Mound Musings: The AL Bullpen Shuffle

At this stage of the season, the saves category is often a primary target for adding points and moving up in the standings. Last week we checked in on the unsettled bullpens in the National League; now it's the American League's turn. Having passed the non-waiver trade deadline, some closers have moved on to contending teams – often having been relegated to a set-up role – while their former teams scramble to find the guy who can adequately protect a lead in the ninth inning. Some role changes could be fairly obvious, but more often, there are several arms with some chance of claiming the job.

Bullpen inconsistency is becoming the norm.

Perhaps the most alarming part of this series is that I had no trouble selecting 10 teams to highlight – five in the NL and now five in the AL – and I could have included more teams with at least some doubts remaining. That's one-third of the major league teams, maybe more, where a new source of saves could surface any given day. Now, let's take a look at some closer assignments in the AL and see where they may be headed:

Here are some AL closer scenarios to monitor closely:

• Chicago White Sox – Will the last man in the bullpen please finish the game? That would again seem to be the scenario on the South Side of Chicago. Until a month ago, Joakim Soria was doing an adequate job, but he was traded to Milwaukee at the non-waiver deadline. The perpetually-injured Nate Jones is on the disabled list, so there simply is no obvious choice to serve as the closer. Given the situation, it's nearly impossible to predict save chances from day to day. With Luis Avilan now in Philadelphia, lefty Jace Fry is probably the best bet (but far from a certainty, especially if the opposing hitters are right-handed. We've also seen fellow lefties Hector Santiago and Xavier Cedeno, plus righty Juan Minaya in the late innings, but I remain intrigued with Thyago Vieira. He profiles as a future closer, but he'll need to be far more consistent to take the gig and run with it. There's not a lot of serious competition to overcome.

• Minnesota Twins – One of my favorite relief pitchers to watch has long been Fernando Rodney. He's the definition of a closer when it comes to emotion. He can get torched one day, and enter the game the next with the cool composure necessary to be effective. He was dealt to Oakland a couple weeks ago, and it's been a challenge to identify his heir in the Minnesota pen. I think the Twins would have liked Addison Reed to step in, but he has struggled on and off all year. So, we roll the dice, and enter Trevor Hildenberger. He is a competent reliever, but he's seriously lacking prototypical closer stuff. Taylor Rogers has perhaps the best profile for a closer, but it appears the team may feel the lefty is a bit too vulnerable to righties to be a fulltime end gamer. Right now, those two have fallen into a timeshare, and I expect that to continue unless one or the other steps up and begins to stand out. Hildenberger might have a slight edge, but he will need to perform to keep Reed or even Trevor May out of the consideration set. Not yet, but I think Brusdar Graterol could end up in this discussion.

• Toronto Blue Jays – With the playoffs off the table for this season, the Jays are hoping to settle their closer plans for the future. They began the year with the well-established Roberto Osuna working the ninth inning, but an off-field incident made moving Osuna seem prudent. They dealt him to Houston for their doghouse resident, Ken Giles, but his problems were more of the on-field variety. Giles has been quite reliable as a closer (he's a slick 16-for-16 in save chances), but he tends to unravel when there is no save on the line (he owns an ugly 5.87 ERA). There's no questioning his physical ability – he has a lively high 90s fastball and a wicked, albeit unusual, slider that breaks almost straight down – but he needs to earn a confidence level he never achieved with the Astros. He'll get every chance, because if he falters, Toronto's other options are either Tyler Clippard or Ryan Tepera, and neither profiles as a true closer.

