Bullpen Report

So we come to another week of debauchery known as bullpendom.  Yeah, I like to make up words; Dr. Seuss did it and he is considered a genius, me will settle for 700 on my SAT’s and just scraping by.  What can I say –  I’m a settler minus the funny hat and the flashy yet obnoxious buckle on my shoes. The Red Sox seem to be leading the pack of news this week with Joel Hanrahan being pipped by Andrew Bailey.  It’s going to be a non-fluid situation when Joe-L returns as I see him setting up and waiting for Bailey to go on the rocks. It’s not a bad thing to have if you’re in Boston; 2 closers that have the ability to close out games with some sort of success, for fantasy baseball it sucks worse then burning your toaster strudel cause it gets stuck in the toaster.  Best part is there is still some of that glaze that you can just free base as a non-essential part of your daily vitamin allowance. Lots more in this week’s episode of bullpen report so keep on reading and click that red button, or gray button for our color impaired people.

Greg Holland – Seems to have gotten over his early season stumble and has cemented himself in the prominent role with the Royals.  Or until he sucks again or Kelvin drinks Joboo’s rum.

Bruce Rondon – Was recalled by los Tigres to fill in for the injured wing of Octavio Dotel.  Won’t see anything close to a save unless the game is called after 7 innings and he was the pitcher of record.  Deeper leagues can speculate, but it is prolly a place holder for a stream pitcher anyways.  Plus the return of Jose Valverde just adds to the confusion.

Carlos Marmol – Since being demoted from the closer role he has pitched 8 innings, given up 3 hits, 6 walks and 8 K’s.  The key is zero runs allowed – the showcase is coming so get ready for the coaster ride again.  Kevin Gregg looks good in glasses, and that’s about all.

Ryan Madson – Has elbow problems, this isn’t really news but he is up again, down again on the anticipation scale.  Facing batters is the next step, not being sore and achy is the next step after that.  The next step after that is I believe a slide to the left, but my electric slide is a little rusty.

John Axford – Maybe he is a better suited for a set-up role.  Side note: I think he gets the job back at some point in the next month, but since being demoted he has 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball with 6 K’s and 4 Holds. So some tinkering is obviously working.  Monitor closely, but don’t sit so close to the tv.  Mom gets mad.

Junichi Tazawa – Is making a name for himself because I don’t know anyone else named Junichi, and it sounds like a chef’s special sushi roll.  He is seeing lots of late inning chances for holds and the Red Sox pen is looking pretty, pretty good.

I made up a fun chart of some of the better options for Holds.  This is an active chart that I keep for giggles for myself, because it shows effectiveness and use by teams.  I did edit it down to an excerpt of the better guys, so ask away for others in the list or be proactive and look up the stats for yourself, either way we cool. I like to use the Appearances with the lead and Inherited runs scored threads to view effectiveness or lack there of.