2015 AL Central preview

March 6, 2015

Chicago White Sox – Chicago’s bullpen was a mess right from the start in 2014. To ensure that didn’t happen again, the Sox went out and signed former Yankees closer David Robertson. Jake Petricka and Zach Putnam, who split the closer’s job at the end of 2014, should slide into set-up roles in front of Robertson. The White Sox also added veteran lefty Zach Duke in the off-season, and he could see some time in the later innings.

Starting 2015 hierarchy: Robertson | Petricka | Putnam.
Holds candidates: Petricka, Putnam.

Cleveland Indians – The Indians return the core of their bullpen for 2015. Cody Allen took over for John Axford in the middle of 2014 and never looked back. Manager Terry Francona has nothing but good things to say about Allen, who will start a season as closer for the first time in his young career. Brian Shaw and Scott Atchison did a nice job in the 7th and 8th innings last year and should return to those roles to start this upcoming season. Nick Hagadone could be a guy to watch, as he is a big, hard-throwing lefty with good strikeout potential.

Starting 2015 hierarchy: Allen | Shaw | Atchison.
Holds candidates: Shaw, Marc Rzepczynski.

Detroit Tigers – Joe Nathan struggled all year in 2014 and hopes to bounce back in 2015. He’ll start the year as the closer, but Joakim Soria will be right behind him if he slips up. The Tigers brought Joba Chamberlain back, and also signed lefty Tom Gorzelanny. Bruce Rondon is one of the most interesting members of the Tigers bullpen, a young flamethrower coming off Tommy John surgery.

Starting 2015 hierarchy: Nathan | Soria | Chamberlain.
Holds candidates: Soria, Gorzellany.

Kansas City Royals – The Royals bullpen was one of the main reasons for their successful 2015 season. Closer Greg Holland combined with Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera to form arguably the best relief tandem in baseball. All three guys will return in 2015 and, if that wasn’t good enough, they’ll also get Luke Hochevar back. Hochevar missed all of 2014, but was a dominant set-up man in 2013. Tim Collins was in line to be the Royals’ lefty specialist, but he was pulled from Wednesday’s spring training game and may need Tommy John surgery. Rookie phenom Brandon Finnegan may wind up in the bullpen as a result.

Starting 2015 hierarchy: Holland | Davis | Herrera.
Holds candidates: Davis, Herrera.

Minnesota Twins  – Glen Perkins missed the end of the 2014 season, but he’s healthy now, and ready to close again for the Twins. Righty Casey Fien and lefty Brian Duensing will likely start the season in the back end of the bullpen. Tim Stauffer is competing for the fifth spot in the rotation, but if he doesn’t win the job, he could also be an option in the later innings.

Starting 2015 hierarchy: Perkins | Fien | Duensing.
Holds candidates: Fien, Duensing.

Hunter Strickland and Roman Mendez have arrived

September 23, 2014

San Francisco Giants — Since Bruce Bochy’s late-August announcement that Santiago Casilla would share save opportunities with a committee, Casilla has continued to get every available chance. On Monday, though, Casilla pitched the eleventh and twelfth (in a tie game on the road!!), leaving the save for Hunter Strickland, whom you know all too well as the closer for the mighty Richmond Flying Squirrels. Since Strickland came to the big club on September 1, he has seven strikeouts in seven scoreless appearances. The committee isn’t really a thing, but the Giants might want to keep testing whether Strickland could be.

Updated hierarchy: Casilla | Romo | Strickland.

Houston Astros — Last offseason, Houston signed three free agent relievers: Chad Qualls, who has been a serviceable closer since May; Matt Albers, who made it into eight games before hitting the DL; and Jesse Crain, who earned $3.25 million for throwing as many pitches for Houston as your mother did. Now GM Jeff Luhnow says the team will again prioritize relief spending in the winter, in the hopes Houston can hit the rarefied air of “75 [or] 80 wins.” Keep dreaming that crazy dream, Jeff.

Hierarchy remains: Qualls | Fields | Sipp.

Texas Rangers — Rookie Roman Mendez has been getting several high-leverage outs lately for Texas; he was used in the eighth inning up a run on Monday night. Meanwhile, Alexi Ogando is so injured that they put him on the winter league disabled list.

Updated hierarchy: Feliz | Cotts | Mendez.

San Diego Padres — Kevin Quackenbush earned another save in Joaquin Benoit’s stead. Benoit’s first appearance (on Sunday) was uneventful, so if the Padres are telling us the truth, he should return to the closer role soon.

Hierarchy remains: Benoit | Quackenbush | Thayer.

Cleveland Indians – Unbeknownst to us, Cody Allen couldn’t come back out for the tenth inning of the Indians’ suspended game against the Royals, because rookie lefty Kyle Crockett had already been announced as the new pitcher before the game was called in late August. That left it to Scott Atchison to pick up the save, 22 days later.

