Archive for Scott Oberg

When the Rockies opened their series against the Marlins on Friday night, it was business as usual for Scott Oberg, who tossed a scoreless inning to record his fifth save of the season. On Saturday, in response to feeling heaviness in his right arm, Oberg ultimately underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot from the arm. He was placed on the IL on Sunday, and in all likelihood, he will not pitch again this season.

With Oberg out, the Rockies turned to recently deposed closer Wade Davis to finish off a game they were leading 4-3 heading into the top of the ninth inning. Davis faced three batters, but he did not retire any of them. He began by walking Jorge Alfaro and then had two runners in scoring position as a result of a Lewis Brinson double. Then Davis blew the save by allowing a Neil Walker single. Carlos Estévez took over from there, but he allowed the Marlins to tack on two more runs, which were both charged to Davis.
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While fantasy owners try to discern who could end up closing with so many situations in flux following the trade deadline, a change occurred in Colorado seemingly below the radar. Although Wade Davis only owns two blown saves, his home ERA (11.29 over 18.1 innings) and 1.74 WHIP this season sealed his fate moving forward. Scott Oberg will take over as closer going forward for the Rockies and, he could run with it. Over the last statistical year, here’s a comparison between the two pitchers:

• Oberg: 7 wins, two losses, four saves, 78.2 innings, 84:23 K:BB, 1.72 ERA, 3.19 xFIP, 0.93 WHIP, 20.5 K-BB percentage
• Davis: three wins, eighth losses, 27 saves, 52 innings, 61:24 K:BB, 5.71 ERA, 4.12 xFIP, 1.40 WHIP, 16.4 K-BB percentage

On Friday night, Oberg yielded two hits but emerged unscathed not giving up a run for his fourth save of the season. Jairo Diaz logged two scoreless innings allowing a hit with three strikeouts for his fourth win. There’s no guarantee Oberg will hold the position until the end of the season, but it’s in Colorado’s best interest to find out how he does in the role. Stay tuned.

For Jose LeClerc owners, the good news, he held on for his sixth save on Friday night. However, he also allowed two hits, two earned runs and two walks in the process. It’s been a tough year for LeClerc and when he struggles, it’s due to his command. Over his last two outings, LeClerc’s issued five walks in 1.1 innings. Jesse Chavez also yielded an earned run on three hits in the eighth inning. Keep tabs on newly promoted Emmanuel Clase. Armed with a fastball which can hit triple digits, he should make his debut this weekend with Texas. Clase converted 11 of 13 save chances in Double-A with 39 strikeouts against eight walks in 37.2 innings.

With both Ken Giles and Justin Shafer unavailable, Toronto turned to Derek Law for a two inning save. Law answered the call in spite giving up two hits and two wild pitches for two scoreless innings with one strikeout. This marks the first two inning save for the franchise since Roberto Osuna’s on June 22nd in 2015. As for the Blue Jays bullpen, when Giles returns he will get save chances but Shafer remains in the conversation and should not be dropped in 12-team or deeper formats for save speculators.

Perhaps a change in the bullpen hierarchy in Minnesota. Once again, newly acquired Sam Dyson struggled serving up four hits leading to three earned runs in the top of the eighth inning last night. Dyson departed with a runner on base stranded by Sergio Romo. Romo notched his first save with the Twins, and 18th this year working 1.1 scoreless innings allowing a hit with two strikeouts. Another day of rest should benefit Taylor Rogers but the closer chart reflects the change of Romo moving ahead of Dyson for save chances going forward.

