Most of this report was done on Saturday, but there was one major piece of news on Sunday:

• Aroldis Chapman was placed on the 10-day disabled list with rotator cuff inflammation. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that Chapman will rest for a minimum of two weeks, at which time his condition will be re-evaluated, and that Chapman is “probably looking at [missing] a minimum of a month if everything goes right.” Chapman has reportedly been experiencing discomfort in the shoulder since late April, and he had to be removed mid-inning in his last two outings due to ineffectiveness. In Chapman’s place, Dellin Betances will have an opportunity to prove his worth as a closer. Yankees president Randy Levine and Betances’s agent had a public spat in February over the pitcher’s arbitration hearing that determined his 2017 salary. Levine vocalized his opinion that Betances sought too much money for a non-closer. Whether or not he’s accruing saves, Betances is an elite reliever, and now he will have a chance to prove it, at least for a month. If Betances wasn’t already owned in all formats, he should be now. Meanwhile, Chapman should be held onto in all formats, because he is arguably the best reliever in baseball when healthy. The Bullpen Report will continue to provide updates on the situation as they become available.

Now for the notes from Saturday: Read the rest of this entry »

Traditional pitching metrics, such as innings pitched, and pitch counts, have often missed the mark when it comes to preventing pitcher injuries. As a result, I developed the Fatigue Units metric – which shows promise in illustrating how extreme workloads can influence pitchers in the subsequent seasons.

As a quick refresher – Fatigue Units are calculated by looking at an interaction between the number of pitches thrown, the velocity they are thrown at, the time taken between pitches, and the number of days between appearances. In the 2015 and 2016 season – these were your FU leaders.

Read the rest of this entry »

Buckle up boys and girls, we have a real closer carousel in Detroit and San Francisco!

• Mark Melancon was placed on the DL today by the Giants with a mild right pronator strain and while it’s not known how long Melancon will be out for, it’s good to hear that it’s “mild” rather than something unnerving like severe. Melancon had apparently been throwing through some discomfort which is a bit disconcerting but the Giants decided  it’s now time to give him some rest. In his place it looks like Derek Law will receive save opportunities  with Hunter Strickland, Josh Osich and George Kontos behind him. Considering Melancon might have been throwing through what ailed him this doesn’t seem to to take him out for too long but saves are saves are saves so Law is worth grabbing if he’s unowned and even if Melancon only misses the minimum. The biggest predictor of injuries is current/past injuries as well so if any of this lingers, Law could be in line for a higher save total than the initial mild diagnosis. While Law is closing he likely won’t have a long leash to start, consider this red.

Read the rest of this entry »

• In spite of the Bizarro World the Mets are currently living in, they had a walk-off win today against the Giants. Fernando Salas and Jerry Blevins combined to throw a scoreless seventh leading to Addison Reed in the eighth and Jeurys Familia in the ninth, who received the vulture win for his first victory of the year. We had Jerry Blevins as the third in line on the chart, and for good measure as he’s now pitching toa 0.79/1.32/2.35 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line but I feel Hansel Robles would be closer to saves if something were to happen to both Familia and Reed. Thankfully that’s not the case as the back of the Mets bullpen might be the most or only reliable thing on the team right now. Jeurys Familia was a bit shaky immediately upon his return but he’s looking smoother now and this situation is certainly green.

Read the rest of this entry »

It was another fun weekend for bullpen activity across the major leagues. There was some all-too-familiar drama for a few teams, an injury to a key closer, and a couple of spectacular performances by an underrated set-up man. Let’s get right into the report:

• Francisco Rodriguez melted down in consecutive games against the A’s this weekend. On Saturday, with a one-run lead and two outs and nobody on in the 9th inning, he issued a walk, a game-tying double, and a walk-off single. On Sunday, also with a one-run lead, K-Rod walked the leadoff man, allowed a game-tying double, then, after a lineout, Ryon Healy hit a walk-off home run. The Tigers closer is now just 7 for 11 in save opportunities, and he’s allowed 19 hits, 11 earned runs, and four home runs in 11 2/3 innings this year. He has a 8.49 ERA/6.55 FIP/4.79 xFIP, and he’s only gotten ground balls on 29.3% of balls in play against him compared to his career mark of 43.3%. Rodriguez’s job should be in jeopardy after the back-to-back blown saves and the overall poor performance this year. Set-up man Justin Wilson has been excellent this season, pitching mostly in the 8th. He has seven holds on the year, and a brilliant 1.32 ERA/1.65 FIP/2.03 xFIP to go along with a 45.7% K%. The situation is “red” in Detroit, with manager Brad Ausmus saying after Sunday’s game that the team is going to discuss its closer situation during tomorrow’s off day, which is usually a strong indication that a change is forthcoming.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Even a 12.60 ERA and taking the day to become a U.S. citizen can’t keep Fernando Rodney from the ninth inning. J.J. Hoover pitched the seventh and Jorge de la Rosa pitched the eighth, with each allowing a hit and a walk but getting a scoreless inning nonetheless, setting the table for Rodney with a three-run lead.

