Bullpen Report: The Peacock Effect

Closer news is nice, but how much fluctuation is really happening in the first eight games of the year?  Zero is the answer… but what about Kenley Jansen?  If you drafted him, you are riding that gondola to closer purgatory as his draft slot is an inexcusable smorgasbord of devilishness.  In layman’s terms?  You are burnt.  So like closers, I also cover their well being of your local neighborhood holds guys too.  Early season patterns of usage are a key to early season effectiveness.  Managers stick with guys early that have had a good spring and can be relied on to get tough outs. It is no different than later in the season, but some of the faces change because of poor spring, injury returns, and dreaded attrition factors that all relief pitchers battle.  The role of the relief pitcher is completely expanding,  as more former starters are being used in multi-inning appearances.  Would it completely blow your mind if I said there have been more multi-inning appearances of four strikeouts than there have been starts with seven-plus innings?  Boom, mind blown.  The Peacock effect is in full bloom.  Following the Devenski Effect of a year ago, the multi-inning reliever is going to become a hot commodity fantasy-wise… hopefully by Wednesday.  The K-factor, the “free inning” factor, and the way you can time a relief pitcher on a down starting pitcher day is the exploitation factor that can vault your rates into the next level.  It happens subtly and takes diligence on the wire, but two-3 K’s and rates per day at the cost of merely a few innings (as compared to a starter maybe going 5 innings and throwing 85 pitches) makes me wanna puke.  Thanks Gabe Kapler.  So keep an eye out for multi-inning relief cave dwellers and the goodies that they supply.  Or just stick around here and learn about everything else that is happening around the bullpens around fake baseball!

• Remember what I just said about multi-inning, former starter guys? Keep an eye on Robert Gsellman.  Swarzak is in the oblique corner of the world and innings need to be eaten up.  P.S., he may acquire dual eligibility for added flavor.
• Keeping with the Mets for a team perspective, they have the highest K% at 35% the lowest ERA at 1.13 and the lowest BAA .157.
• Adam Ottavino is shining for the Rockies.  Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee were all more heralded preseason by me and that may hold true later, but 2 holds,  24.00 K/9 and zero BAA against is an awesome start.  Colorado is sneaky good relief wise.
• With all the struggles and save speculation with the Angels Blake Wood and Jim Johnson (yeah, that Jim Johnson) has been their best relievers, not kidding.
• Archie Bradley is better as a setup guy for the D-Backs.  Shame we all drafted him as a closer, you… not me.