• Deadbeat owners who had left J.J. Putz in their lineups were rewarded with his sixth save of the year and first since April 28th. It’s far from a definitive changing of the guard as the game was a 14-inning affair and current Diamondbacks closer Brad Ziegler tossed two scoreless innings (getting the win) immediately preceding Putz’s appearance. In early July, Eno Sarris gave Putz essentially a clean bill of health upon his return from an elbow injury, citing only a slight decline in fastball velocity as the only red flag. Read the rest of this entry »

Sergio Romo needed just 11 pitches in the home half of the final frame to notch his 30th save of the twenty-thirteen campaign. Romo fanned one — giving the right-hander only three strikeouts in his last seven outings — and induced a couple of pop ups to finish off the Marlins, 6-4. The Giants’ closer continues to rack up saves while limiting free passes (4.4% BB%), but fantasy owners were likely hoping for a few more strikeouts from the 30-year-old this season. His whiff rate (26.2% K%) is down for the second consecutive year — Romo rocked a 40% K% in 48 frames in 2011 followed by a 29.3% K% in just over 55 innings in 2012 — partially because he’s missing fewer bats (13.3% SwStr%) over that same time frame and also the fact that opponents are making better contact on his offerings. Strikeouts or not, Romo continues to get those all important saves for his fantasy owners as we head down the home stretch.
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The Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman, surrendered one hit and whiffed two enroute to a 2-1 Reds victory over the Brewers on Thursday evening. Chapman is now 30-of-34 on the season with a 2.74 ERA (1.03 WHIP) and a 43% K%. He “somewhat” set the bar pretty high for himself back in 2012, so when I want to discuss how his K% is “down” to 43% from just over 44% last season or his BB% is up to 10.7% from 8.3% in ‘12 I feel like I’m just nitpicking. But the aforementioned is true and so is the fact that the velo on his slider is down a tick and his LD% is up to 25%. Ya whatever, he’s still recorded 30 saves for the second consecutive season and will likely eclipse the 100 strikeout mark again as well. He’s been a stud and will continue to be a stud for the foreseeable future, I’m 99% sure you didn’t need me to tell you that.
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• Danny Farquhar is no longer perfect. Seattle’s new closer had an absolutely brutal ninth inning against the Rays tonight, allowing five batters to reach without recording an out. His blowup today aside, he still possesses a 2.16 xFIP and is a nice option going forward. Of course, managers are a finicky bunch (and don’t worship luck-neutral peripherals) so hopefully this was just a blip in the road for the 26-year-old. With Tom Wilhelmsen in the minors, Yoervis Medina seeing a decline in leverage usage, and Carter Capps still not pitching like Carter Capps should, Farquhar should get the next save opportunity. Just keep the finger closer to the waiver trigger in case he falters again.

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• Danny Farquhar’s solid run at closer for the Mariners continued tonight as he earned his fifth save of the year. Although his ERA remains less than ideal at , his 2.07 SIERA is the ninth best mark in the league and the only guys  who can best him are the four relievers mentioned above along with Jason Grilli, Mark Melancon and Koji Uehara. That’s some impressive company and speaks well to Farquhar’s ability. I don’t need to say you should pick him up if he’s available in your league but if you’re in need of saves, strikeouts or ERA, Farquhar is a guy that could give you top tier production without the cost. Also, if you’re looking for a pre-season closer sleeper for next year’s drafts, Farquhar is your man.

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• Mariano Rivera got the day off today after a recent stretch that’s seen him blow his last three saves in a row. Trying to finish off a 2-0 gem by Hiroki Kuroda, Boone Logan came in to start the ninth and put a runner on first with one out for David Robertson. Even with a two-run lead, Robertson didn’t make things easy on himself, walking Mike Trout and giving up a bloop double to Josh Hamilton. With Trout acting as the tying run on third, the Yankees setup man intentionally walked Erick Aybar to load the bases before making Mark Trumbo and Chris Nelson look absolutely foolish on swinging strikeouts to end the game.

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• What has gotten into Mo? Mariano Rivera blew his third consecutive save on Sunday, serving up solo jacks to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Like Friday, the Yankees were able to come back and win after the fact, but there is no denying Rivera is in an uncharacteristic funk; the three “BS”s in a row are something the 43-year-old has never done. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry so tardy with the bullpen report, the author was considerably under the weather last evening.

