Jake Diekman logs first post-Kela 9th; Ken Giles and Roberto Osuna swapped

July 31, 2018

Houston Astros – The Astros traded one headache for another, acquiring Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna in exchange for Ken Giles. Osuna, eligible to return on Sunday, probably won’t close for the Astros, as Hector Rondon has been nails since taking over the job, but he’ll likely get the first bite at the apple should Rondon falter.

Hierarchy remains: Rondon | McHugh | Pressly.

Toronto Blue Jays – John Gibbons said that Ken Giles will get the chance to close at some point for the Blue Jays. We’re guessing there will be a feeling out process first and that he won’t move into the role immediately, but we’re still starting him out just behind Ryan Tepera, and he could climb to the top quickly.

Updated hierarchy: *Tepera | Giles | Clippard.
* = closer-by-committee

Atlanta Braves – Brad Brach got his first action for Atlanta last night, pitching a scoreless 8th inning ahead of AJ Minter. We were close to removing Minter’s asterisk before the Brach trade, and we’ll plan to do so should the Braves continue to deploy them in this fashion.

Hierarchy remains: *Minter | Brach | Winkler.
* = closer-by-committee

Minnesota Twins – The Twins traded Zach Duke to Seattle last night. They also got Addison Reed back from the DL. We’ll make the requisite hierarchy change, but hopefully you owned neither of these guys and this doesn’t matter to you.

Updated hierarchy: Rodney | Hildenberger | Reed.

Seattle Mariners – Edwin Diaz became the first player to reach 40 saves and we aren’t even in August yet. Pat yourself on the back if you drafted him, as he’s now on pace for a 60-save season, which would put him just short of the MLB record (62) set by Francisco Rodriguez. Also, look for the newly-acquired Zach Duke to share 7th inning duties with James Pazos, Nick Vincent and others.

Hierarchy remains: Diaz | Colome | Pazos.

St. Louis Cardinals – The Cardinals placed Luke Gregerson on the DL yesterday, and the righty appears unlikely to pitch again this season. We’ll give his spot on the hierarchy to the recently-acquired Chasen Shreve.

Updated hierarchy: Norris | Hicks | Shreve. 

Texas Rangers – After the trade of Keone Kela to the Pirates, the Rangers turned to Jake Diekman in the 9th inning. It didn’t end up being a save since the Rangers added a run in the 9th to make it a four-run lead, but it seems likely Diekman will, at least, share the closer role with Jose LeClerc, if not more. However, Diekman could also potentially be traded later today, so LeClerc should probably be added either way.

Updated hierarchy: Diekman | LeClerc | Claudio.

Pittsburgh Pirates – The Pirates have acquired former Rangers’ closer Keone Kela. Felipe Vazquez should hang on to the closer’s job with Kela sliding into a set-up role alongside Kyle Crick.

Updated hierarchy: Vazquez | Kela | Crick.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Craig Stammen – Kirby Yates threw 2 innings last night.
2. Tony Watson – Will Smith has pitched in back to back games, including 1.1 innings last night.
3-9. Jose LeClerc, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hicks, Trevor Hildenberger, Justin Anderson, Jared Hughes, Drew Steckenrider – These guys are all sitting right behind closers who could conceivably be moved today. (Craig Stammen would be here too, but he’s already listed above.) If you’re looking to speculate on who might be closing by this afternoon, consider this order to be our confidence index — start at the beginning of this list and work your way down.

Tomorrow
1. Alex Colome/James Pazos – If Edwin Diaz or Alex Colome go tonight, it’ll be three straight.
2. Jordan Hicks – If Bud Norris goes today, it’ll be back to back and three of four.

Plenty of vulture saves to go around on Friday

July 14, 2018

Pittsburgh Pirates – As predicted in the Vulture Save Watch, Felipe Vazquez was rested after pitching in three of the last four. That paved the way for Kyle Crick to get the last four outs of Friday’s win and earn his second save of the year. Crick extended his scoreless streak to 13 games and will continue to be the first choice for the Pirates when Vazquez is unavailable.

Hierarchy remains: Vazquez | Crick | Santana.

Philadelphia Phillies – As the Vulture Save Watch also predicted, Seranthony Dominguez was given a night off. However, Gabe Kapler chose to use Victor Arano in the 8th inning and Pat Neshek in the 9th to close out a 2-0 win. Neshek became the ninth Phillies player to record a save this year, which ties a franchise record. Neshek has been excellent in his five appearances this year and will continue to get late-inning looks.

Updated hierarchy: *Dominguez | Arano | Neshek.
* = closer-by-committee

New York Mets — Another VSW prediction came partly true, as Jeurys Familia was given the night off after pitching in back-to-back games and three of the last four. However, Robert Gsellman came on for the 8th inning with a three-run lead and stuck around for the 9th to record his fourth gsave of the year. Anthony Swarzak was rested, but he has struggled recently, giving up four runs in his only two July appearances. Given that and Gsellman’s clear vulture save last night, it looks like Gsellman has the inside track if Familia is unavailable. 

Updated hierarchy: Familia | Gsellman | Swarzak.

Los Angeles Dodgers — With a one-run lead in the 8th and with Kenley Jansen resting after back-to-back appearances, the Dodgers went with Erik Goeddel to face the 2, 3 and 4 hitters of the Angels. After Goeddel got through that inning, it was left to Scott Alexander to close out the game. Alexander stranded the tying run on third to convert his first save of the season. Because Goeddel faced the most dangerous part of the Angels lineup (read: Mike Trout), we will keep him right behind Jansen in the hierarchy despite Alexander getting the save. The Dodgers bullpen is very fluid behind Kenley Jansen, but Goeddel and Alexander seem to be the top two options.

