It has not been easy to predict who will get the Red Sox’s next save on any given day, but with 20-20 hindsight, there has usually been a clear logic to Alex Cora’s bullpen usage decisions. I will fully admit, though, that I am lacking for a convincing explanation as to why he had Matt Barnes pitch the eighth inning with an 8-2 lead against the Yankees on Sunday night.

Perhaps Barnes needed to get some work in? Not likely, as he, Brandon Workman and Marcus Walden all pitched with the Red Sox trailing on Saturday after not having been used in four days. Maybe Cora was being extra cautious with a tough part of the Yankees’ lineup coming up? That’s more likely, as the 1-2-3 hitters — DJ LeMahieu, Luke Voit and Gary Sanchez kicked off the Yankees’ portion of the inning. Barnes allowed each of them to reach base, and then LeMahieu scored on a balk. Voit and Sanchez would eventually score, too, whittling the Red Sox’s lead down to three runs.
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Although it’s never assured, it appears Anthony Bass assumed the role of interim closer in Seattle until Hunter Strickland returns. Of course, with the Mariners only winning seven games in May, it may not be a booming position to hold. Pressed into duty in the eighth inning with the bases loaded, Bass induced an out to left field by Jonathan Lucroy. Bass then returned for the ninth retiring the side in order with two strikeouts for his first save this season, the fourth of his career and first since 2014. Since joining Seattle, Bass owns six strikeouts, with no walks, a 1.47 ERA and 0.63 WHIP in five outings spanning 6.1 innings. Read the rest of this entry »

• For someone with such incredible heat I’m continually amazed that Jordan Hicks doesn’t get more whiffs but Hicks nonetheless pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save of the year. While Hicks hasn’t been particularly great this year, he’s been able to weather the storm and hold onto the job. he entered the year in a possible committee with Andrew Miller but his ineffectiveness has allowed Hicks to have complete control. We have him yellow since he’s hit a few rough patches in May but it’s likely that he remains the sole closer in St. Louis. A small tweak could unlock more whiffs on his 101+ heat which could make him an elite option but fantasy owners will have to be happy with an ERA in the mid-high threes and 30 or so saves.

• Kenley Jansen was called on for the final four outs after Hyun-Jin Ryu got all of the previous ones. Although this is the bullpen report, I just want to point out how fun it’s been following Ryu this year who lowered his ERA to 1.48 last night. Anywho back to the bullpens, Jansen was perfect in his four outs and struck out a pair for his 16th save. Like every competitive team except maybe the Yankees, the Dodgers are likely to look for relief help at the deadline but no acquisition would affect Jansen who’s job remains as secure as ever. His 3.33 ERA is a bit pedestrian for his standards and even his 2.52 SIERA is worse than we’ve come to expect but even the This Is 30 version of Jansen is a top closing option who should get 35 saves and 75-90 strikeouts.

• Adam Morgan hit the IL for the Phillies, and although he’s vanished from the grid he was always lurking as an option for a one or two out save opportunity if lefties were coming. Hector Neris has low key taken the job by storm with a 2.56 SIERA and a swinging strike rate of 18.1% which ranks 6th among qualified relievers. If/when David Robertson comes back from injury, it’s still likely that Neris holds onto the job.

• I was singing Ian Kennedy’s praises earlier this year and I probably got a little too ahead of myself as we have watched his ERA balloon to 4.18. With that said, he’s still  the best option in the pen for the Royals and he threw a perfect 9th for his 3rd save of the year.  The Royals don’t figure to have an abundance of save opportunities but after a lot of committeeing, they might be settling on Kennedy as their main guy. If he can avoid a disaster he could provide decent source of saves for a team in need but there is still some buyer beware with projected ERAs ranging from 4.11 to 5.14.

