Matt Thornton frontrunner for saves with Jonathan Papelbon suspended

September 29, 2015

Washington Nationals – Jonathan Papelbon has been suspended for for games by the Nationals — essentially the rest of the season due to the three-game MLB suspension he’s about to serve for a separate incident — after getting into a dugout altercation that involved him choking Bryce Harper. As mentioned yesterday, a committee including Blake Treinen, Felipe Rivero, Casey Janssen, and Matt Thornton. Thornton finished yesterday’s game with a 4-run lead (and was warming in a 3-run game before the Nats extended it in the 9th), so we’ll start him off at the top of the closer-by-committee.

Updated hierarchy: *Thornton | Treinen | Janssen.
* = closer-by-committee

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Pat Neshek, Houston Astros – Luke Gregerson has pitched in three straight.
2. Sergio Romo, San Francisco Giants – Santiago Casilla has pitched in three straight.

Phillies will keep Jonathan Papelbon out of the playoffs again

September 26, 2015

Washington Nationals — Jonathan Papelbon was handed a three-game suspension for throwing at Manny Machado’s head on Wednesday night. Papelbon’s pending appeal will allow him to be on the bench — or maybe even the mound! — when his old team eliminates Washington from the playoffs, as early as Saturday. When Papelbon finally does sit out, the Nats have a vast array of mediocre options to take his spot. Matt Thornton has been seeing more LOOGYish usage lately, so we’d put him a hair behind Blake Treinen, Felipe Rivero, and Casey Janssen at this point. You’ll probably be better off avoiding the whole lot.

Updated hierarchy: Papelbon | Treinen | Rivero.

Detroit Tigers — With Bruce Rondon out of the picture, it looks like the Tigers are riding with Neftali Feliz, Proven Closer™, regardless of his 6.00+ ERA. Alex Wilson might get the next save chance to give Feliz a rest, but with the Tigers out of the playoffs, Brad Ausmus plans to go easy on him and Blaine Hardy.

Updated hierarchy: Feliz | Wilson | Hardy.

Oakland A’s — Pitching for the first time in nine days, Sean Doolittle entered in the eighth inning with a man on first. He let the first three men reach (single, single, walk), got a foul popout, then labored through the ninth for a grueling 38-pitch save. Ryan Dull got the seventh and eighth before him and (although he was touched for his first earned runs) seems to have moved ahead of Drew Pomeranz.

Updated hierarchy: *Doolittle | Dull | Pomeranz.
* = closer-by-committee

Miami Marlins — Guess we spoke too soon on that whole Carter Capps return. The simulated game went fine, but he woke up the next day with “discomfort,” and decided to shut it down for the year. If Bill James and Rob Neyer have their way, Capps’s funky delivery could be outlawed in the offseason. The Marlins are suffering without him, giving back five runs from a six-run lead in the seventh and eighth on Friday night. Bryan Morris and Mike Dunn pitched to three batters and put each one on base.

Hierarchy remains: Ramos | Dunn | Morris.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Jairo Diaz, Colorado Rockies — With a three-run lead in the ninth, Walt Weiss used John Axford in his third straight game, because the most important thing is chalking up that save. If Diaz has recovered from going in three straight from Tuesday to Thursday, he might get a shot on Saturday.
2. Ryan Dull/Drew Pomeranz, Oakland A’s — Sean Doolittle threw a ton of pitches on Friday.
3. Joakim Soria, Pittsburgh Pirates — Mark Melancon has pitched in three of four (and five of seven).
4. Alex Wilson, Detroit Tigers — Neftali Feliz has pitched in three of four also.
5. Kyle BarracloughMiami Marlins — A.J. Ramos has gone in three straight, although he’s only needed a total of 31 pitches. Mike Dunn and Bryan Morris have also pitched in three straight, poorly. Barraclough (pronounced like the pastry) got the Marlins out of Friday’s jam, and he’s looked impressive in his two months with the team.

New daddy Luke Gregerson likely back with Astros on Friday

September 18, 2015

Houston Astros — Closer Luke Gregerson will be back with the Astros on Friday after missing Wednesday and Thursday’s games due to the birth of his first child. No word as yet on whether taking only two days off makes Gregerson less of a “wuss” than Trevor Rosenthal.

Hierarchy remains: Gregerson | Neshek | Harris.

Chicago Cubs — The Closer Monkey went bananas Thursday when he correctly predicted a vulture save for the Cubs, but saw Travis Wood performing the honors over Fernando Rodney. Hector Rondon and Pedro Strop had been busy recently, so Joe Maddon elected to go with Wood, who picked up his second save with a clean eighth and ninth (5 Ks). He’s probably the second in line for Maddon for similar situations in the future.

Updated hierarchy: Rondon | Strop | Wood.

