• Joe Maddon continues to play Russian Roulette with his ninth inning. Today it was Joel Peralta’s turn to help fantasy owners out in the ol’ SV category. The righty spun a scoreless ninth, notching a pair of punchouts as Tampa Bay cruised to a 5-2 win. The outing lowered Peralta’s unspectacular, but solid, xFIP to 3.31 and it was his first save since May 17th of last year (a four-out affair against the Red Sox). Jake McGee leads the team in leverage index (a measure of how “crucial” the game situation is) over the last two weeks, with Peralta and Grant Balfour a little behind. Trendy candidate Juan Oviedo continues to be a little further back in the race for manager trust it appears, with other guys like Brad Boxberger, Cesar Ramos, and Kirby Yates well off the radar, regardless of how good their Triple-A numbers might have been. For now, keep owning the top three guys. However, no one seems to be running away with the job right now.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Mike Scioscia must not listen to the Backstreet Boys. Today’s reliever tasked with protecting a one-run, ninth inning lead? Well, it wasn’t Ernesto Frieri or Joe Smith. Righty Kevin Jepsen trotted out of the bullpen instead. Of course, Shin-Soo Choo immediately crushed a no out delivery to center field, giving him the unfortunate BS in the box score. Scioscia’s faith in Frieri has clearly waned recently, but typical standby Smith had pitched each of the last two days, rendering him potentially unusable. Jepsen actually decreased his xFIP to a solidly respectable 3.28 after tonight’s outing. His K% is actually the highest it’s been during his career. Part of it may be due to the addition of a changeup in Jepsen’s arsenal, which has helped nearly double his fastball SwStr% from his career mark. Regression is to be expected, but the soon-to-be 30-year-old Jepsen may be able to keep pitching at a elevated level. Unfortunately for him, he blew his chance to get in his manager’s good graces, so he’s unlikely to see the next save opportunity. Smith Time?

Read the rest of this entry »

A few notes out of the bullpens on Thursday:

-The debacle that is the backend of the Angels bullpen reared its ugly head once again this afternoon in Cleveland. Skipper Mike Scioscia went with setup man Joe Smith in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game on the road, presumably leaving right-hander Ernesto Frieri to work the next frame should the Angels get on the board in their half of the tenth. The Angels indeed plated two in the top of the tenth, but Scioscia went with rookie Cam Bedrosian in the save situation instead of closer Ernesto Frieri. Bedrosian proceeded to surrender two free passes and a hit before being hooked in favor of Ernesto Frieri with one out and the bases juiced. Frieri induced a flyout to short left, then yielded a game-winning grand slam to Nick Swisher to blow his third save of the season.
Read the rest of this entry »

Some quick bullpen notes in a pinch-hit effort this evening:

With Glen Perkins unavailable for the Twins in the bottom of the 10th due to a sore back, right-hander Casey Fien earned the nod with a 1-0 lead in the save situation. Manager Ron Gardenhire called upon Fien last week to complete a four-out save — his first of the season — but this evenings effort failed to turn out as nice. He induced a fly out to Dustin Pedroia to leadoff the inning, but surrendered back-to-back homeruns to David Ortiz and Mike Napoli to blow the save and take the loss, 2-1. Despite the blown save, usage indicates that Fien should indeed jump Jared Burton on our grid (change should be reflected below) and would seemingly get the next look if Perkins’ soreness develops into more than a one-day issue. Fien is now 1-of-2 in save chances this season with 11 holds, a 2.76 ERA (3.50 FIP) and a ~18% K%.
Read the rest of this entry »

• Koji Uehara had a day off after throwing on three consecutive days and Edward Mujica came on for his second save of the year. Mujica has had a largely forgettable year and after tonight’s perfect inning his ERA dropped all the way to 6.04. Although I’d still say Junichi Tazawa or Andrew Miller could see saves if Uehara were to suddenly get hurt, it’s worth noting that Mujica could be in the mix. Also worth noting, even on his off day, is Uehara’s outstanding season with a 33% K-BB% and only two earned runs in 31.2 innings pitched. Uehara has somehow managed to maybe be even better than his phenomenal 2013. Unreal.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Hector Rondon owners slept much better last night after hearing that the Cubby closer made it through an 11-pitch bullpen session healthy. Everything sounded so good, it appeared likely Rondon would be available on Sunday. However, with a 3-0 lead, it was Neil Ramirez, not Rondon, who notched another save for the North Siders.

Read the rest of this entry »

First and foremost I’d like to wish all my fellow dads a Happy Father’s Day. If possible, sit down, put your feet up, grab a cold one and enjoy the nice slate of games on Sunday. You’ve earned it.

Now on to a few bullpen notes from around the league after Saturday’s games:

–Jonathan Papelbon fanned two of the three Cubs he faced on Saturday en route to his 15th save of the season. The successful conversion moves the veteran right-hander into sole possession of 24th place on the all-time saves list in the majors with 301. On that list, Papelbon is third among active closers behind Joe Nathan (354) and Francisco Rodriguez (324). It’s still amazing to me that the combined ninth-inning achievements of Francisco Rodriguez and Jonathan Papelbon (324 + 301 = 625 saves) would still fall short of the all-time leader, Mariano Rivera, by 27 saves.
Read the rest of this entry »

Another day, another save for 39-year-old Koji Uehara of the Boston Red Sox. He fanned one and induced two groundouts to seal his 14th save of the season on 14 pitches. Uehara has now converted 30 consecutive save opportunities dating back to July 6th of last season. Koji owns a 0.63 ERA (1.69 FIP) and a ~33% K-BB% in 27.2 innings of work in ‘14. Something else that caught my eye while cruising Uehara’s player page is his SwStr% over the past three seasons: 18.9%, 18.5% and 18.5%. Have to love the consistency. With my tail between my legs, I’ll have to admit I was totally wrong on this guy heading into this year. I anticipated Father Time creeping up on the old man, but he’s apparently nowhere in sight. Sorry for doubting you, Koji.
Read the rest of this entry »

• Boy, did Joe Maddon really fool us. Well, some of us, at least. After all this blathering about a committee, the Rays skipper pulled a fast one tonight. After essentially declaring a bullpen game by yanking Erik Bedard before he could even finish the fifth inning (not the win!), deposed closer Grant Balfour came on to get the last out in the 7th. Low leverage, earlier in the game, let’s see if he can handle it. He did indeed handle it, so he got run out for the eighth, too. Quick work, scoreless frame. Hey, with his pitch count under 20, why not send him back out one more time to try and finish off a 6-3 win?

Read the rest of this entry »

• J.J. Putz is off of the DL and back on the Diamondbacks bullpen. He threw a scoreless inning last night but he’s still behind Brad Ziegler as the Addison Reed handcuff. Reed had been diagnosed with a “tired arm” previously but he returned to the ninth inning in this afternoon’s game and struck out two Astros en route to his 16th save of the season. Reed’s fly ball tendencies and previous struggles this season should keep Ziegler on your roster a bit longer for speculative saves but the job is firmly in Reed’s hands.

Read the rest of this entry »