Bullpen Report: May 13, 2013

• Edward Mujica recorded his 10th save of the season tonight, throwing a perfect ninth inning against the Mets. In 15 innings pitched Mujica has struck out 15 batters and continued his strike throwing ways by only issuing one free pass, good for a 15.00 K/BB. Not bad. It goes without say that there is regression coming for Mujica as he won’t maintain a .172 BABIP or a 96.8% Left On Base Percentage all year, but you can’t deny he’s pitching quite well with a particularly strong grip on the roll at the moment. Behind Mujica for saves is the young Trevor Rosenthal, who after struggling earlier this season has brought his ERA down to 2.84 and after two strikeouts tonight, he now has 27 in 19 innings pitched with only five walks.  As the eighth inning guy in St. Louis, Rosenthal is a great source for holds who can help your ratios and strikeout totals, and if anything were to happen to Mujica, he’d see the ninth inning again.

• Although Don Mattingly said today that Brandon League is still his closer for now, the fact that he had to address the situation means that League’s job is in big trouble. It also doesn’t help when you have a 6.28 ERA with nine earned runs in your last nine appearances or end the vote of confidence with a “for now.” It probably should have come to this point sooner than it has but it seems like it’s now closer to a matter of when not a matter of if League will lose his job to Kenley Jansen. League’s ugly ERA isn’t a result of some bad luck either as his non existent strikeout ability (4.40 K/9) has led to a disappointing 5.79 FIP. League likely isn’t this bad and should regress closer to his career norms, but Jansen’s always been the better pitcher. To the surprise of no one, Jansen’s had a great year pitching to a 2.29/2.49/2.35 ERA/FIP/xFIP and a 35.1% K%. League’s next blown save might be his last and I’d pick up Jansen if he’s available or look for a more competitive league next year.

• After struggling with soreness on his left side and missing the last few games, Perkins was apparently available to pitch  yesterday and would have pitched tonight, but the Twins scored four runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning removing the opportunity for a save. It looks like Perkins is back but if he were to miss any more time, Jared Burton will continue to be next in line for ninth inning duties in Minnesota.  Glen Perkins 3.55 ERA might seem pedestrian but he has an absurd 40% K% leading to a fantastic 2.05 FIP. I’d like to think it’s because he reads FanGraphs, but no matter the reason Glen Perkins remains a great closing option both in the Twin Cities and on fantasy teams.

• Not that anyone was losing any sleep over Frank Francisco’s rehab, but Frank² was “diagnosed with mild strain of flexor pronator in right elbow.” Francisco will require 72 hours of rest before he will continue his rehab but whenever he’s finally able to return to pitch, including in Queens, Bobby Parnell looks to remain as closer.

Closer Grid:

 

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Heath Bell	David Hernandez	Matt Reynolds	J.J. Putz
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Eric O’Flaherty	Jordan Walden
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Darren O’Day	Pedro Strop
Boston	Junichi Tazawa	Koji Uehara	Andrew Miller	Andrew Bailey
CHI (NL)	Kevin Gregg	Carlos Marmol	James Russell	Kyuji Fujikawa
CHI (AL)	Addison Reed	Jesse Crain	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	J.J. Hoover
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Joe Smith	Bryan Shaw	Vinnie Pestano
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Wilton Lopez	Matt Belisle
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Al Alburquerque
Houston	Jose Veras	Wesley Wright	Hector Ambriz
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Tim Collins
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Scott Downs	Jerome Williams	Ryan Madson
LAD	Brandon League	Kenley Jansen	Ronald Belisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Chad Qualls
Milwaukee	Jim Henderson	John Axford	Michael Gonzalez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Bobby Parnell	Brandon Lyon	LaTroy Hawkins	Frank Francisco
NY (AL)	Mariano Rivera	David Robertson	Joba Chamberlain
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Mike Adams	Antonio Bastardo
Pittsburgh	Jason Grilli	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson
St. Louis	Edward Mujica	Trevor Rosenthal	Fernando Salas	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer
SF	Sergio Romo	Santiago Casilla	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Carter Capps	Charlie Furbush
TB	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee
Texas	Joe Nathan	Jason Frasor	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Steve Delabar	Darren Oliver	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Drew Storen	Tyler Clippard

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]