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The deadline is right around the corner, I know this because it said it would be right back and asked me to watch it’s dog while it shuffled up all the bullpen stuff that I just took the time to write out.  The trade deadline is a mischievous beast, he will lure you with rumors and a weird one-windowed van and leave you out of the loop when it comes to bullpens.  Contenders don’t care, they will have 2-3 closers or former closers on the roster… greedy is what I say.  But I am still looking at situations in flux because I have no life.  Scouring the goodies of bullpens left behind, and it takes me to Oakland.  The traded recipient, that being Blake Treinen is in the prime ready-five chair as he watches Santiago Casilla implode for 4 blown saves in his last 16 appearances… and of course he blows the first chance he gets.  No matter, I think that he still is a better bet going forward than Casilla.   The bullpen cupboard is bare, there’s no Doolittle, there’s no Madson, there’s no more Axford.  It is Treinen and Ryan Dull as the lone men standing, and Dull just got back from the DL.  It is a matter of when, not if Blake gets the go of things and makes all the Bay City girls swoon with his saves.  If the A’s go full on punt and trade the rotation to nothing, his potential for saves could be minimal, but chase away oh friends of the ‘NOF.

  • Good for the Rockies in bringing in another reliever.  Pat Neshek should give them consistency in front of Holland.
  • In similar news, the Phillies are god awful at saves and save opportunities.  They have one in last 8 games, and 4 since July started.  Boo.  Thank god they still have cream cheese, cause the cheesesteaks are on the outs.
  • Keep an eye or one if you have an eye patch on Jake Petricka.
  • Only took Edwin Diaz 90 games into the season to have a 5 save stretch in 13 games… yah.
  • I normally don’t like speculating about trades, but Brandon Kintzler is a free agent and the Twins, who were once buyers now have buyer’s remorse in Jaime Garcia, but Taylor Rogers could become the next victim up.
  • At this point in the season with innings crunch such an issue, what is better a save from a waiver wire type guy or 2 wins during 4 appearances.  Ryan Madson may have missed with the closer gig but got you two relief wins.  I vote wins.

 

$12 Salads

You know that restaurant your girlfriend/wife/what-have-you likes to go to that charges, like, $12 for a salad? Every time you go there, you have a thoroughly solid meal. No complaints, except you just paid $12 for a salad when you could’ve went to McDonald’s and stuffed you and your woman for ten schmools and had $2 in quarters left over to make the hotel bed vibrate. These closers are $12 salads.

1. Kenley Jansen – (Pedro Baez, Brenden Morrow)

2. Craig Kimbrel – (Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree)

3Aroldis Chapman– (Dellin Betances, David Robertson)

4. Wade Davis – (Koji Uehara, Carl Edwards Jr.)

5. Greg Holland – (Pat NeshekJake McGee)

6. Andrew Miller – (Cody AllenBryan Shaw)

7. Roberto Osuna – (Joe SmithRyan Tepera)

8. Ken Giles – (Chris Devenski, Luke Gregerson)

9. Alex Colome – (Brad BoxbergerTommy Hunter)

Donkeycorns

Imagine you’re following a donkey, who’s wearing a wool cap, through a desert for 1700 miles. Why are you following a donkey? Because he promises you something wonderful and you just need to trust him. Does the donkey talk? Yes. Yes, he does talk. So when you and the donkey in the wool cap arrive at his destination, he removes the wool cap to reveal a horn. The donkey is a unicorn and his gift to you for your trust is saves. These closers are Donkeycorns.

10. Corey Knebel – (Jacob Barnes, Anthony Swarzak)

11. Kelvin Herrera – (Brandon Maurer, Joakin Soria)

12. Felipe Rivero – (Juan NicasioTony Watson)

13. Raisel Iglesias – (Tony CingraniMichael Lorenzen)

14. Zach Britton – (Brad BrachMychal Givens)

15. A.J. Ramos– (Junichi Tazawa, Jarlin Garcia)

16. Brandon Kintzler – (Taylor RogersTyler Duffey)

17. Edwin Diaz – (Nick Vincent, David Phelps)

Employed

These guys are the men that make the save market go round. They punch in, punch out. Have the job, no real threat to speak of, and are basically just there to collect great benny’s so they can take care of their crippled brother. Who is only really crippled because he is scared of the sun.

18. Jim Johnson –  (Arodys Vizcaino, Jose Ramirez)

19. Fernando Rodney  – (Archie Bradley, Jorge de la Rosa)

20. Sam Dyson – (Hunter StricklandGeorge Kontos)

21. Addison Reed – (Jerry BlevinsFernando Salas)

22. Bud Norris – (David HernandezCam Bedrosian)

23. Sean Doolittle – (Ryan Madson, Matt Albers)

24. Justin Wilson – (Bruce RondonAlex Wilson)

Brain Freezes

I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples, bananas and Carlos Marmol– Wait, he just gave up 12 earned runs and hit Castro in the head with a pick-off throw. Brain freeze! Make it stop! Use the following closers at your own risk.

25. Brad Hand –  (Phil Maton, Kirby Yates)

26. Santiago Casilla  (Blake Treinen, Ryan Dull)

27. Trevor Rosenthal / Seung-Hwan Oh / Brett Cecil

28. Alex Claudio  (Matt Bush, Jose Leclerc)

29. Tyler Clippard – (Chris Beck, Juan Minaya, Jake Petricka)

30. Hector Neris  / Luis Garcia