Hierarchy remains: Allen | Shaw | Atchison.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Tony Watson, Pittsburgh Pirates — The Bucs are riding their bullpen hard as they approach the postseason; Mark Melancon has now thrown on four of the last five days (67 pitches), and five of the last seven (84).
2. Neal Cotts, Texas Rangers — Neftali Feliz has pitched on two straight days, and he hasn’t gone three in a row all year.
3. Brian Wilson, Los Angeles Dodgers — Kenley Jansen has thrown 20+ pitches each of the last two days.

John Axford claimed by Pirates; Brian Wilson gets knocked around

August 15, 2014

Cleveland Indians – The Indians placed John Axford on waivers earlier this month, and yesterday, he was claimed by the Pirates, who will pick up the remaining $1.1 million of his salary. We’ll leave him off the Pirates hierarchy until we see how they’re going to use him, but in Cleveland, look for Scott Atchison to continue his recent run of 7th inning holds.

Updated hierarchy: Allen | Shaw | Atchison.

Milwaukee Brewers – Will Smith has had an up and down season, which we’ve been thoroughly happy to chronicle with help from his IMDB page. Right now, he’s back on the upswing, with a bunch of recent 8th inning holds to his name. Last night, Smith pitched a perfect 8th with two strikeouts and is again the most likely candidate for saves when Francisco Rodriguez needs a night off.

Updated hierarchy: Rodriguez | Smith | Kintzler.

Los Angeles Dodgers – Brian Wilson had an ugly outing last night, allowing three earned runs in 0.2 innings and forcing Kenley Jansen into an extended appearance. Prior to last night, Wilson had been sort of decent lately, and his strikeout totals are still excellent (50 in 39.1 IPs). But he’s still walking way too many guys, leading to an ERA and WHIP of 5.26 and 1.70 — unseemly numbers for the would-be set-up man on the NL’s best team. With Brandon League pitching very effectively lately, Wilson might not be Jansen’s handcuff at this point. We’ll watch how this unfolds in the coming days.

Hierarchy remains: Jansen | Wilson | League.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Brad Boxberger, Tampa Bay Rays – With his appearance last night, Jake McGee has now worked 3 innings over the last 3 days.

Grant Balfour on the hottest of Hot Seats

May 23, 2014

Tampa Bay Rays – We’ve mentioned Grant Balfour’s ratios here before, but it truly is incredible to see a pitcher with peripherals this bad continue to get the ball in the 9th inning. After walking two (and getting annoyed with the crowd for booing him) in a blown save on Thursday afternoon, Balfour now has 18 BBs and just 15 Ks in 18.1 innings pitched. He’s already on the Hot Seat, though he might hang on to his job in part because the Rays ended up winning their game in extras. But Joel Peralta — and maybe Jake McGee — is definitely worth a speculative pick up at this point.

Hierarchy remains: Balfour | Peralta | McGee.

New York Mets – The 9th inning in New York suddenly seems like a pretty solid proposition, as Jenrry Mejia has now pitched 5.1 scoreless innings (6 Ks, 0 BBs) since his move to the bullpen, including his first back-to-back appearances on Wednesday and Thursday. But after that, it’s hard to figure anything out. Would-be set-up man Jeurys Familia has a 2.38 ERA in May, but he was summoned in the 5th inning a few days back. (This, just a week or so after Terry Collins said Familia was about to win the closer gig.) And instead, last night, it was Daisuke Matsuzaka who got the 8th inning hold. Matsuzaka isn’t an ideal reliever by any means; astoundingly, he has walked at least one batter in 14 of his 17 appearances. But perhaps even more astoundingly, he’s managed to post an ERA of 2.14 thus far, and his strikeout rate is higher than it ever was when he was a starter (24 Ks in 21 innings).

Updated hierarchy: Mejia | Familia | Matsuzaka.

Baltimore Orioles – Tommy Hunter was placed on the disabled list on Thursday with a strained groin. There’s no indication of when he was injured, but this might be why the former closer had been so ineffective as of late.

Updated hierarchy: Britton | O’Day | Webb.

Cleveland Indians – Scott Atchison picked up a 13th inning save on Thursday. Cody Allen and John Axford had already pitched, and Bryan Shaw was unavailable.

Hierarchy remains: Allen | Shaw | Axford.

Chicago Cubs – Carlos Villanueva threw the final three innings in the Cubs victory to earn his first save of the season. He does not factor in to Chicago’s usual late-inning plans.

Hierarchy remains: Rondon | Ramirez | Schlitter.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Darren O’Day, Baltimore Orioles – Zach Britton has been more effective than Darren O’Day since Tommy Hunter’s demotion, but Britton pitched two innings last night.
2. Daniel Webb, Chicago White Sox – Ronald Belisario has thrown 4 innings (65 pitches) over the last four days.
3. Bryan Shaw, Cleveland Indians – Cody Allen has pitched in four of the last five, throwing 70 pitches in the process.
4. Jeurys Familia/Daisuke Matsuzaka, New York Mets – Jenrry Mejia has pitched in back to back games, and we doubt he can go three in a row just yet.