A relatively quiet Sunday in the world of bullpens…

• Phillies heading into the ninth with a three-run lead and out trots… Antonio Bastardo? Bastardo ended up nailing down the save (a little present for his holds owners!) although he wasn’t terribly sharp, giving up an earned run amid four baserunners. Bastardo’s 2.25 ERA certainly is nice and tidy, but with a low BABIP (.269) and a high strand rate (88.2% LOB%), his xFIP is a less delicious 4.95. His career xFIP is 3.77, so he’s probably not this bad, but if I had to own a non-Jonathan Papelbon reliever in Philadelphia, it would be Mike Adams. Oh, by the way, don’t fear Papelbon owners, he is merely battling some sort of illness. Day-to-day.

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Just a few bullpen notes from this evening…

Huston Street embarked on his annual journey to the disabled list today, and for the second time in two years, his left calf appears to be the culprit. Prior to hitting the shelf, Street converted 11-of-12 save chances with a 4.43 ERA (7.44 FIP) and a 1.63 K/BB in 21 appearances. But despite the successful save conversion rate, the veteran closer is failing to miss bats (8.6% SwStr%) like he’s been able to in the past (13.4% career SwStr%). Bud Black indicated that both Luke Gregerson and Dale Thayer would close games in Street’s absence, but tonight, Thayer took the hill with two out in the seventh while Gregerson earned the call in the ninth. Gregerson surrendered three hits and one earned run during his first save opportunity this season, but in the end, notched the saves. Gregerson should be considered in all relevant formats for those chasing saves.

Rafael Betancourt also landed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday due to a nagging groin injury. In his stead, manager Walt Weiss will look for left-hander Rex Brothers in the ninth frame in save situations. Admittedly, I initially anointed Wilton Lopez as the heir apparent to Betancourt based on his previous experience in Houston — and to a lesser extent, the fact that Brothers is a southpaw — but, the lefty’s 0.38 ERA proved to be too good to pass up. Like Gregerson, Brothers should be an immediate target for those in need of saves.

Francisco Rodriguez locked down his third save of the twenty-thirteen campaign this evening — the 240th of his career — as the Brewers clipped the Phillies, 4-3. K-Rod yielded a leadoff longball to Freddy Galvis, but pulled a few rabbits out of his hat to walk off the diamond with a handshake. With Jim Henderson reportedly out “a while,” Rodriguez deserves to be owned in more than just 37% of Yahoo leagues.

Greg Holland (9), Jose Veras (10) and Aroldis Chapman (14) each tallied saves tonight while Tom Wilhelmsen blew his second save chance of his last five outings.

Closer Grid:

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

Bobby Parnell notched his ninth save of the year in a 3-1 Mets victory over the Yankees tonight. For the Metropolitans, the win surprisingly sealed a series sweep against their crosstown rivals, providing them with some momentum as they head back into divisional play against the Marlins, Nationals and the Marlins again over the course of the next two weeks. For Parnell, it was his third consecutive save and the third outing in-a-row without surrendering a hit. The lanky right-hander whiffed one-of-three batters this evening, bringing his whiff rate to 25% on the season. The current 25% K% is actually higher than he’s had in the past two seasons — 23.9% and 21.2% respectively — despite missing fewer bats (8.6% SwStr%) than he has over that same time (9.8% SwStr% in ‘11, 10.1% SwStr% in ‘12). The previous data leads me to believe that Parnell’s strikeout rate could continue to rise if his ability to miss bats regresses toward his career 9.6% SwStr%. His recent success parlayed with the news that Frank Francisco was transferred to the 60-day disabled list today with continued elbow issues further proves that Parnell’s grip on the closer’s role in Flushing continues to get stronger.

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• The Indians still haven’t had a save situation since Chris Perez went down, but Vinnie Pestano came on in the ninth of a four-run game today. He promptly gave up a round-tripper to Xavier Paul, but settled down to finish off the victory. I still don’t like his peripherals, but you have to own “the guy.” Cody Allen tossed a scoreless inning with a couple strikeouts. He probably got plucked up the last couple days following the Perez news, but even if he’s not closing, he’s a nice source of K’s and ERA for your squad.

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• Chris Perez was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday with a shoulder injury and after an MRI today, we now know he has rotator cuff tendinitis. While the news could have been worse, as shoulder injuries are always worrisome especially considering Perez had a few shoulder flare ups earlier this season, the Indians are glad he won’t have to miss any significant time due to the injury. In his place in the ninth inning will be Vinnie Pestano. Pestano has been an ace reliever the last couple of years but has struggled in 2013. Pestano has never had great control with a career 3.62 BB/9 but he compensated for it with terrific swing and miss stuff. This year his control has eluded him a bit (5.25 BB/9) as his strikeout rate (9.0 K/9) is down from his career numbers (10.87). Add it all up and Pestano is pitching to an ugly 4.99 FIP.