Hierarchy remains: Jansen | Goeddel | Alexander.

St. Louis Cardinals — The Cardinals activated Tyler Lyons and Luke Gregerson before last night’s game. Gregerson gave up a hit and a walk while getting two outs in the 6th, while Lyons gave up a pair of runs in the 7th inning. Sam Tuivailala had a rough outing as well, surrendering three earned runs in a third of an inning. St. Louis has been searching for a bit of stability in their bullpen other than Jordan Hicks and Bud Norris, and if Gregerson can return to form he will be an important part of the bullpen. He’ll likely need to string together a few successful outings before he truly enters the late-inning conversation, however.

Hierarchy remains: Norris | Hicks | Tuivailala.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Tyler Clippard — Seung Hwan Oh has pitched in two straight and three of the last four, so Clippard should the be the favorite for a save in Toronto’s committee.

Sunday:
1. Adam Ottavino –Wade Davis has pitched in back-to-back games, but has kept his pitch count low.
2. Trevor Hildenberger — The same is true of Fernando Rodney.
3, Jace Fry — Today would be back-to-back and three of four for Joakim Soria.
4. Steve Cishek/CJ Edwards — If Brandon Morrow pitches today, it will be back-to-back and three of four, but both Cishek and Edwards had long outings last night. If either pitches today, they also may not be available on Sunday.
5. Joe Jimenez – An appearance Saturday would be two straight for Shane Greene, who just came off the DL. The Tigers may choose to be careful with Greene.

It’s not getting any better for Greg Holland

May 23, 2018

St. Louis Cardinals – Mike Matheny continued his quest to get Greg Holland right on Tuesday when he called on the righty in the top of the ninth to keep the Cardinals down by just two. Holland failed to even record an out, allowing a walk and three singles as the Royals pushed their lead to 5-1. After the game, Matheny said that the issues don’t appear to be injury-related, and he seemed to mostly feel bad for Holland. They’ll keep trying to find spots for him to pitch and regain his old form, but those spots aren’t likely to be when the Cardinals have a lead. With Matt Bowman, Luke Gregerson and Tyler Lyons all on the DL, Sam Tuivailala is probably the best bet to get the ball to Jordan Hicks and Bud Norris. Lefty Brett Cecil should also grab some holds if the matchups are right.

Updated hierarchy: Norris | Hicks | Tuivailala.

Baltimore Orioles — Last time we checked in with the Orioles, Darren O’Day was moving closer to a return from the DL. Well, that’s taking longer than the Orioles thought. O’Day had a catch yesterday and will throw a bullpen today. Hopefully for Baltimore, O’Day’s bullpen goes well and he is back sometime this week.

Hierarchy remains: Brach | Givens | Bleier.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Jeremy Jeffress – Corey Knebel has pitched in two straight games and Josh Hader tossed 30 pitches over two innings on Tuesday.

Tomorrow
1. Joe Kelly – Craig Kimbrel threw 33 pitches on Tuesday, so he may get Thursday off if he has another lengthy outing on Wednesday.
2. Josh Hader/Jeremy Jeffress – If Knebel gets the call on Wednesday, it’s very unlikely he’d pitch on a fourth straight day.
3. Juan Nicasio – Should Edwin Diaz pitch on Wednesday, that will be two straight and three of four.

Shane Carle off to a good start in Atlanta; Luke Gregerson activated

April 17, 2018

Atlanta Braves – Arodys Vizcaino finally tallied his first save of the season Monday night, closing out a 2-1 victory. As expected, pitching ahead of him was AJ Minter, who despite a brief bout of control issues to start the season has opened up with 8.1 scoreless innings. Also picking up a hold was 26-year-old Shane Carle, who got the final two outs of the 7th inning. Carle (11.1 IP, 1.59 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 9 K, 2 BB) has been steady and reliable for the Braves thus far, and we think they’ll continue to look to him to protect leads going forward.

Updated hierarchy: Vizcaino | Minter | Carle. 

St. Louis Cardinals – The Cardinals activated Luke Gregerson before yesterday’s (postponed) game. It’s quite possible that he enters the mix for saves until Greg Holland is ready for the full time gig, but we’ll see how he is used before we mess with the hierarchy.

Hierarchy remains: *Holland | Norris | Hicks.
* = closer-by-committee

Washington Nationals – Ryan Madson picked up the save last night, as Sean Doolittle got a rest after pitching in two straight. Score another one for the Vulture Save Watch.

Hierarchy remains: Doolittle | Madson | Kintzler. 

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Juan Nicasio – Edwin Diaz has pitched in three of four and five of seven.
2. Robert Gsellman – Jeurys Familia and AJ Ramos have gone back to back and three of four.

Tomorrow
1. Jared Hughes – If Raisel Iglesias goes today, it’ll be back to back and three of four.

Luke Gregerson to begin season on DL

March 25, 2018

St. Louis Cardinals – Luke Gregerson will start the season on the disabled list thanks to a strained hamstring. Mike Matheny did not name a closer, but all signs point to Dominic Leone being the first choice for saves. Bud Norris will also get some consideration for the ninth inning as well. Don’t sleep on Sam Tuivailala as a candidate for late-inning work as well. The 25-year-old has been terrific this spring, posting 12 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. He has not allowed a run and even picked up a save.

Updated hierarchy: *Leone | Norris | Tuivailala.
* = closer-by-committee