Here a are just a few notes from Saturday’s action out of the bullpen:

Rafael Betancourt is making “slow and steady progress” while recovering from an appendectomy last month. Hes tossed a few light bullpen sessions last week, so a simulated game on Monday appears to be the next course of action the veteran’s quest to return to the ninth-inning this season. Prior to the emergency procedure to remove his appendix, Betancourt notched 15 saves in 16 opportunities with a 3.16 ERA (1.21 WHIP) and a 22.2% K%. In his stead, Rex Brothers is 9-of-10 in save chances, owns a 1.52 ERA and is fanning 25% of the batters he faces. The Rockies have not mapped out a plan for their 38-year-old reliever past Monday’s potential simulated game, therefore, Brothers should continue to earn save opportunities for at least another week while Betancourt concludes his rehabilitation.

Addison Reed struggled a bit at the end of July, which Robin Ventura attributes to the right-hander being rusty from a lack of appearances, but appears to be back in the saddle for the time being. Since the former Aztec blew a save in Cleveland on the last day of July, Reed is 2-for-2 save opportunities while allowing just one earned run while posting a 2:1 K/BB. He’s now successfully closed out 28 games in 33 chances while posting a 3.61 ERA (2.59 FIP) and whiffing more than 25% of opposing hitters. A quick look at the velocity and usage on Reed’s offerings indicates his fastball appears to be down a tick from last season, but he’s not relying on that pitch as much as he used to. Reed is using his slider just over a third of the time and is throwing it harder than he has in each of the past two seasons. Opponents are slugging .239 against Reed’s fourseamer as opposed to .414 versus his slider.

Joe Nathan picked up his 332nd career save and 34th of the twenty-thirteen campaign in a 5-4 victory over the Astros in Houston last night. Nathan issued a walk, but escaped the ninth-inning unscathed to earn the handshake. This was Nathan’s third consecutive save since blowing just his second save of the year against the Yankees on July 23rd. The veteran right-hander owns a 1.54 ERA (0.90 WHIP) to go along with his 34 saves on the season and should be considered a top five-ish closing option from here on out.

Quick Hitters: LaTroy Hawkins (3), Koji Uehara (12), Casey Janssen (21), Huston Street (22), Steve Cishek (24), Kevin Gregg (25), Sergio Romo (28) and Rafael Soriano (29) each picked up saves on Saturday night. Hawkins is still available in 83% of Y! leagues for those hunting for late-season saves. David Hernandez of the Diamondbacks was optioned to the Triple-A Reno Aces after last evening’s outing. He’s struggled mightily through the early summer, but will look to get his confidence back on the farm, as his stuff doesn’t appear to be the primary concern at the moment.

Closer Grid:

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

It’s been a pretty slow day in bullpen country, so here is what I was able to scrape together for tonight:

In today’s “Scheming For Relief” column that I use to rant about middle relievers for holds leagues, LaTroy Hawkins earned a slot in the third tier based on his past thirty days of performance. In the past thirty day prior to this evening’s outing, Hawkins owned a 2.45 ERA, 1.00 WHIP with seven holds and one save in 12 trips to the bump. He seemed like a solid option to continue gathering holds despite the awful strikeout rate (9.3% K%) over the last month. But with Bobby Parnell on the disabled list, the Mets signaled for the gritty veteran to do away with the Rockies in the top half of the ninth-inning with another save chance on the line. Hawkins needed just 11 pitches to induce a fly out and two ground outs to earn his second save in four chances this season. If you’re chasing saves to finish out the season, you may as well add “old man river” to your squad to see if you can scrape together a few more.
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• As Dave Cameron predicted, Danny Farquhar has regressed and he’s now yet to allow a run in his last eight appearances, including tonight’s scoreless inning for his third save. Farquhar’s 4.95 ERA is certainly misleading as his 1.88 FIP and 2.04 xFIP paint a different picture. Although he’s barely warmed his closer’s seat, I’m going to go out on a limb and change the Mariners to yellow. Farquhar doesn’t have much of a track record in the majors but he has shown some great skills (13.62 K/9) and has done an admirable job in place of Tom Wilhelmsen. Also, considering Wilhelmsen is getting stretched out  to pitch in the rotation, I like Faruhar’s chances of holding onto the job over Yoervis Medina and Oliver Perez.

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