• Jeremy Jeffress pitched two scoreless last night striking out a pair and lowered his ERA to 2.55. Once Jeffress came off of the IL we expected him to possibly sniff the 9th once he was up and running. However, in his first appearances Jeffress’ velo was 90-93 which was a cause for concern. Since then he’s inched up although it’s still not the 95+ mph heat we have become accustomed to. With that said, if he keeps putting up zeros he could see a save situation or two, allowing Hader to pitch more setup but as the trade deadline heats up I would expect the Brewers to bring in another option who is more reliable than Jeffress who could steal a few save opportunities.

• Speaking of the trade deadline, Will Smith continued his great year and saved his 13th game last night for the Giants. I keep checking and there still aren’t any strong rumors yet but I will still predict that he’s moved in July to a contender. While there could be more dominant arms available, they will likely demand a costly return and Smith can be utilized both as a “proven” closer and as a situational lefty depending on a team’s depth and need. As the deadline heats up now that the draft is almost here, we will make sure to make those rumors a big part of the Bullpen Report since many jobs could be change on a dime.

Wednesday was not a good day for the two best closers of 2018. Edwin Diaz blew his second save of the season after entering the bottom of the ninth with an 8-5 lead against the Dodgers. Coming into the game, the Mets’ closer had allowed little damage when facing lefties, holding them to a collective .071/.133/.214 slash line, but Joc Pederson and Max Muncy defied the trend, hitting back-to-back homers to begin the Dodgers’ half of the inning. Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger followed that up with consecutive doubles, with Bellinger’s erasing the lead. Diaz would face three more batters but would only retire the last one. Unfortunately, the batter was Alex Verdugo, who hit a walk-off sacrifice fly.

Just as he did a year ago, Diaz is missing a lot of bats (17.3 percent SwStr%), but despite that, he has already equaled last season’s total of home runs allowed (five). That may be something of a fluke, as his flyball rate is up only slightly, from 35.3 to 37.0 percent, as is his average exit velocity allowed on flies and liners, from 91.5 to 92.1 mph (per Baseball Savant). It may be a good time to get in touch with a frustrated Diaz owner.
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Tuesday night’s games confirmed for us what we have learned all too well through the first two months of the season, at least as it concerns the closer situations for the Twins, Red Sox and Rays. Their managers are committed to not having a set closer, and on any given night, they can make an unexpected decision in the late innings.

The final two innings of the Twins’ 5-3 win over the Brewers started off normally enough. Blake Parker came in for the top of the eighth with the Twins up, 5-0, and while that’s not his normal type of spot, he had appeared only twice in the previous 11 games. In yielding Keston Hiura’s two-run homer, Parker created a save situation, and it was no surprise to see Taylor Rogers come in to try to finish it off in the ninth. He started off the frame by hanging a slider to Yasmani Grandal, which he drove into the second deck to cut the lead down to two. Rogers rebounded to strike out Mike Moustakas and Jesus Aguilar, and it looked as if he was about to walk away with his fifth save.
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Why do bullpens matter? It’s a question worth pondering, especially for Max Scherzer owners. Scherzer’s recorded nine quality starts this year and the Nationals own a 2-10 record in his starts. He left with a one run lead after six innings and 103 pitches. Tanner Rainey walked the lead-off hitter, Miguel Rojas, never a great start for a reliever. A sacrifice bunt, fielding error, then a lineout by Curtis Granderson moved Rojas to third. He scored on a groundout resulting in an unearned run, but Scherzer’s lead evaporated. Basically, a microcosm of frustrated Scherzer owners and Nationals fans alike. Read the rest of this entry »

The Red Sox did something on Sunday that they hadn’t done since April 21. They had a reliever in consecutive save situations. Marcus Walden got the team’s last save chance, back on Wednesday against the Blue Jays, and in giving up a Danny Jansen RBI single in the bottom of the ninth, his first save opportunity of the season was an unsuccessful one. The 30-year-old righty made amends on Sunday, closing out a 4-1 win over the Astros with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