• Los Angeles Angels – This one is basically a mix of injuries and questionable effectiveness. The Angels appeared to have settled on Keynan Middleton as their closer, but the assignment was short-lived. He had Tommy John surgery in May, and won't be back before sometime next season. Cam Bedrosian has long been seen as a future closer, but he has proven to be too fragile for the rigors of closing fulltime. Their current closer, Blake Parker, has filled the role on and off for two years, and will probably continue to so until a better alternative comes along. He's another adequate reliever, but he's better suited to a more flexible workload. The best bets to eventually take the job are Justin Anderson, who too often has problems finding the strike zone, and perhaps fireballer Alex Meyer, who they would prefer to see starting if he can ever stay off the disabled list long enough. Unfortunately, he's out until next year after having shoulder surgery.

• Houston Astros – As mentioned above, the Astros shipped Ken Giles to Toronto when he proved to be too inconsistent to lock down the closer's gig. I return, they received the Blue Jays' former closer, Roberto Osuna. Osuna has proven to be very effective in that role, and the team has recently stated he will likely see most ninth inning assignments going forward. Hector Rondon has done a pretty good job filling in, and he'll likely slot into an eighth inning role going forward, taking the ninth if Osuna needs a day off. With the Astros playoff bound, they are even more likely to try and lock down role assignments, so barring injuries or unexpected struggles, I anticipate fairly predictable usage. Osuna was well on his way to establishing himself as a top tier closer during his tenure in Toronto, and he just needs to keep off-field distractions to a minimum to continue that progression. Saves should come in bunches for him.
  

• I continue to be impressed with Cardinals' southpaw Austin Gomber. He hasn't quite locked in his release point yet, leading to higher pitch counts and some shorter outings, but his stuff moves, and he has shown the ability to maintain his focus, even when there are baserunners to contend with. He's a comer.

• If he could just stay healthy, what a monster the Mariners' James Paxton has become. Some pitchers have great stuff, while others have a very deceptive motion. Paxton has both. His arm action makes it difficult for hitters to pick up the ball, so hopefully he'll come back strong after taking a line drive off his arm.

• Yu Darvish has endured a season to forget, but he's now been ruled out for the remainder of 2018 with a stress reaction in his elbow and a triceps strain. The Cubs expect him to be fully healed, and ready for spring training next year. If he's available at a cheap price in your keeper league, he's worth a flyer.

• I caught an inning of Michael Kopech's rain-shortened debut. It was pretty much as billed. Mostly electric fastballs, often up in the zone, with a handful of fairly inconsistent secondary pitches. He threw a couple nasty changeups, but others missed badly. His ceiling is sky high if he continues to develop a full repertoire.

• The Mets really need to get Noah Syndergaard more comfortable controlling the running game. Teams run almost at will, and even though he looks as dominant as ever with the bases empty, he seems distracted, and even frustrated, when dealing with baserunners. That's really the only serious flaw in his game.

• Astros starter Lance McCullers is progressing in his rehab from a forearm strain. That's the good news. The bad news is he probably won't be ready to return to their rotation for close to a month, perhaps effectively ending his fantasy year. It would be difficult for him to get deep into games before the season ends.
  

The Dodgers got Kenley Jansen back much sooner than they expected. He was out with an irregular heartbeat, but returned earlier this week. Their bullpen really wandered with him on the shelf, but I expect things to settle quickly even though he has struggled since coming back. The Nationals appear to be selling off pieces as their playoff chances are fading. Sean Doolittle is still out, and it's yet to be seen if they will try to move the recently returned Kelvin Herrera. He should get the majority of the save chances unless he gets caught up in the house cleaning. The Brewers continue to juggle things in their pen with Corey Knebel out of synch. Both Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress have logged saves recently, and Joakim Soria could get in on the act when he comes off the disabled list, possibly this weekend. Jeffress is probably the best bet. I still expect to see the Giants' Hunter Strickland return to the closer's role sooner rather than later. Will Smith has done a solid job filling in, but I think the Giants would like to see Strickland take the job back. With Aroldis Chapman going on the disabled list due to tendinitis in his knee, I think the Yankees might employ a committee of Zach Britton and righty Dellin Betances to finish games. Of course, that presumes Chapman can return fairly soon.