Archive for David Hernandez

Desperation’s a stinky cologne remains one of many personal favorite movie quotes, courtesy of Super Troopers. With Boston’s bullpen under constant scrutiny due to usage and performance, it appears a new sheriff will occupy the ninth inning when healthy enough to return:

According to sources, the Red Sox plan on using Nathan Eovaldi as their closer when he returns from the Injured List. https://t.co/cxrS0ZErV0

— Tom Caron (@TomCaron) July 2, 2019

Nathan Eovaldi made three appearances as a reliever in last year’s World Series working eighth innings giving up three hits, one earned run and a walk with six strikeouts. Signed to be a starting pitcher, and even speaking to this prior to agreeing to a free agent deal to return to Boston, the lack of clarity at the end of games along with his injury concerns prompt this move. However, it remains to be seen how often Eovaldi will be able to work as a reliever. Perhaps he gets a Seth Lugo type usage pattern of requiring necessary days off after working and will Eovaldi be able to handle work on consecutive days? As of now, plan on Brandon Workman potentially working the ninth until the All-Star break but if Eovaldi’s been dropped and desperate for saves, stashing him now makes sense for the second half.

It’s been a remarkable year for Josh Hader. He’s already saved 20 games, owns a ridiculous 52.4 strikeout percentage (78 strikeouts of 149 total batters faced) and only one blown save this year with three holds as well. Last night, Hader only recorded a hold working the eighth inning and giving up a two run home run to Eugenio Suarez. Like three outcome hitters, it seems like Hader also produces three outcomes, a strikeout, a walk or a home run. Hader’s only yielded 15 hits all season in 41.2 innings but seven have been home runs. Relying almost exclusively on his fastball, Hader allows hard contact if he misses his spot with batters swinging from their heels to produce contact. This results in Hader’s 24.4 swinging strike percentage with only a 58.3 contact percentage against, but also his 19.4 home run per fly ball rate of the 61 percent of fly balls he generates. Suffice it to say, fantasy owners will accept Hader’s propensity to give up a home run for the strikeouts and saves. In fact, the homer by Suarez snapped a 11.1 inning scoreless streak by Hader and it’s the first home run (and hit) he’s allowed since June first.

After Milwaukee extended the lead back to three runs, they decided to sit down Hader rather than deploy him for a second inning. Jeremy Jeffress entered for the save chance giving up a single to Jose Iglesias then with two outs, Iglesias moved up on defensive indifference and scored on a single by Phillip Ervin before Jose Peraza grounded out to end the game. With a need for the bridge to firm up leading to Hader, the Brewers need Jeffress to round into form. With this outing, he’s allowed a run in four of his last five contests and in five of his last seven growing his ERA from 2.52 to its present 4.18. This, along with the reemergence of Matt Albers as detailed by Al Melchior in yesterday’s Bullpen Report, will continue to evolve. Especially with Milwaukee in on most relievers rumored on the trade block.

As for the Reds, a tough night for David Hernandez from a performance and personal standpoint. People often do not account for the human side from a player’s perspective. As a former teammate of Tyler Skaggs, Hernandez took the mound and did not pitch well in his high leverage moment. Not only did Hernandez suffer his second blown save, also his fourth loss allowing three hits, three earned runs and two walks. This tweet from Reds beat writer R. Trent Rosencrans seemed to encapsulate the night for Hernandez:

David Hernandez stood tall, answered every question about his outing. He took blame. Called it awful, said his mechanics are off. The whole 9. When asked about former teammate Tyler Skaggs, he got emotional and couldn't speak. It was a tough day for him way beyond the game

— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) July 2, 2019

With deference to the Angels, Skaggs family and the baseball community, thoughts and prayers to all. It should also be noted both Amir Garrett and Raisel Iglesias were not available for last night’s game leaving the Reds shorthanded against the slew of left-handed hitters in the Brewers lineup. This culminated in the game for Hernandez giving up an RBI single to Christian Yelich and a sacrifice fly to Mike Moustakas. Due to the recent fluidity of the Cincinnati bullpen, the high leverage moments remain in flux with Michael Lorenzen and Iglesias sharing recent save chances along with the potential for Garrett to face lefties in the ninth going forward.

Never to be overlooked in the world of fluid bullpens, Jose Alvarado resurfaced in Tampa Bay recording his first save since May 26th working around a double by Jonathan Villar striking out two in a scoreless ninth. It’s Alvarado’s seventh save of the season and an encouraging outing. He’s struggled with command and wild pitches so far but if Alvarado can right the ship, he shores up the Rays bullpen. With Diego Castillo slated to rejoin the team in Baltimore after the All-Star break, perhaps the team will add to its depth without needing to make a trade. Emilio Pagan locked down his sixth hold firing a clean eighth inning with two strikeouts. He also faced Renato Nunez, Pedro Severino and Hanser Alberto, who fare better versus southpaws paving the way for the Alvarado save chance. Pagan’s ability to work multiple innings and in high leverage moments at the team’s need probably caps his save opportunities but he’s an invaluable member of this bullpen. His last save occurred on June 21st and Pagan could receive another save prior to the break hence his position in the closer grid, even though it’s tenuous based on usage patterns.

