Extremely brief notes in a pinch-hit effort this evening:

With the potential tying run in the on-deck circle for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth, Joe Maddon pulled starter David Price in favor of flamethrowing Jake McGee to finish the game. And McGee did just that, fanning Austin Jackson on five pitches to notch his fifth save of the season. The 27-year-old southpaw now owns a 1.16 ERA to go along with a ~31% K% in just under 39 innings on the bump. We’ve discussed McGee and the possibility of the Rays wanting to keep him from notching too many saves to keep his arbitration numbers down — which could still be the case — but don’t let that keep you from adding him in your mixed leagues. Jake McGee is available in 64% of Yahoo! leagues at the time of this writing and will bring the heat in the ratio and strikeout categories while picking up the occasional scab win even if the Rays’ brass plays games with his role out of the bullpen.
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Just a few late notes from the bullpens on this holiday weekend:

-A Felix Hernandez/Jose Quintana pitching duel in Chicago this evening seemed like it would provide each club’s bullpen with some extra rest as we approach the All-Star Break. Well, that fact became clear once the game started to be honest, as both hurlers were firing on all cylinders. But, a couple of late runs from each club led to a 14-inning battle that featured 10 relievers combining for eleven-and-two-thirds innings on the hill. None of the five relievers for the Sox appeared impressive. Surkamp, Putnam and Belisario each surrendered earned runs while Javy Guerra gave up two free passes and a hit in his two frames of work. Everything about the White Sox bullpen is red right now. The Mariners, however, failed to allow an earned run on one hit, one walk and struck out seven in six innings. One of the seven strikeouts came from Fernando Rodney, who put forth a clean effort in the bottom of the 14th to earn his 25th save of the year and maintain his ~27% K%. Rodney’s 197 career saves are good enough for sixth among active closers and just 161 behind Joe Nathan’s 358 career saves.
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Happy Fourth of July Eve, my fellow bullpen bystanders. And with tomorrow being a holiday, yours truly will be out-and-about enjoying America’s finest libations and fireworks with the family. Therefore, we won’t be chatting again until late Saturday.

Now, here’s a look at tonight’s short slate:

Southpaw Zach Britton dished a scoreless ninth-inning, yielding just a leadoff double to Chris Gimenez, en route to his 12th save of the season in 14 opportunities. The Orioles’ closer needed just ten pitches to induce a strikeout and two groundouts to seal the 5-2 victory over the Rangers. Tonight’s trip to the hill made it three consecutive days the Orioles called on their closer, so if you’re looking for a reliever to stream tomorrow in search of a save in year-long or daily league, Tommy Hunter could be considered. Three in-a-row for Britton plus an inning and two-thirds tonight for Darren O’Day could mean rest for those two arms on Friday. Keep an eye on the weather though, apparently Hurricane Arthur may have different plans for the contest between the Orioles and Red Sox at Fenway Park tomorrow.
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• Quick Recap from last night: Grant Balfour picked up the save last night with Jake McGee pitching the eighth. This is still a committee and McGee is the best reliever so he’d still be my favored option in the Rays pen for fantasy. Joe Smith picked up two saves, his eighth and ninth of the season and it doesn’t seem like Grilli is taking over the ninth in the near future. Koji Uehara got the loss entering the ninth in a tie game and although he said he’s “fatigued” he was also available to pitch tonight so no injury worries, yet. If Uehera can’t close it’s unclear who is next in line. Junichi Tazawa and Andrew Miller have been better than Mujica, but Mujica received an opportunity this year.  Of course Mujica pitched poorly in an inning tonight and I’d wager the Sox would go to a committee type if Uehara’s fatigue caused him to miss any time. Addison Reed did what the Diamondbacks have done all year, blown. Hector Rondon also recorded a save, his 11th of the season and after a few hiccups last week that situation is going from Red –> Yellow.

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• Jake Arrieta was four outs away from throwing a no-no before Stephen Drew singled and at 120 pitches, Pedro Strop came in to get the final out of the eighth inning. Hector Rondon entered for the ninth and pitched around a lead off single to record his 10th save of the season. Rondon has had a few flare ups of late but he’s still the Cubs closer and should continue to get save chances as they come, especially if he pitches more like he did tonight. However if he struggles again soon or is put on the trading block, look for Neil Ramirez to fill in for saves.

• Dellin Betances finally showed he was human allowing two-walks and an unearned run in the eighth inning tonight against the Rays. With the “off” outing Betances still supports a 1.69 xFIP with a 14.25 K/9 and remains the likely best non-save option in fantasy baseball.  Robertson finished the eighth, allowing Betances’ inherited run to score and stayed on to throw a scoreless frame in ninth as well.

• Jake McGee entered tonight’s game with a one-run lead in the eighth and pitched around a couple of base hits for a scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 1.24. Even though a couple of lefties were due up in the ninth, it was Joel Peralta who came on for the save that he quickly blew on a home run by an unlikely source in Brian Roberts. This is obvioulsy good news for McGee owners. He has received the last two save opportunities for the Rays and given Peralta’s performance tonight, I fully expect McGee to receive the next opportunity as well.

