Good morning! Coming at you from a different time after a late slate of games, and the same may be true for the 14th. Apologies to all the night owls, who may just need to pull a couple of all-nighters. Ok, onto the report.
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Yesterday I had mentioned that the Rockies had not announced a closer. Well, that was wrong as Weiss named Carlos Estevez as their closer while McGee is out. This came after Estevez recorded his first save and Weiss had said earlier that Estevez would be sharing duties with Jason Motte. Must have been nice for Estevez owners to hear their guy would get most of the saves, right? That was until Boone Logan got the one out save today, after Motte started the 9th off retiring the first two batters. He then walked his third hitter, and then Weiss called on Logan to get the last out as he earned his first save of the season. This wasn’t a case of Weiss going against his word. Instead, Estevez was due some rest after throwing 28 pitches on Friday and closing out last night’s game despite Weiss saying he wanted to avoid that. This was just a normal day of rest for Estevez, and he should be getting the rest of the save opportunities. I left it at Yellow because it is a Colorado pitcher and I don’t think the Rockies will hesitate to pull him if he began to struggle in the 9th.
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As if the Reds bullpen wasn’t frustrating enough, they elected to use their closer Tony Cingrani in the 8th to match-up with Oakland’s 2-3-4 hitters, instead of saving him for the 9th. He did his job and earned his 7th hold of the year, paving the way for Ross Ohlendorf to earn his first save of the season. Ohlendorf made it slightly interesting giving up 2 hits, but managed to strike out Billy Butler with two on to close it out. Save opportunities are few and far between for the Reds, and the usage shown today makes this situation one I will continue to avoid with the exception of the deepest of leagues. Read the rest of this entry »
In this week’s edition of Deep League Waiver Wire, we take a look at a reliever and a catcher unclaimed in a vast majority of leagues yet worth a closer look.
Michael Feliz (7% Yahoo, 7% ESPN, 11% CBS) – 2016 hasn’t been a good season for fantasy owners who prefer to accumulate saves through the waiver wire. That there have been relatively few closer controversies during the first two months has forced the save-starved to speculate on relievers two or three promotions from the ninth. And Michael Feliz is no exception*.
The Closer Grid on Rotograph’s Bullpen Report has featured the same three Houston relievers for quite some time now: Luke Gregerson, Will Harris, and Ken Giles. But a reliever outside of those three leads the bullpen in K%-BB%, xFIP, and in limiting hard contact. And with 25.2 IP under his belt, he’s been there nearly the whole time, quietly dominating as the rest of the pen accumulated 9 blown saves. As you might have guessed, that reliever is THIS INANIMATE CARBON ROD! Just kidding, it’s Michael Feliz.
• As Paul mentioned last night, there might be a shakeup in Houston but Hinch won’t name a closer besides saying Gregerson will be getting a break. Will Harris received the save last night with Ken Giles having a day off. Whether or not Giles would have received the call, we don’t know. Michael Feliz might also be considered but he threw in the sixth and seventh innings tonight, losing the lead in the seventh after a couple of base hits and a sacrifice fly. Although Feliz might be pitching the best of anyone in Houston, he’s been mostly used as a multiple inning reliever. Luke Gregerson entered the game in a 5-5 game in the eighth inning, suggesting he’s not necessarily the closer but still hasn’t vanished from high leverage innings. Striking out two batters in perfect inning with only eight pitches will help regain the closer chair as well. Ken Giles was called on for the ninth in a tie game and I’ve put him ahead of Harris on the grid below.
Update: I was a little quick to the draw as Giles blew the lead in Houston after publishing. I think the Astros could be somewhat inclined to give Giles a chance at the ninth but failing tonight certainly puts Harris ahead of him. I wouldn’t drop Gregerson but Harris should get the next opportunity.
Well, the Houston situation just got interesting. A.J. Hinch said they will are going to use multiple guys to close games. In other words, they are going to use fantasy players favorite term and have committee closers. This is the day after Luke Gregerson blew his fifth save of the season giving up a game-tying homer to Jed Lowrie. In today’s game, Will Harris was given the save opportunity and pitched a clean ninth tallying one strikeout. Gregerson’s K’s are in line with his career norms, but his walks are up and his ERA sits at 4.56, which is a career high. There is still hope he can earn the role back as his FIP is 3.16, which is higher than his career FIP (2.99), but not by much. Though he has struggled pretty mightily in May, so taking this weight off his shoulders may help him right the ship. Harris has been absurd this year posting a 0.34 ERA (1.40 FIP) with improvements in his K% and BB% from last year and his career. Ken Giles may have been called on to close the 9th tonight, but he pitched two scoreless innings last night so he was due the night off. Hinch has indicated that he will use all three guys, and will even throw Michael Feliz into the mix as well.
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Wade Davis was given the night off after recording his 16th save last night. Luke Hochevar and Kelvin Herrera each earned holds (10 and 15 respectively), as Hochevar pitched a clean 7th and Herrera, well, not so much as he gave up a run on two singles and a walk. Joakim Soria pitched the 9th, which is semi-surprising since it seemed like Herrera would be the next in line for saves if the moment arises. Guess Ned Yost thought it’d be best to not mess around too much with the bullpen order and give the save situation to the guy with more experience. Didn’t work out so well for the Royals as Soria blew his second save of the year giving up two runs on two hits (including a triple) and a game-ending sacrifice fly. I could change the chart based on tonight’s usage, but also feel like if a long-term situation was to come up, Herrera would be the guy.
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A few quick notes from Memorial Day:
• It wouldn’t be an authentic Bullpen Report without bad news out of Cincinnati’s bullpen as Tony Cingrani blew his fourth save last night. Cingrani entered the ninth like a regular old closer but was unable to finish the inning after allowing four baseruners and three earned runs. Ross Ohlendorf threw a perfect eighth and JC Ramirez was able to get the final out for his first big league save. As usual this situation is ridiculously fluid with Ohlendorf and Cingrani likely still in some sort of job-share for the moment.
• Trevor May was called on to finish out the third inning last night and although May recorded the final out his troubles continued as he allowed two hits and an earned run in the fourth. May still recorded two strikeouts and has a decent 3.51 xFIP with a fantastic strikeout rate (30%) but his recent outings have been downright terrible. Over his last five appearances spanning 3.1 innings pitched, May has allowed 15 baserunners and 10 earned runs. When you combine that performance along with entering the game in the third inning, it’s safe to say you have lost your role. I’ve moved Fernando Abad as the next-in-line and put Michael Tonkin on the grid with May exiting. Kevin Jepsen threw in a non-save situation last night allowing two earned and now supports a 5.89/5.30/4.86 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line. Gross. If May was cruising he’d be getting save opportunities by now as the back end of the Twins bullpen has collapsed. Jepsen is on red alert and I would snag Abad and Tonkin in that order for speculative saves. To add more to the confusion Tonkin pitched in the fourth and fifth inning tonight with Abad getting the last two outs in the ninth down three runs. Who really knows what’s going on in Minnesota.
For now Jepsen remains the closer and we’ll hopefully be able to glean more information on the Twins order of operations the next time they have a lead.
• Injury update for the Angels as Huston Street is heading to Arizona Friday for extended Spring Training. He also threw 20 pitches today and “could be back before the end of May.” All promising signs for Street as he comes back from a strained oblique and provided there aren’t any setbacks he should be replacing Joe Smith and return to his familiar role in the ninth very soon. Until then, Smith will close as he did tonight getting his sixth save.