Nothing frustrates fantasy owners more than a closer getting work in during a blowout. Case in point, Craig Kimbrel pitching in Pittsburgh last night. Kimbrel entered a game which the Cubs trailed by 10 runs and proceeded to allow a lead-off home run in the eighth to Jose Osuna along with a double to Adam Frazier and a two out, two run home run to Josh Bell. All told, Kimbrel yielded three hits and three earned runs with two strikeouts. It’s merely a blip in terms of his role as the closer and Chicago used Daniel Descalso to pitch the seventh. So, getting work in may make sense, but it rarely goes great when a closer works in situations without meaning.

With a very limited slate on Monday night, there’s no need for quick hits with most situations already covered. Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!

Since writing the initial 2019 Bullpen Report after the Mariners-Athletics series in Tokyo, three closer competitions have been decided. As expected by many owners, Will Smith and Alex Colome respectively nailed down the Giants’ and White Sox’s closer jobs. In a much more surprising move, Torey Lovullo chose Greg Holland as the Diamondbacks’ closer over Archie Bradley and Yoshihisa Hirano. Fantasy owners are starting to warm up to Holland, as he is now owned in 44 percent of CBS leagues and 20 percent of ESPN leagues. I recently made the case for adding him, so rather than present that argument here, I simply refer you to the piece I wrote on him.
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I was beaten to the punch on Jesse Hahn by colleague Rylan Edwards earlier this week. I’ll second Edwards’ endorsement of Hahn, and he also highlights Henderson Alvarez as a viable deep league add. Like Hahn, Alvarez is a low punch-out pitcher, and I’ve opted to highlight a high-strikeout reliever who will help pick up the slack for the starting pitcher duo. Joining the reliever is a minor league first baseman whose path is looking clearer every day and a Swiss Army Knife whose ownership is criminally low. Read the rest of this entry »

The back end of the Arizona bullpen was a mess last year. They tied with the Astros for the most blown saves in the league. J.J. Putz was spotty early in the season as the closer, and Heath Bell struggled in the role as well early in the summer. Brad Ziegler finally brought some stability to the role as he saved 13 games and blew only two after taking over the role in early July. But the D’Backs front office obviously didn’t feel comfortable with Ziegler maintaining the closer job, so they acquired Addison Reed in the offseason.

The bullpen should be much better this year, in part because of the added depth Reed gives them. But they should also be better because of some positive regression for Putz and David Hernandez.

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Finally, the “Updated Middle Reliever Tiers” are complete, for now. Each of the five standard pitching categories — and of course holds — played a role in determining these tiers.

The first two tiers were pretty simple to establish. Horses like Mark Melancon, Jesse Crain and Trevor Rosenthal seem to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack through the first two months of the season and are elite middle relief commodities at this point. But when it came time to find homes for the Aaron Loups and Cody Allens of the world, I felt like I was splitting hairs.

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• After quittin’ time on Wednesday, Aroldis Chapman saved his 23rd consecutive game — tying a franchise record held by John Franco (1988) and Rob Dibble (1991) — to up his successful save tally to 31 on the year. Chapman continues to make his case for Cy Young consideration, as he now holds a 1.31 ERA and a 16.26 K/9 (7.47 K/BB) while holding opposing batters to a .138 average.
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•J.J. Putz was unavailable for Wednesday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants due to a stiff neck. The Diamondbacks’ closer received treatment prior to and during the early innings of last evening’s contest, but informed manager Kirk Gibson he wasn’t available when his neck didn’t loosen after trying to play catch in the fourth frame. David Hernandez came on in relief of Ian Kennedy with two outs in the eighth for the four-out save opportunity. Hernandez yielded two hits, but held the Giants scoreless to earn his first save of 2012.

In 24 appearances this season, Hernandez has been inducing swinging strikes at a career high 13.5% clip, which indicates his 12.52 K/9 (4.00 K/BB) looks to be real. In addition to the whiffs, solid ratios (1.93 ERA and 1.07 WHIP) make the Dbacks set-up man more than just a handcuff in deeper leagues.

Although Putz indicated he should be fine for Friday’s contest, Hernandez could get the call should there be any setback with his stiff neck.
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Another summer weekend, and another couple of players for your pleasure. Enjoy!

