– Brandon League seems to enjoy skating on thin ice. The Dodgers’ ninth-inning man blew a save in New York last night — and including tonight — has surrendered four earned runs in his last six outings. Tonight’s earned run came on a leadoff solo homer by Ike Davis of the Metropolitans. League managed to sneak his way out of the ninth without any further damage to earn his sixth save — and most importantly, a Dodgers victory — but some have to be wondering how long his leash is. League’s velocity appears to be down a few ticks and his stuff isn’t causing batters to swing-and-miss (5.3% SwStr%) as they’ve done in the past. Moreover, League has recorded just three strikeouts on the season (8.1% K%). Keep close tabs on Kenley Jansen — and even make the speculative add — if you’re as concerned as I am.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Matt Reynolds recorded the first save of his career last night in the eleventh inning and tonight recorded his second save again in extras, this time the tenth inning. J.J. Putz had blown the save last night and with the day off today the D-backs turned to David Hernandez in the ninth but he couldn’t get the job done. Hernandez owners can’t be too mad as he ended up with the win, but it would have been nice to see him close the door following a Putz blown save. Before the game, D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said that Putz is still their closer. Considering that Putz did nothing wrong today, I don’t imagine the ninth inning role being handed to Matt Reynolds, or anyone else for the time being, assuming Putz is healthy. Reynolds is a tall, decent lefty out of the bullpen (not the highest of praise) but his chances of seeing any future save opportunities will have to continue to be in extra innings, when the regulars (Hernandez and Heath Bell) have already been used.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Colin said it last night, and I don’t really have all that much to add so, “All aboard the Edward Mujica bandwagon!” Adam Wainwright couldn’t quite complete what he started and Mujica came on for the two out save, his third of the year. I’d be interested in betting some gummy bears or Jelly Beans on Trevor Rosenthal finishing the year with the ninth inning role but sometimes a pitcher can just run away with the job once he gets a hold of it and for now, Mujica has that opportunity.  Mujica has always had fantastic control (career 4.1% BB%) and this year he’s striking out a few more batters than he has in years past (28.6% K%) on the heels of an increased SwStr% of 14.9%, which would be  a career high. Small sample size warnings obviously apply, but if Mujica maintains any improvement in missing bats, it will go a long way in cementing him not only as the closer in St. Louis, but a particularly good one for fantasy.

Read the rest of this entry »

• All aboard the Edward Mujica bandwagon! Mujica got another crack at the ninth inning tonight, trying to hold on to Shelby Miller’s third win of the season. Thankfully (for St. Louis fans), he made it look easy, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the 3-2 win. He doesn’t possess elite strikeout stuff, mainly relying on a fairly straight fastball and an above-average splitter as his two primary weapons. He offsets this lack of prototypical late inning heat with fantastic control, putting up a career 4.1% BB%. Yes, it’s sexy time. He doesn’t have the raw upside of a guy like Trevor Rosenthal, but he’s good enough (and the Cardinals pen has been shaky enough) that he can hold the job. He’s a must own in all formats. Hopefully you snagged him a few days ago but double check your wire if you haven’t.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Greg Holland gave owners a double dip in the saves category tonight, with Kansas City winning both games in a split doubleheader at Fenway today. He faced six batters and whiffed five of them (although the Red Sox were fairly indiscriminate in their strikeouts this weekend). More importantly, he gave up zero free passes, dropping his (small-sample) BB% from a terrible 26% to a still-terrible-but-slightly-less-so 20%. He did still have trouble with his breaking ball a few times, throwing a couple 55-foot sliders in the second game, but his fastball had enough life to get out of jams. He’s regained a stranglehold on the ninth inning, especially since Kelvin Herrera took a loss and blown save on Saturday.

Read the rest of this entry »

–Edward Mujica snuck himself out of a jam tonight to earn the four-out save, his first since May 2012, in a 4-3 Cardinals victory over the Phillies. Mike Matheny called for the 28-year-old Mujica to bail out young gun Trevor Rosenthal with two down and two on in the eighth. The veteran subsequently fanned Laynce Nix to end the Phillies’ rally. Mujica then surrendered two consecutive singles of his own to start the ninth-inning, but was able to finish off the Phils with two infield groundouts and a strikeout, securing his first save of the season. Quickly after the save, our friend Drew Silva tweeted this:

Edward Mujica, acquired last July for, umm, Zack Cox, now has a 1.11 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 28/4 K/BB in 32 1/3 innings with the Cardinals.

— Drew Silva (@drewsilv) April 19, 2013

Read the rest of this entry »

• Royals fans must have been anxious this afternoon when Greg Holland was called upon to nail down a 1-0 win. To make matters even more perilous, the first two batters he had the pleasure of facing were first-two-week MVP Justin Upton and Rookie of the First-two-weeks Evan Gattis. Ouch. Break out the dingers? Read the rest of this entry »

• Suffering through a hamstring injury, the Red Sox placed closer Joel Hanrahan on the Disabled List today. As we have said, expect Andrew Bailey to continue to replace Hanrahan in the closer’s role. While there is no timetable on Hanrahan’s return, it doesn’t figure to be too bad of an injury. However, considering how poor Hanrahan was pitching this season, he won’t be given such a long leash upon his return. Andrew Bailey should be owned in all leagues and while Hanrahan is out, teams desperate for saves or interested in helping their ratios can take a flier on Koji Uehara.

Read the rest of this entry »

• With Joel Hanrahan out with a hamstring injury Andrew Bailey came on for his first save opportunity of the year and proceeded to blow the lead, allowing an RBI single to Ben Zobrist who knocked in Desmond Jennings after he singled and stole second. Fortunately for Bailey owners, the Red Sox scored in the bottom half of the inning, getting Bailey the win. Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless eighth inning and while he might be the best reliever of the bunch in Boston the Red Sox don’t want him to pitch on consecutive days too often, limiting his potential to close games consistently, if at all this season. Still, as I mentioned previously, with a 14.33 K/BB last year and a career 2.67 FIP as a reliever, Uehara can be a useful fantasy player for many teams. Bailey may have blown the save, but he’s still pitched great this year (0.74 FIP/15.19 K/9) and significantly better than Joel Hanrahan. Hanrahan hasn’t lost the job, but if he doesn’t pitch well upon his return, it won’t be his for much longer. In spite of today’s results, pick up Bailey if you need saves.

Read the rest of this entry »

• #LOLCubs. Remember those awful days last summer when we had to sit here and figure out who was the least terrible option between James Russell and Shawn Camp? Yeah, I trepanned myself, too. But apparently those days are here again after Kyuji Fujikawa hit the disabled list yesterday. Shawn Camp got first dibs on a save chance which meant he got to be the first to do his best Carlos Marmol impression. Well, I guess he didn’t walk the house, but he did give up  an earned run in the ninth to blow the save and then another three in the tenth to take the “L.” While he hasn’t been as bad as his (to date) 12.46 ERA indicates (.471 BABIP, 52.1% LOB%), he’s still not very good, with a career 4.35 SIERA and a paltry 15.9% K%.

As Ben pointed out in yesterday’s Bullpen Report, Russell may get the shaft as the lefty in the platoon, but his 17.8% K% and 3.79 SIERA isn’t blowing any doors off either. Expect the two to continue splitting opportunities based on handedness, but, honestly, I wouldn’t be bothered rostering them unless I was desperate for a couple saves. Even then, their ratios might hurt you more than the “SV” helps. Also keep in mind, that the longer the ninth inning is a problem post-Marmol, the closer Marmol himself comes to seeing save situations again. Try to erase that thought from your head.

Read the rest of this entry »