Bullpen Report: May 19, 2014

• Aroldis Chapman blew his first save of the year tonight against the Nationals. It’s tough to glean anything from Aroldis over just five innings pitched but he’s averaging 100 mph on his fastball and has nine strikeouts against three walks. Also, for what it’s worth Chapman didn’t blow tonight’s save in spectacular fashion, he gave a lead-off double that ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly. I wouldn’t be concerned about tonight’s blip, Chapman looks like himself after his unfortunate comebacker in spring training and should be a top three closer from here on out this season.

• With John Axford removed from the closer role, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen have been called on for ninth inning duties in Cleveland. Shaw pitched a perfect eighth tonight but Cody Allen was unable to save the game, blowing the game on a JD Martinez homer. Cody Allen (2.47 SIERA) is likely the better pitcher and profiles more as a “classic closer” with lots of Ks and fastball velocity but Shaw (3.06 SIERA) is totally a capable reliever himself. It’s the second subpar outing in a row for Allen and I would actually wager that Shaw receives the next save opp.This situation is obviously very fluid and both need to be owned in fantasy leagues.

• Greg Holland isn’t in any danger of losing his job but it’s worth noting the impressive numbers of the guys behind him in the KC bullpen. Wade Davis threw another scoreless inning tonight and now has a 1.86/1.06/1.74 ERA/FIP/xFIP with 36 strikeouts against nine walks in 19.1 innings pitched. Davis doesn’t exhibit elite control but you can get away with it with a 44.7% K%. Kelvin Herrera also threw a scoreless frame tonight and has a 1.27/2.42/3.34 ERA/FIP/xFIP line.

• About to click publish and Matt Lindstrom exited the game, hurting himself while trying to field a bunt. Scott Downs is now in the game to close it out. Keep an eye on this situation, Ronald Belisario, Daniel Webb and Scott Downs could factor into saves if Lindstrom misses any significant time.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Addison Reed	Brad Ziegler	Oliver Perez	J.J. Putz
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	David Carpenter	Luis Avilan	Jordan Walden
Baltimore	Tommy Hunter	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Andrew Miller
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Justin Grimm	James Russell	Pedro Strop
CHI (AL)	Matt Lindstrom	Ronald Belisario	Daniel Webb	Nate Jones
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	Sam LeCure
Cleveland	Bryan Shaw	Cody Allen	Scott Atchison
Colorado	LaTroy Hawkins	Adam Ottavino	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Joe Nathan	Joba Chamberlain	Al Alburquerque	Joel Hanrahan
Houston	Chad Qualls	Kyle Farnsworth	Josh Zeid	Jesse Crain
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Joe Smith	Michael Kohn	Dane de la Rosa
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Chris Perez	Chris Withrow
Miami	Steve Cishek	A.J. Ramos	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Will Smith	Brandon Kintzler	Jim Henderson
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jenrry Mejia	Jose Valverde	Jeurys Familia	Bobby Parnell
NY (AL)	David Robertson	Shawn Kelley	Adam Warren
Oakland	Sean Doolittle	Luke Gregerson	Jim Johnson
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Mike Adams	Antonio Bastardo
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Justin Wilson	Jason Grilli
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Carlos Martinez	Kevin Siegrist	Jason Motte
SD	Huston Street	Joaquin Benoit	Alex Torres
SF	Sergio Romo	Santiago Casilla	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Tom Wilhelmsen
TB	Grant Balfour	Joel Peralta	Jake McGee
Texas	Joakim Soria	Alexi Ogando	Jason Frasor	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Brett Cecil	Steve Delabar	Sergio Santos
Wash.	Rafael Soriano	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen

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