Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: May 16

Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Reports: May 16

Closers & Saves

Listen. I get it. Brad Ziegler is an unsexy closer. He doesn’t strike anyone out and his WHIP is too high at the moment. But just because you’d rather own a guy who posts a double-digit K-rate doesn’t mean that he’s a bad guy to own. Last year he rang you up 30 saves with a 1.85 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 68 innings. Even if he sees a slight uptick in his ratios, he’s still going to be plenty valuable to you overall and he’s given manager Chip Hale no reason to even think about making a switch to either Daniel Hudson or Tyler Clippard. Sure, he gave up a run Sunday and took the loss, but it wasn’t even a save situation and it was the first run he allowed in his last five appearances and the blow-up he had just before that streak was another non-save situation while facing the Rockies. In fact, Ziegler has actually converted 35-straight save opportunities, dating back to last season. Continue to use with confidence.

While the Braves don’t afford Arodys Vizcaino much in the way of save opportunities, the 25-year old righty continues to hold the role of closer in Atlanta. In fact, with Jim Johnson on the DL and Jason Grilli continuously giving up runs (three runs in just two-thirds of an inning over three appearances), there doesn’t seem to be any real concern with Vizcaino’s job security at the moment.

It makes no sense to me as to why people are dogging Hector Rondon (yes, Jeff Mans, I’m looking in your direction). He gave up a solo home run to Jung-Ho Kang in a non-save situation Sunday, but prior to that, he made six-straight scoreless appearances, rang up seven strikeouts, walked none and picked up three saves. The ERA is at 1.35 for the season and he’s posted a 0.53 WHIP over 13.1 innings. Oh yeah…and he hasn’t blown a save all year. Come on, people. Let’s lose the preconceived notions and appreciate him as the Cubs closer with little competition for the job.

I went over this in the weekly closer report that the non-subscribers get, so I’ll just kind of wrap it up nice and neatly for you here. The Reds bullpen is still a horrific nightmare. According to manager Bryan Price, the eighth and ninth innings will be shared by Tony Cingrani and Ross Ohlendorf. Who gets the save chance all comes down to the individual match-ups each game. So not only can you not predict which guy will earn the save, but neither guy is even remotely good nor should either be closing. Not for the Reds and certainly not for your fantasy team.

Brewers lefty Will Smith, the guy we expected to see as the team’s closer this year, continues to make strong progress in his return from a knee injury (damaged LCL) suffered during spring training. He’s now thrown multiple bullpen sessions with success and hasn’t had any sign of lingering issues as the team continues to ramp up his activity. The estimate is a mid-June return, but to be honest, he may not be given a chance to take back the job as Jeremy Jeffress continues to pitch well. He’s now made six-straight scoreless appearances with four saves and a win. He’s only got three strikeouts in that span, but so long as he’s racking up the saves, we can forgo a few extra K’s each week.

Still no change in the Minnesota pen, folks. While Kevin Jepsen continues to struggle, his primary set-up man, Trevor May, hasn’t pitched any better. In fact, the two of them combined have now allowed eight earned runs over their last four appearances (5.2 innings). Twins skipper Paul Molitor also threw down the vote of confidence in Jepsen over the weekend so it looks like the leash is fairly long as we all wait for Glen Perkins to return in June.

A’s manager Bob Melvin finally spoke to the media about the team’s closer position and officially announced that Ryan Madson was his closer. We’ve all known this for some time now as Sean Doolittle is needed more in the seventh and eighth innings because he’s the only reliable lefty, but I still cannot get behind Madson in full. The guy is a major injury risk and should the A’s actually bring up another southpaw for the bullpen, it seems very likely that he would start to see some ninth inning opportunities should the situation call for a lefty. You can roll with Madson for now, but don’t get too attached.

Things were looking pretty sweet for Mariners closer Steve Cishek as he racked up saves and scoreless appearances throughout April and into the month of May. He was charged with a blown save on May 7, rebounded with a pair of scoreless appearances and two saves, but has since fallen apart in his last two outings. He’s now allowed five earned runs on five hits and two walks over two innings and has two more blown saves marring his record. The Mariners aren’t ready to make a move, especially with Joaquin Benoit on the DL, but the leash could be shortening up a bit here.

Relievers & Holds

Darren O’Day had been pitching real well as of late but his a bit of a speed bump Sunday when he gave up a pair of solo home runs and was charged with both the loss and the blown save. Prior to that during the week, though, he made three appearances, threw three scoreless innings and picked up two holds and a win. He’s fallen down the leaderboard and has just six holds on the season, but they tend to come in spurts so he could end up on a roll this week with match-ups against the Mariners and Angels.

While Koji Uehara remains the top set-up man and likely the best source for holds on this roster, Junichi Tazawa is still getting solid opportunities even with the return of Carson Smith. We’re not talking anything major, but he’s thrown 5.2 scoreless frames with two holds, seven strikeouts and no walks over his last five appearances. The Red Sox are the hottest-hitting team on the planet right now, so it’s a little disappointing that the bullpen accrued just one hold all week, but they should continue to be a strong source for holds moving forward.

White Sox reliever Matt Albers has struggled mightily over his last two appearances he is still one of the prime sources for holds on this team. Nate Jones is the primary set-up man for closer David Robertson, but with Jacob Petricka on the DL, Albers is seeing more and more work. Expect him to level off from these last two blow-ups and still be a solid source for holds moving forward.

Things may be rough for Gregerson right now, but Astros set-up man Ken Giles seems to be rounding into form quite nicely here in the month of May. He’s now made four-straight scoreless appearances with a 3:1 K:BB and one hold over 3.1 innings. He’ll need to piece together a much long scoreless-inning streak if he wants to supplant Gregerson though as manager A.J. Hinch seems very loyal to his veteran closer. Giles, though, should continue to be a decent source for holds still.

While Steve Cishek continues to struggle, the Mariners aren’t looking to make a move right now as Joel Peralta is also having some recent difficulties. He went from six-straight appearances with a hold (allowing just one run over 4.1 innings) to two-straight appearances with two runs allowed. He’s been victimized by the long ball lately and won’t be considered a replacement for Cishek unless he turns things around immediately. But while he won’t be seeing any save chances anytime soon, he now leads the league in holds and should be considered an extremely strong option moving forward.

The Rangers have now won seven of their last 10 games and that was very evident by the fact that Sam Dysion and Jake Diekman have been racking up the holds in a major way. Between the two of them, they now have four holds and two saves over their last four games and should continue this course as the Rangers continue to surge. There’s a slight chance Dyson replaces incumbent closer Shawn Tolleson if the incumbent doesn’t turn things around, but even if he doesn’t, he’s still got tremendous value with the way he’s pitched this season.

Strength of Bullpen

Closer Grid