• Tom Wilhelmsen needed 19 pitches in Toronto to earn his 26th save of 2012. Wilhelmsen surrendered a walk, but fanned two and induced a fly ball to lock down his seventh consecutive save. The Mariners ninth-inning man is now 4-3 on the year with 26 saves, a 2.50 ERA (1.14 WHIP) and a 2.33 K/BB. Wilhelmsen’s save tally is good enough for 12th-best season in club history, which is a huge accomplishment considering he didn’t take over the role until June 4th — 59 games into the season.
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• After his second poor appearance in a row Dusty Baker was concerned with Aroldis Chapman’s velocity down and now the Reds are going to give Chapman a few days off to “rest his tired pitching shoulder.”  Chapman, whose average fastball velocity is 98 mph this year, only hit 96 mph on the radar gun last night. As ridiculous as that might sound for any other pitcher, it is definitely a cause for concern for the Reds. With Chapman resting, Jonathan Broxton received the save tonight and he should be a must add as he is the preferred replacement for Chapman.

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• With Jonathan Papelbon unavailable tonight, the Phillies used Antonio Bastardo for the save tonight against the Marlins. Bastardo isn’t likely to receive many (if any) save opportunities for the rest of the season (or next), but it’s worth noting he’s pitched better than his 4.57 ERA would indicate. Bastardo has elite strikeout ability and with a 3.29 xFIP Bastardo is still one of the highly touted set-up men as we expected early in the season and he could even help out some of your ratios.
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• Haven’t said this in a couple months, but, “Heath Bell blew another one.” Ozzie Guillen turned to the big man on Saturday to try and finish off the Nationals; he responded by giving up a solo shot to Jayson Werth. In Bell’s defense, he did strike out the side around the homer. Nothing came across the wire that implied Steve Cishek (12/13 save conversion rate) was unavailable, so this has all the makings of Guillen trying to give his $27 million man another shot at the ninth inning. Bell has actually pitched pretty well since the beginning of June (3.35 xFIP, 3.9 K/BB) but Saturday’s outing still probably left a sour taste in the Marlins’ mouth. Don’t count on him for anything other than the stray save chance from here on out.

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• He’s human! Aroldis Chapman allowed a three-run shot to Matt Dominguez on Friday night, turning a potential win for the (likely) playoff-bound Reds into a loss to the lowly Astros. The outing absolutely killed Chapman’s peripherals, sending his xFIP soaring to… 1.63. Chapman’s otherworldly fastball velocity has ebbed and flowed a bit this year and is currently on a mini-downward slide, which may be in small part due to the fact that he’s already thrown more innings than he did all of last year (1 1/3 IP up on all levels with a month to go). That said, his xFIP is only up slightly to 2.37 since the start of August — up slightly because he put up a ridiculous -0.18 (yes, negative) in July. No reason to stop riding the Chapman train now.

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• Huston Street experienced a setback during his attempt to “ramp up” the recovery process during his recent trip to the disabled list for a strained left calf. The Padres’ closer, who recently signed a $14-million, two-year extension, initially hit the DL on August 11th with the calf strain. After a bullpen session on Tuesday, manager Bud Black indicated Street “felt great throwing and his delivery is fine.” The manager’s main concern was whether “Street could field his position” or not. As Colin also noted, there is no current timetable for the All-Star’s return. Street is 21-for-21 in save opportunities this season with a 0.75 ERA (2.30 xFIP) with a career high 35.7% K%. Street’s two trips to the disabled list have caused him to miss more than 50 games thus far in 2012.

In his absence, manager Bud Black asked Luke Gregerson, and to a lesser extent, Tom Layne to close out games depending on match-ups.
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• John Axford won an 11-pitch duel with Rob Brantly by inducing a fly ball to left field for the third out in the ninth-inning and the 8-5 victory for the Crew over the Marlins. The save was Axford’s seventh consecutive successful conversion and 25th in 33 chances this season.
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Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend but it’s now time to get back to work, or at least talk about those bullpens…

• Last we spoke the Dodgers were not sure about Kenley Jansen and his irregular heartbeat. Now, after seeing another heart specialist today, the Dodgers hope Jansen will “be able to pitch again by Sept. 17.” This is obviously good news considering Jansen might have needed to miss the rest of the season but there is no guarantee he’s able to pitch at towards the end of September, especially with surgery awaiting him soon.

As far as his replacement  is concerned, both Brandon League and Ronald Belisario are sharing the duties at the moment. Brandon League has previous closing experience and although he’s struggled a bit this season, he’s also showed improvement of late having pitching in eight consecutive appearances without giving up a run, striking out 13 in nine innings pitched. Belisario is having a solid season himself pitching to a 3.06 xFIP, so the situation is certainly unsettled without an official announcement being made. However, if I have to choose between the two, I’d grab League over Belisario.

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• After eight consecutive scoreless innings, Francisco Rodriguez imploded today blowing the save against the Cubs. K-Rod received the save opportunity because John Axford was unavailable and he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity, only recording one out in the ninth before letting five consecutive batters reach base en route to three runs, his seventh loss and his seventh blown save of the season. It’s hard to say with any conviction who is in line to set up for the Brewers but with everyone around him imploding, John Axford is definitely the guy to own in Milwaukee.
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• Casey Janssen blew his third save of the year on Monday, surrendering a lead-off 361-foot long ball to the Captain, Derek Jeter, in the bottom of the ninth frame to send the contest to extras. But the Blue Jays’ closer bounced back tonight, and retired the Yankees in order to earn his 17th save of the season. Janssen has now saved 17-of-20 with a 2.31 ERA and a 6.6 K/BB. Of relievers who have dished a minimum of 50 innings this season, only Wilton Lopez of the Astros has allowed fewer free passes (5) than Janssen’s eight. Somehow he’s still not spoken for in 36 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
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