So should we assume Walden is the Red Sox’s new closer? Probably not, if for no other reason than Alex Cora doesn’t seem to be too concerned about using a specific reliever consistently in that role. Also, he had Matt Barnes pitch the eighth inning, starting off against the 9-1-2 hitters. Cora still seems to favor Barnes against some of the tougher batters in the opposing lineup (on Sunday, he wound up facing Alex Bregman and Michael Brantley), and if some combination of the 2-3-4 hitters were due up in the ninth inning, I suspect Cora would use Barnes then.
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• Shawn Kelley had been effective since returning from the IL but he blew his 2nd save lat night against the Angels, allowing three hits and two runs taking the loss. Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless 7th inning striking out three batters and should be even closer to taking back the closer’s role. Leclerc hasn’t allowed a run in his last five appearances and since May he’s allowed just one run in 10 innings with 19 strikeouts against 5 walks. A change hasn’t been announced but keep an eye on this situation as Leclerc might not give back the job once he starts securing saves, assuming he keeps up his good work of late.

• Since Pedro Strop has hit the IL the Cubs have mostly gone with Steve Cishek for saves but last night with some of their guys unavailable it was Tyler Chatwood who recorded his first save of the year, pitching around two hits in a scoreless 9th. I wouldn’t expect Chatwood to rack up many more saves this year and even though Cishek blew the save on Friday, I would expect him to continue to be the main option moving forward while Strop is out with a hamstring issue. With that said, Strop is close to returning to the Cubs but it’s unlikely he’s given the keys to the 9th immediately upon return. As Greg noted, yesterday, Cishek was very effective before his last outing and even when Strop is back to full strength he could continue to see saves.

• Roberto Osuna blew the game for the Astros yesterday but got the win after the Astros scored off of Matt Barnes in the bottom of the 9th. Setting up Osuna was Ryan Pressley who got 4 outs in the 7th and 8th innings. Pressly recently lost his impressive scoreless appearance streak this season but he’s been utterly incredible this season and after last night supports a 0.39 ERA in 21.1 innings with a 1.56/1.74/1.80 FIP/xFIP/SIERA. Pressly might be the best option in the pen but it’s still Osuna to own for saves.

• Quick Hits: Josh Lucas threw three innings for the save for Baltimore. He’s not on the grid (yet) but if he keeps pitching well it’s not a tough bar to clear in Baltimore. Julio Urias threw two innings of relief and should continue to rack up solid numbers while he pitches out of the pen. He will return to the rotation at some point but he’s worth owning in whichever role he takes. There was no save in Tampa but Diego Castillo secured a 4 run lead in the 9th while striking out a pair. Castillo, Jose Alvarado and even Emilio Pagan should all be owned depending on the league. Jordan Hicks (10) pitched a perfect 9th, Blake Treinen (10) struggled a bit allowing three hits and two runs but held on for the save, and Aroldis Chapman (14) closed the 2nd game of the double-header against Kansas City.

It would not be a Saturday edition of the Bullpen Report without a litany of questions which pervade the saves landscape. Starting in Chicago, the Cubs failed to convert a save chance leading to a loss. Steve Cishek entered this outing riding a 13.1 inning scoreless streak and failed to record an out. He walked Joey Votto prior to serving up the go ahead two run home run to Eugenio Suarez. Cishek then hit Jesse Winker with a pitch before being replaced by James Norwood. This marks Cishek’s second loss and second blown save of the season. During his scoreless streak, Cishek limited hitters to a .133 batting average against (six-for-45) but did not fare well on Friday, which coincides with the possible return of Pedro Strop on Sunday. Brad Brach also incurred his second blown save giving up four hits, an earned runand a walk with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Read the rest of this entry »

Pedro Strop is close to returning for the Cubs, but will he also return to the ninth inning? Because nothing is ever easy in fantasy baseball, the answer is not clear.

Joe Maddon has stated previously that he does not have to go with a single closer, yet he has leaned heavily on Steve Cishek in Strop’s absence. Still, that should raise some doubt about whether Strop will have save opportunities all to himself when he comes back from his IL stint for a strained left hamstring. His return could happen in a matter of days, as he is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday and then may rejoin the team without having to go on a rehab assignment.
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