Rodney, with citizenship in hand pitched a perfect inning for his seventh save. Archie Bradley’s previous usage was of the one inning variety so I thought he might be next in line in the desert, but it looks like Hoover and de la Rosa are setting up. This situation is still red as Rodney’s ERA/FIP/xFIP line still stands at 11.45/5.00/4.30 and if a change were to be made Bradley could still be in play but I’ve put de la Rosa back on the grid in his place. A small congrats to Rodney’s 268th career save and a bigger congrats on what probably was a very, very special day for him.

I'm officially a US citizen 🇺🇸 God bless America & Thank you for the opportunity.
Hijo de Republica Dominicana 🇩🇴 🏹 #Flecha pic.twitter.com/ZyF3xtpDH9

— Fernando Rodney (@F_Rodney56) May 2, 2017

Read the rest of this entry »

• Jeurys Familia has not given up many runs (1) since returning from suspension but he is not pitching too effectively either, having allowed six walks in five innings entering today. However, in the ninth this evening Familia pitched a scoreless frame giving up a hit and a double play to end the game. It wasn’t a particularly dominating performance but it’s always nice to see Familia not issue a free pass. On the season Familia now has ten strikeouts against six walks in six innings pitched. He’s very much the Mets closer but I wouldn’t release Addison Reed just yet either. This is mostly due to the fact Reed is quite good in his own right (18 strikeouts without a walk in 14 innings pitched) and also as some insurance in case Familia hits a rough patch. It goes without say that for those in Holds leagues, Reed remains a fairly elite option.

Read the rest of this entry »

It was another exciting weekend for bullpen activity across the major leagues. There were several late blown leads, and there could be multiple role changes this week. On Saturday, we witnessed one of the most improbable 9th-inning comebacks in recent memory. Since there was so much activity on both days this weekend, this report is broken into two sections, one for each day:

Sunday:

• Bud Norris continued to shine as the fill-in for the injured Cam Bedrosian. With the Angels leading 4-2, Norris entered in the 8th inning with two on and two out. He struck out Rougned Odor to end the inning, then came back out for the 9th with the Angels up by three. After walking Elvis Andrus to start the inning, Norris struck out the next three batters he faced ­— Joey Gallo, Shin-Soo Choo, and Mike Napoli — to notch his fifth save of the season (and of his career). In 14 innings this season, Norris has 19 strikeouts against six walks and zero home runs allowed, good for a 2.57 ERA/1.78 FIP/2.97 xFIP. The formerly mediocre starting pitcher has been lights out for the Halos, and may be worth owning in deeper leagues even after Bedrosian returns. Bedrosian hasn’t started throwing yet in his attempt to return from a groin injury that has kept him out of action since April 21.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tumult and turnover has plagued bullpens far earlier than they did last season. Already, just shy of the four-week mark, we’ve seen closers relieved of duties in Washington and Philadelphia due to poor performance, lost to injury in Los Angeles (AL) and Baltimore, and in Texas, we’ve seen volatility due to some combination of the two. Oakland continues to confound us with a bullpen-by-committee and up and down the closer grid, last year’s elite and upper tier closers struggle.

Here in the Chacon Zone, we search for those widely available middle relievers toiling away in waiver wire obscurity, who may prove more productive than less talented pitchers benefiting from ninth inning opportunity. Luckily for save punters and deep leaguers, there are plenty to discuss.

Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of postponed games and blowouts but here’s a few notes on the bullpens last night…

• The Rays used five pitchers for a two hit shutout against the Orioles tonight, which was capped off by Alex Colome’s fifth save. Colome took very kindly to the bullpen full time last year posting career bests in his strikeout rate and walk rates but the strikeouts have eluded him early on this year. It’s only been 10 innings but Colome has a meager five strikeouts and a swinging strike percentage of 8.2%, well below last season’s 15.1%. This isn’t to say that Colome could fall drastically in the same way I spoke about Brandon Kintzler last night, but his .179 BABIP might be making his owners overrate his standing among the elite relievers. Colome’s a good closer and I wouldn’t be mining for his backups but his shiny ERA is a bit misleading thus far. I expect him to continue to have a solid year but I would love to see his whiff percentage/strikeouts increase over his next few outings.

Read the rest of this entry »