• Two nights after Grant Balfour was passed over for a save situation, he was right back at it in locking down a one run game versus the also-contending Baltimore Orioles. Balfour’s season-long 4.01 xFIP isn’t fantastic, but a lot of damage was done in June/July. Since August 1st, he has a 2.63 xFIP with a K% (33.3%) which puts him within sniffing distance of baseball’s elite relievers. His fastball velocity has been climbing all season and he’s currently throwing the hardest he has since the 2008/2009 seasons. Barring multiple meltdowns, Oakland will ride him to find their playoff fate so make sure he’s active as you try to tick off the last few saves in your roto leagues.

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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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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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As the Dodgers head into the stretch run, 3.5 games back of the Giants, they’re a team with their fair share of problems, even after the shocking month of acquisitions that netted them Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, Nick Punto, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Joe Blanton, Brandon League, & Randy Choate. In the rotation, Chad Billingsley & Ted Lilly have each been battling arm injuries which may put them out for the season. In the outfield, team MVP Matt Kemp banged up his knee and jaw running into the wall in Colorado, and even if he returns in the next few days, it’s not likely to be at full strength. And perhaps scariest of all, the status of fireballing closer Kenley Jansen is uncertain thanks to another recurrence of the irregular heartbeat that has already sidelined him twice over the last calendar year.

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• Apologies for last night where I failed to realize that Dale Thayer pitched in the eighth inning as Luke Gregerson got the save. It’s possible that Bud Black might have wanted to ease Thayer back in as he hadn’t pitched in a week before last night’s appearance but at this point Gregerson, with his incredible slider, is the guy to own in the Padres bullpen. Granted the Padres closing situation isn’t the most enticing in fantasy baseball but saves are saves and at the moment those belong to Gregerson.
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• Rafael Soriano blew his third save of the season tonight off of a three-run homer by Colby Rasmus in the top of the ninth inning. Although Soriano has been having, and should continue to have a solid year racking up saves for the Yankees, a 1.9% HR/FB% just wasn’t sustainable all season and regression reared its ugly head tonight. Even after tonight’s outing, Soriano’s ERA remains a pristine 2.05, but his 3.65 xFIP and 1.20 WHIP prevents him from being an elite fantasy closer. Still, without any concern about his job security, Soriano remains a great source of saves for the rest of the season

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