Miguel Montero, Arizona (45%)
If you’ve been reading these Waiver Wire pieces, you know we usually talk about players owned in fewer leagues than Montero. In fact, we’ve even started specializing in single-digit players, to the consternation of some shallow-league owners. Well, here’s a player that, though he’s owned in a fair amount of leagues, should be owned in at least twice as many leagues as he is. Montero put up 670+ plate appearances from 2008 to 2009, and in those PAs, he showed a strikeout rate right at 20%, an ISO above .180, and a strong batting average for a catcher. Put those pieces together and he’s easily a top-twelve catcher and should be owned in all mixed leagues. Now that he’s due back this weekend and is practically begging his team to activate him, it’s time to make sure he’s not on the wire in your league.

David Hernandez, Baltimore (6%)
Don’t fall over yourself to pick up the latest Oriole to accrue a save – it doesn’t seem that others are either. They might have heard that Alfredo Simon was called Shutdown Sauce and that Hernandez couldn’t overcome a nickname like that. There’s even the forgotten footnote Michael Gonzalez rattling around in that bullpen too. Here’s the thing, though. There’s a new sherriff in town – “interim” manager Juan Samuel – and he just recently reported that Gonzalez only hit the mid-80s in his rehab start. Simon’s K/9 in the minor leagues was a mediocre 7.4, so he’s not an obvious candidate for the role. Of course, he racked up those numbers as a starter, and could be expected to bump them up in a short relief role, but still. He was more of a fill-in guy than a person being groomed for the role. So finally we get to Hernandez, who racked up a save and has been pushed to the bullpen by the better prospects coming up behind him. With his gaudy strikeout rates in the minors (10.4 K/9), and his inability to translate those rates to the majors (6.02 K/9 career), Hernandez was a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. He’s certainly a fly ball pitcher in the wrong park (29.2% groundball rate career), and he’s really not showing it as a starter. Here’s thinking that he can recover that nice strikeout rate in short stints and actually step forward as the closer of the future. If Gonzalez truly is only hitting the mid-80s in his rehab, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to hear surgery in his future. Again.

Some final cuts were made today, and a closer “decision” was made. Let’s get right into our first of many 2010 waiver wire articles, shall we?

Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Pat Neshek
Well, it looks like Jon Rauch is not the winner of the Minnesota closer sweepstakes. Manager Ron Gardenhire announced that the Twins will go with a committee at the position, and Aaron Gleeman is right to predict some media hand-wringing and hair-pulling concerning the decision. In fact, as he points out, that insanity (or inanity) has already begun. While we applaud the decision from a real baseball viewpoint (a Mijares/Neshek platoon could be deadly in the ninth), it does make things difficult on fantasy owners. Jon Rauch still has the best package from an overall skills standpoint, but everyone on this list has had a good spring save Mijares. If you need some cheap saves however you can get them, take the guy from this group that is still available on your wire. It will be your closer lottery ticket.

Chris Young (SD)
There really isn’t any news to back up this item, but Young has pitched well this spring and went un-drafted in many leagues (319.46 ADP). He leads the Friars with strikeouts (16 in 17.2 innings) and has a nice ERA to boot (3.57 if you care about that sorta thing). The walk rate this spring (10 walks so far) is not terribly exciting, but he the surgery he’s recovering from did not show a torn labrum – just fraying – so there’s a chance he can recover to his former glory. Let’s not forget that he was a decent pitcher before last year’s (hurt) disasterpiece, regularly putting up k-rates over eight against average walk rates. Oh, and then there’s that home park that he plays in, too.

David Hernandez
Right after touting Chris Tillman as a good $1 option just last week, the Orioles go and reassign the youngster so that he can get more work in with his new pitch. It’s a testament to the young pitching talent the O’s have acquired that the guy behind him is also interesting – provided you are in an AL-only league and looking for a spot-starter / end of bench option. Now, Hernandez didn’t strike many people out last year (K/9), and he gave up way too many fly balls (FB%), but that was not the case in the minor leagues. Well, at least on one front. He’s always been a fly-ball pitcher (44.5% career in the minors) but he’s always struck out gobs of players (10.12 K/9 career in minors), too. He’s no slop pitcher, as his 93 MPH fastball is augmented by three decent pitches – so here’s a bet that Hernandez will look a lot better in his second attempt at the bigs.

Here on Wednesday in the final week of the season most leagues have already passed their deadline for waivers. But for those of you in daily transaction leagues with moves still available and innings left to play with, there are no shortage of pitchers to consider. Here are the pitchers going Tuesday owned in fewer than 50 percent of CBS Sports leagues. Matchups come from ESPN.com.

Charlie Morton (5%) – Has a road start in Chicago versus Lilly. Morton has lost three of his last four decisions and has a 5.04 ERA in that stretch. This year on the road he is 1-5 with a 7.45 ERA in 38.2 IP. Morton is 0-1 against the Cubs this year and he allowed 10 runs in 1 IP in his only start against Chicago.

