August 29, 2014
San Francisco Giants – Santiago Casilla picked up the save on Thursday afternoon, but he did so with Jeremy Affeldt warming up in the bullpen. After the game, Bruce Bochy said he intends to use both Casilla and Sergio Romo — as well as Affeldt and Javier Lopez — in the game’s final innings. This isn’t a huge shock, as Casilla had been struggling and was already on our Hot Seat, but Romo appears to be a decent bet for at least a small handful of saves down the stretch.
Hierarchy remains: Casilla | Romo | Affeldt.
New York Mets – Vic Black was placed on the DL retroactive to Aug. 24 with a herniated disk in his neck. Daisuke Matsuzaka would’ve been our choice to replace him, but he had a rough return to the bigs on Thursday, giving up 3 runs in 0.2 innings. Until Matsuzaka sorts it out, we’ll go with swingman Carlos Torres for the 2nd in line spot for now. Torres has pitched 9.2 consecutive scoreless innings.
Updated hierarchy: Mejia | Familia | Torres.
Houston Astros – Chad Qualls, who earlier this month was nursing a few minor injuries, got Thursday off after pitching in back to back games. Tony Sipp picked up his second save of the season in his place.
Updated hierarchy: Qualls | Sipp | Fields.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Sergio Romo, San Francisco Giants – We’ll hold off on sticking Santiago Casilla with an asterisk until someone else actually gets a save. Instead, expect a regular dose of Sergio Romo on the Vulture Save Watch.
