Bullpen Report, Week 2: It’s Mad Early, But Sorta Trendy

It’s trendy to be trendy and follow your nose like Toucan Sam.  Unfortunately, there are no Fruit Loops here, only Holds.  Holds with a silver lining of saves that helps everyone.  For now though, it’s all about the holds.  It’s only a dozen games into the season and it’s never too early to turn a side eye to what’s going on with the key bullpen pieces around the league.  These guys are mostly for holds only leagues, but the elite of the elite are the rosterable guys that should be universally owned.   So, for those that are new to the Bullpen Report, it goes a little like this…  I focus on relievers that are pitching in high leverage situations, games with the lead, inherited runners and the inherited runners they allow to score.   Those more or less correlate to the stat we are chasing, and no it’s not that white dragon.  It’s the hold.  Team situations, team success, and the players ability in those situations all dictate that stat.  It’s no coincidence that teams with better teams usually have more save chances, it just happens.  So have a gander at some trendy type stats that have happened in the games so far.  Be aware that stats this early are misleading like a Polish GPS, so be aware and don’t go for the first car you see when your hitchhiking your way through the holds life.

• Minus the cult following, and the team is super over-achieving… take a look at re-tread of a re-tread Jim Johnson.  Guy gets signed as a veteran-type signing in Atlanta and is straight killing it right now.  Do I think it will last?  Prolly not.  But I ask you this: what has a better chance of happening?  Jason Grilli stays healthy for a whole year or you completely download the entire Ray Parker Jr. music collection… including his collabo’s?  There isn’t a chance in hell that Grilli stays on the bump as a closer for 60-plus innings.  If you’re in the market for save speculation and hold garnering, Jimmy is a good place to be.
• The Mariners bullpen is turning into Padres North.  They are churning out useful arm after useful arm.  Their bullpen is just deep like the mind of Minolta deep.  Go peep their depth chart.  Show me one non-useful guy out of this group in Holds leagues: Yoervis Medina, Charlie Furbush, Danny Farquhar, or Carson Smith. For todays’ exercise, let’s focus on the lesser know of the four, Carson Smith.  Remember a couple weeks ago when I spoke about straight relievers that have never started a game and are being B-lined to the majors?  Well here he is.  Already has seen three games with team in the lead, with five inherited runners.  For those not in the know, that means the manager is trusting him with his daughter to prom… already.  Oh, and by the way, he has a K rate over 12 in the early going, so maybe invest in Carson on the Daily.
• If you are holding out hope for some Minnesota reliever giving you something, do me a favor, log into your team right now, find him, and then drop him.   That concludes my discussion of the Twins bullpen right now. No payers referenced, no should I drop/add this guy… just drop.  Just for further reference, just in case my words don’t get through your helmet you wear for safety, the Colorado Rockies have 18 save opportunities…
• Let’s stay in the land of Rocky Mountain Oysters, shall we?  The Rockies are pacing the league in Holds (12), Save opps (18) and relief appearances ahead (23).  All this with a closer change and a whole lotta guys that sorta blah based on preseason rankings.  Adam Ottavino is the new closer for now, so let’s eliminate him from the discussion.  They are being paced by their effective pair of Boone Logan and Christian Friedrich.  Having a dual pair of lefties is always a great thing to have when they aren’t shoes.  I really like what I am seeing out of Friedrich more so than from Logan right now.  He is seeing the tougher situations and is coming out fairly decent considering he was a starter before this year.  Look for him to be the co-A guy for lefties in the upcoming weeks.