Carlos Torres (2%) – Has a road start in Cleveland versus Carmona in a makeup of yesterday’s rainout. See Tuesday’s free agent column for more on Torres.

Tim Redding (4%) – Has road start in Washington versus Lannan. In his last seven starts Redding has a 3.19 ERA and a 1.157 WHIP over 42.1 IP. He is 1-3 with a 4.85 ERA in road starts this year and in two starts against the Nationals is 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA.

John Lannan (36%) – Has home start versus Redding and the Mets. In his last nine starts, Lannan is 1-5 with a 5.51 ERA. He is 5-3 with a 2.62 ERA in home starts this season and is 2-2 with a 2.40 ERA in four games against New York.

Eddie Bonine (1%) – Has a home start against Pavano and the Twins. The 28-year old has appeared in nine games for Detroit this season and made three starts. His last outing he allowed two unearned runs in 6.2 IP versus the White Sox. Bonine throws a fastball, slider and change and rounds out his repertoire with an occasional knuckleball.

Robinson Tejeda (25%) – Has a road start in New York versus Chamberlain. Had been pitching brilliantly since move to the rotation until allowing 5 ER in 4.1 IP in his last start. Still, he is 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA in five games as a starter. Tejeda has a great fastball, which has led to a 10.75 K/9 mark. However, he has been done in by lousy control. Tejeda has a 6.16 BB/9 ratio and he allowed seven walks in his last outing.

Brian Moehler (6%) – Has a road start in Philadelphia versus Martinez. Despite a 4.88 ERA in his last six starts, Moehler has pitched well in that span. Only a seven-run outing in less than three innings in his last start has dragged down his numbers in that span. Moehler is 5-4 with a 3.93 ERA in road games this season. He came away with a no-decision in his only outing against the Phillies this year after allowing 3 ER in 5.2 IP.

David Hernandez (5%) – Has a road start in Tampa Bay versus Shields. In his last eight games, Hernandez is 0-5 with a 7.34 ERA. This year he is 2-5 with a 5.11 ERA in road games. In his only game against the Rays, Hernandez allowed 5 ER in 3 IP and took the loss.

Justin Masterson (34%) – Has a home start against Buehrle and the White Sox after getting rained out yesterday. See Tuesday’s free agent pitchers for more on Masterson.

Jeff Karstens (1%) – Has a road start in Chicago versus Zambrano. After starting the season in the rotation, Karstens moved to the bullpen for 26 games before making a start in his last outing on 9/25. Overall, he is 2-3 with a 5.19 ERA in 11 starts. Karstens has pitched two innings versus the Cubs this season and has allowed two earned runs.

Jeff Suppan (9%) – Has a road start in Colorado versus Hammel. In his last four starts, Suppan is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA and has allowed 4 HR in 23.1 IP. He is 4-3 with a 3.56 ERA in road starts this year. This will be Suppan’s first start against the Rockies this season.

Jason Hammel (41%) – Has a home start versus Suppan and the Brewers. In his last 11 starts, Hammel is 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA with 52 Ks in 67.1 IP. Early in the year Hammel had trouble in Coors Field, but he has notched a Quality Start in three of his last four home games. Overall, Hammel is 2-3 with a 5.63 ERA in home games. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA this year versus Milwaukee.

Derek Holland (37%) – Has a road start in Anaheim versus Weaver. Holland snapped a five-start losing streak in his last outing, when he allowed three runs in five innings and picked up a win versus the Rays. He is 2-5 with a 4.91 ERA in road games this year. In four games against the Angels, Holland is 2-1 with a 5.12 ERA. Keep in mind that the Angels have clinched and they may not have all of their regulars in the lineup.

Clayton Richard (29%) – Has a home game versus Garland and the Dodgers. In his last five games, Richard has a 3.90 ERA and a 1-1 record. Since being acquired in a trade from the White Sox, Richard is 3-0 with a 2.48 ERA in Petco Park. He has faced the Dodgers once this year and allowed 4 ER in 4.1 IP.

Clayton Mortensen (1%) – Has a road start in Seattle versus Morrow. Acquired from the Cardinals in the Holliday deal, Mortensen has one Quality Start in five games for Oakland. He has a nice 1.93 GB/FB ratio but has been unable to get many strikeouts (3.94 K/9) and has struggled with the gopher ball, as he has allowed 5 HR in 29.2 IP.

Brandon Morrow (28%) – Has a home game versus Mortensen and the A’s. Morrow has made three starts since being recalled from the minors and is 1-0 with a 4.02 ERA. However, he has allowed 11 BB in 15.2 innings over those three outings.

Kevin Mulvey (1%) – Has a road start in San Francisco against Penny. Mulvey has appeared in five games since being acquired on waivers from Minnesota, and has made three starts. In his last outing, he notched a Quality Start, as he allowed 3 ER in 6 IP in a home loss against the Giants.