Baltimore Orioles — Manager Buck Showalter gave closer Zach Britton another day off after a recent heavy workload, so Darren O’Day was able to corral his third save of the season Thursday. O’Day, whom Showalter called the “leader of that bullpen” and “good people,” has been outstanding this year (1.54 ERA, 0.98 WHIP) and may get some serious looks in free agency in the offseason.

Hierarchy remains: Britton | O’Day | Brach.

Washington Nationals — Jonathan Papelbon was unavailable for Thursday’s game due to a high fever. If Papelbon is unavailable again Friday, look for Matt Thornton, Felipe Rivero or Casey Janssen to get the save chance.

Hierarchy remains: Papelbon | Thornton | Rivero.

Chicago White Sox — Staked to a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning on Thursday, closer David Robertson gave up a three-run home run of sorts to Billy Butler (I bet Avisail Garcia wishes he had that one back) for his seventh blown save. Robertson has allowed seven runs (five earned) in the last four days, and could need a night off to clear his head.

Hierarchy remains: Robertson | Jones | Duke.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Pat Neshek, Houston Astros — There’s a chance new father Luke Gregerson won’t be available Friday, in which case any save opportunity would go to Neshek.
2. Matt Thornton, Washington Nationals — Jonathan Papelbon was unavailable Thursday due to a high fever. If he’s out again, Thornton could get the call for the Nationals. Felipe Rivero or Casey Janssen are candidates, too.
3. Nate Jones, Chicago White Sox — As mentioned above, David Robertson may need a night off after a rough couple of outings. If that’s the case, look for Nate Jones to get the save chance Friday night.
4. Jean Machi, Boston Red Sox — His stint with the Red Sox has been less than impressive, but he has run together a string of scoreless appearances (6 IP over 5 games) and could see another look at closer before the season comes to an end.

Felipe Rivero pitching well; Keone Kela hurting

September 7, 2015

Oakland A’s – Sunday’s 1-run loss to the Mariners saw both Drew Pomeranz and Sean Doolittle pitch, but for the first time, Pomeranz went first, logging a scoreless 8th before giving way to Doolittle for the 9th. We’ve been saying since he returned that Doolittle would eventually get the closer job back, and though he hasn’t reclaimed it yet, we think the next save chance goes to him.

Hierarchy remains: *Doolittle | Pomeranz | Venditte.
* = closer-by-committee

Texas Rangers – The Rangers shut down Keone Kela this past weekend after he felt some discomfort in his elbow. He may return soon, but in the mean time, Texas will continue to look to their deadline acquisitions — Sam Dyson and Jake Diekman — to bridge the gap to Shawn Tolleson.

Updated hierarchy: Tolleson | Dyson | Diekman.

Washington Nationals – A few rough outings over the past couple weeks have dropped Casey Janssen down a peg or two in the Nationals hierarchy; yesterday, he finished off the sixth inning while young Felipe Rivero got the 7th. Despite being a lefty, Rivero has been pitching full innings (35 appearances, 37.2 IP, 2.63 ERA), and he has 32 strikeouts against just four unintentional walks. Look for him to get a few more holds as the Nationals try and rally down the stretch.

Updated hierarchy: Papelbon | Storen | Rivero.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Carson Smith, Seattle Mariners – Tom Wilhelmsen’s Sunday outing spanned 1.2 innings and he’s pitched in four of the last six.
2. Sergio Romo, San Francisco Giants – Santiago Casilla has pitched in back to back games, and with a stretch of fatigue in his not-too-distant past, he might get the night off.

Jean Machi struggles again

September 5, 2015

Boston Red Sox — After retiring the first two batters with a five-run lead in the ninth, Jean Machi decided to make things interesting. Single, homer, single, double: suddenly the lead was two and the Sox were stuck calling on lefty Robbie Ross, Jr., who struck out Ryan Howard on three pitches for his first career save. Whether Torey Lovullo sticks with Machi or not, you shouldn’t. The three saves he’ll earn this month (best-case) aren’t worth the eight runs he’ll give up.

Hierarchy remains: Machi | Tazawa | Ogando.

Oakland A’s — With Oakland down one in the ninth, Drew Pomeranz gave up a two-run home run. His struggles make it somewhat more likely that Sean Doolittle will get a chance to reclaim the closer role before the year is up.

Hierarchy remains: *Doolittle | Pomeranz | Venditte.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Junichi Tazawa, Boston Red Sox — We’ve seen enough Jean Machi.
2. Logan Kensing, Seattle Mariners — Tom Wilhelmsen has pitched in three of four (42 pitches), and Carson Smith has also been used a lot.
3. Casey Janssen, Washington Nationals — Jonathan Papelbon pitched two innings last night (27 pitches). Drew Storen has been worked even harder.
4. Edwin Jackson, Atlanta Braves — Arodys Vizcaino threw 28 pitches in a five-out appearance on Friday.