• There wasn’t a save situation in the Nationals game today but Drew Storen pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Tyler Clippard is likely next in line in the pecking order but Drew Storen is having a nice comeback season after a down year in 2013. His 1.03 ERA is likely to regress but Storen is keeping the ball in the park and avoiding the free pass. There are likely more exciting non-save options for strikeouts and even ratio help, but in Saves+Holds leagues, on a competitive Nationals team that should have a few leads to protect, Storen is certainly a sound option.

• Sean Doolittle has had an incredible season a forgettable June 30th. Doolittle started the ninth in a 4-1 game, but ended up allowing a grand slam walk-off homer to Rajai Davis for his third loss of the season. This was actually Doolittle’s second blown save in a row but even after tonight’s blowup, Doolittle still has an ERA under three with an insane 57/2 strikeout to walk ratio and remains a top tier closer in both real life and fantasy baseball.

Closer Grid:

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]

• Sergio Romo is out as closer and Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla will be part of the closing committee for now. Romo is still expected to pitch in some sort of setup role but Casilla and Affeldt should be receiving the save opportunities in the meantime. Romo hasn’t been as bad as his 5.17 ERA would suggest but even a 3.93 xFIP and 3.27 SIERA is worse than we expected from him. Romo’s never been a big velocity guy but his fastball and slider have actually been a little better than last year. Also, although Romo’s K% have fallen the last few years  his 14.2% SwStr% shows he can still get some whiffs, even if it hasn’t presented itself with his pedestrian K-rates this year. Barring a hidden injury I’d expect Romo to regain his job this summer but it’s Casilla and Affeldt for now. As a lefty/righty combo, gameflow should determine who sees the save on a given night. Both Affeldt (1.33 ) and Casilla (1.17) are owners of some shiny ERA’s and I would reccomend any team in need of saves to snag them if they’re available on the wire. Jean Machi is also having a nice year and could figure into some saves but he’s given up runs in his last two outings and Bochy mentioned Casilla and Affeldt as Romo’s replacements.

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-Tonight’s ride on the Hector Rondon rollercoaster went off without a hitch. Rondon induced two groundouts to start the ninth before striking out Danny Espinosa to seal the 5-3 victory for the Cubs against the Nationals. The 14-pitch outing for Rondon is a relief for fantasy owners and Cubs nation alike, especially considering he’s allowed eight earned runs in his past five outings. As for the rest of the bullpen, Neil Ramirez finished off the seventh-inning and Pedro Strop allowed a hit in the eighth, but failed to allow the Nats to capitalize on Adam LaRoche’s bunt single. Rondon, available in ~60% of Yahoo! leagues, is now 9-of-11 in save opportunities with a 3.68 ERA (2.19 FIP) and a 28.4% K%.
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• Sometimes, I feel all I do is write about Mike Scioscia and his managerial whims. See, there’s a reason I don’t cede to admonishment for being “too low” on Ernesto Frieri in our consensus ranks. Late last night, the Angels manager said that Joe Smith is in, Frieri is out. For now. Smith has the much better ERA but only slightly better peripherals. Frieri has been toasted by the homer this season, with over 20% of his fly balls leaving the yard. Interestingly, the hard-throwing righty’s problem has traditionally been the walks but he’s (so far) shaved his BB% in half. For those who may point to Smith’s 2.19 SIERA and wonder, “why isn’t he just the guy?”, his low arm slot keeps him effective against right-handers, but causes him to get ripped by lefties to the tune of a .323 wOBA against. Not matchup-independent material. Of course, we said the same thing about Steve Cishek, and he seems to have figured out how to get everyone out. So what do we know? Smith is the guy to own right now, but that will almost certainly change before the season is out. Keep Frieri rostered in all leagues of sufficient depth, although feel free to bench him if you want to protect your rates.

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• Robin Ventura said that Ronald Belisario was still his guy even after giving up last night’s bomb to Chris Davis. With Chicago heading into the ninth with a three-run lead, was he true to his word? Well, sort of. Belisario did end up notching the save, but only after Scott Downs began the inning. Of course, Downs (a noted lefty killer) was there to face Chris Davis (a noted Belisario killer) so it was likely just a matchups ploy. After Downs allowed Davis to reach, Ventura brought in his closer who allowed the inherited runner to score, but otherwise escaped with no additional damage (and the save!).

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• Ronald Belisario blew his fifth save of the season tonight allowing a pinch hit three-run homer to Chris Davis. Belisario was on fire from late April to late May but has struggled of late allowing 11 earned runs in his last 11 innings pitched. His ERA is now 5.50 but a 3.17/3.34 FIP/xFIP show that the sky isn’t quite falling. Still, an ERA over 5 while converting just 7/11 save opportunities isn’t how you hold a job as closer. As of this writing I haven’t heard anything about Belisario’s status as closer so I assume his job is still relatively safe but keep an eye on Zach Putnam. Putnam also gave up a homer tonight and his peripherals aren’t any better than Belisario but a few more blown saves could force Ventura to make a change.

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