It’s tough to ignore the wild 15 inning game between the White Sox and Phillies on Friday night. Philadelphia eventually lost with Roman Quinn on the mound. Due to Hector Neris serving a three-game suspension, he will not be available this weekend. Juan Nicasio entered the ninth inning for the save but served up a one-out double to Eloy Jimenez before striking out James McCann. Playing match-ups, Gabe Kapler replaced Nicasio with Jose Alvarez to face left-handed hitting Ryan Goins with two outs. Goins recorded an infield hit then pinch hitter Matt Skole singled to right field scoring Jimenez resulting in Alvarez’s second blown save. Then, things got crazy with Zach Eflin leaving the mound during his warm-up pitches in the top of the 14th inning due to triceps soreness. Ranger Suarez could not get loose to throw, so Quinn took the mound leading to Vince Velasquez playing left field. Velasquez threw one runner out at home, just missed a second assist and made a diving catch which made Statcast data take notice. After all of this, John Osich tossed two clean innings with two strikeouts in a White Sox win on the road. Alex Colome logged a scoreless ninth inning giving up a hit. For the Phillies, Blake Parker fired two clean innings with four strikeouts putting him on the radar for the next save chance with Neris out through Sunday.

Quick Hits: Felipe Vazquez worked a clean ninth with a four run lead…Save number 28 for Aroldis Chapman striking out one in a much needed clean outing after a rough July (11 walks in 8.2 innings). Zack Britton recorded his 21st hold with a clean eighth and Tommy Kahnle his 21st hold as well giving up a hit with a strikeout in the seventh. Kahnle owns a 0.66 ERA his last 14 appearances (one earned run in 13.2 innings)…Nathan Eovaldi worked his first clean outing this year as a reliever in the loss to New York. He’s been scoreless his last two games…Raisel Iglesias converted his 21st save with two strikeouts in a clean inning against Atlanta…Save number 24 for Sean Doolittle firing a clean ninth striking out one in Arizona…Kirby Yates recorded his first save since July 17th yielding a hit with a strikeout in Los Angeles. Yates has locked down 32 saves in 34 chances this year. Andres Munoz notched his second hold and has yet to give up a run in nine innings this year with a 11:2 K:BB and 0.56 WHIP.

Emilio Pagan woke up on Monday morning to find himself near the top of the most-added lists for relievers on ESPN, CBS and Yahoo. (I’m actually guessing he probably didn’t check.) Owners were certainly responding to Pagan’s one-out save against the Orioles on Sunday, as well as his growing prominence in high-leverage ninth-inning situations for the Rays.

If there is a reliever in the Rays’ bullpen to own right now, it’s clearly Pagan, who has two saves in the team’s last five games. However, it is premature to assume that Kevin Cash is going to rely solely on him for saves. Diego Castillo is still only four days removed from being activated, and it is not yet clear what his post-IL usage patterns will look like. Especially with Jose Alvarado (oblique) on the IL, it would hardly be surprising to see Cash turn to Colin Poche for save situations that involve left-handed hitters.
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With July on the horizon and the trade deadline set to take center stage after the All-Star break, bullpen hierarchies will remain fluid. Ahead of all of this, things seem to be intensifying in Cincinnati with Michael Lorenzen receiving the save chance against the Cubs on Friday night. Lorenzen converted his fifth save, and third in a row giving up a hit in 1.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. More intriguing, Raisel Iglesias did not make an appearance in this game with the Reds protecting a three-run lead. Momentum and performance tilt to Lorenzen’s favor to the chagrin of Iglesias owners. Read the rest of this entry »

Roughly 24 hours ago, we may have wondered how soon the Cubs would use Craig Kimbrel as their closer once he was called up. That question was answered quickly and definitively on Thursday night. Mere hours after getting promoted from Triple-A Iowa, Joe Maddon called on Kimbrel to protect a 9-7 lead against the Braves in the top of the ninth inning. He got off to an auspicious start to his tenure with his new team, throwing strikes on each of his first six pitches and retiring former battery mate Brian McCann and Johan Camargo. Kimbrel struck out McCann on three pitches, though the called third strike did appear to be just outside the strike zone.

After getting Ronald Acuna into a 1-2 count, Kimbrel’s night took a slight turn for the worse. Acuna worked his way into a seven-pitch at-bat, ultimately blemishing Kimbrel’s debut with a ground rule double. Then his control briefly abandoned him in a four-pitch walk to Dansby Swanson. It only took one pitch for Kimbrel to end the threat, as Anthony Rizzo snagged a Freddie Freeman grounder hit down the first base line and got to the base just in time to get the final out.
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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 »

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 »