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• I feel like I write “uh oh” a lot. Uh oh. Chris Perez left Sunday’s game with a sore shoulder. Boston rallied from three runs down to win but it’s tough to tease out how much of that was the shoulder and how much was Perez just being bad. Either way, shoulder injuries, especially those that require coming of a game mid-inning are nothing to scoff at. Regardless of what the Indians said after the game, this seems likely to be longer than a day-to-day thing, and could possibly land Perez on the disabled list.

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• Uh oh. Jim Henderson went down with a left leg injury trying to finish off a one-run game tonight in Milwaukee. It didn’t look good; his plant leg essentially buckled on a pitch to Russell Martin. He tried one warmup pitch but grabbed at back of the leg again before being led off the field. Who came in for the last out of the game? None other than Francisco Rodriguez, who induced a Neil Walker groundout to pick up career save number 295. After the game, Henderson was diagnosed with a hamstring injury. Ouch.

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It was a slow day on the diamond with just five games on the schedule, so here are just a few bullpen notes to hold you over…

Jason Grilli’s early season ninth-inning heroics vaulted him to the number seven slot in the Bullpen Report’s “Updated Consensus Closer Ranks,” and this afternoon’s 14-pitch effort did nothing but solidify that ranking. The Pirates closer faced the minimum in the ninth and struck out the final two Cubbies to remain a perfect 19-for-19 in save chances this year. The two looking strikeouts — courtesy of Luis Valbuena and Welington Castillo — inflated the right-handers whiff rate to 41.4% on the year, which as of tonight, is a major league best. In addition to the fantastic strikeout rate, Grilli lowered his ERA and WHIP to 1.25 and 0.74 WHIP on the year respectively.

To be fair, Jason Grilli isn’t the only story coming out of the Pirates ‘pen these days. Twenty-eight-year-old Mark Melancon owns a 0.72 ERA, 0.80 WHIP a 27.4% K%, a 1.1% BB% and has notched a league-leading 16 holds in 25 trips to the hill. Yes, those numbers are real. Parlay those ratios and whiffs with a scab win here, a scab save there and you could have yourself a top 100 player. Melancon is owned in just 20% of Y! leagues, but at this point, he’ll be more than useful in all 12-team and deeper mixed formats.

Papa Grande shook hands for the fifth time this season as the Tigers closed out the Twins, 7-6. Valverde sat down the Twinkies in order — including two via the strikeout — to raise his strikeout rate to 25% on the season. In 11 appearance since rejoining the Tigers, Valverde is 4-of-4 in save chances with a 0.82 ERA and a 0.54 WHIP. Today’s save pushes Jose Valverde’s career save total up to 282, placing him 28th on the all-time career saves list and only behind Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan and Francisco Rodriguez among those still in the game. Watch out Mo, Jose is just 343 saves away!

There are seven middle relievers that have earned four or more holds in the past two weeks. Joel Peralta (6) notched the most of the bunch, while Trevor Rosenthal and David Robertson are the only two with a minimum of four holds and ten strikeouts. Four of the seven — Jesse Crain, Sean Doolittle, Jake McGee and Trevor Rosenthal — own a perfect 0.00 ERA. And what do you get when you add Rosenthal, McGee and Doolittle’s efforts together over that time? A 2-0 pitcher who sports a glistening 0.00 ERA and a 7.6 K/BB. Yes, that’s Chris Sale territory. Moral of the blurb? If the top 20 starting pitcher you’re looking to acquire continues to elude you, simply stack a few elite middle relievers and get close to the same result — if you have the roster spots.

Closer Grid:

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

• Uh oh. Fernando Rodney is at it again. The crooked-lidded closer blew his fourth save of the season this afternoon, giving up a solo shot to Jose Bautista. While the home run was the real punch, the bigger concern for Rodney’s owners is that manager Joe Maddon initially left him in, but then yanked him after he walked yet another batter on the season. If you look at Rodney’s BB% the last five seasons, they read 16%, 12%, 11%, 19%, 5%, 20%. Spot the outlier?

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• A day after blowing his third consecutive save chance, Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless tenth inning against the Yankees in a tie game this evening. Although it obviously wasn’t a save opportunity, Johnson was the pitcher of record when Nate McLouth hit the walk-off home run and before the game, Buck Showalter said that Johnson would still be used as the closer. While Johnson can’t really afford to blow another three consecutive saves, he’s still the man in the back of the bullpen with the support of his manager. Behind Johnson is Darren O’Day, who has been fantastic in 2013 (and 2012) with a 1.74 ERA, 3.56 FIP and a 9.58 K/9 on the season. O’Days control has left him a little this year with a 10.1 BB% after posting  a 5.3% BB% in 2012 and 6.8% in 2011 but if he can regress back to those normals this year, he should have the fancy peripherals to match the ERA.

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