none of them, allowing three hits and a walk. Javy Guerra did stop the bleeding by retiring Mike Carp with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, but the former Dodger closer ran into more trouble in the ninth, hitting Mookie Betts before allowing a game-tying double to Daniel Nava and a game-winning single to Brock Holt. None of the hits either reliever gave up were particularly cheap, either, so this wasn’t a “death by BABIP” situation, but just bad relief pitching.

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• Aroldis Chapman allowed two baserunners but also struck two guys out en route to his 18th save of the year in game one against the Cubs today. Chapman’s ERA is higher than some of the other top tier relievers this year but he’s actually quietly having his best year yet. In 25.2 innings Chapman has 49 stirkeouts. His BB% (8.6) is the lowest it’s ever been since 2012 (8.3%) and his K% is an absurd 50.5 %. That’s right, Aroldis is now striking out over half of the batters he faces with an average fastball velocity of 100 mph. No joke.  Unsurprisingly his FIP and xFIP are tremendous at 0.85 and 1.04 respectively. Chapman doesn’t register ground balls at an elite rate, but with so few bats even making contact, even less makes great contact. There’s not much else to say here, we all know he’s among the league’s best, if not the best and ranks in the top three fantasy relievers at the worst.

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• Jenrry Mejia entered tonight’s game in the eighth inning for a four out save, and although he got four outs he also blew the one-run lead allowing a run and five baserunners. Before tonight’s outing Mejia had six consecutive scoreless appearances stretching over 6.2 innings. Mejia had a bumpy road in early June but has looked good of late and his job is still relatively secure.

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