May 19, 2018
Chicago White Sox — The White Sox turned to Joakim Soria when faced with a four-run deficit in the final inning. Soria struggled through a 33-pitch outing, allowing three runs (two earned) and pushing his ERA to 5.65. Soria has allowed at least one earned run in each of his last three appearances. At this point, we have to think Rick Renteria will go to either Bruce Rondon or Nate Jones for the next save chance, but if enough time passes until then, maybe Soria will get another shot.
Hierarchy remains: *Soria | Rondon | Jones.
* = closer-by-committee
Baltimore Orioles — Brad Brach got the last out of the 8th inning in what was then a two-run contest, then stayed on for the 9th to close out a 7-4 victory. Brach has established himself as the top choice in Baltimore when he is available, enough that this really isn’t a committee anymore. However, it may be a good time to sell high on Brach, as Darren O’Day and Zach Britton both threw bullpen sessions last night. O’Day could be activated Sunday, but Britton will need a rehab assignment before returning. With both of them getting closer to a return, Baltimore’s bullpen will get much more crowded soon.
Hierarchy remains: Brach | Givens | Bleier.
Kansas City Royals – Since Brian Flynn’s two-out vulture save on May 1, he has been relegated to long relief. In his place, Kevin McCarthy and Tim Hill have found themselves in higher leverage situations and have mostly delivered (as much as one can for a 14-30 team). Hill has been in more of a LOOGY role lately, so we will bump McCarthy, who picked up a seventh-inning hold last night, into the hierarchy for now. However, if you are scrapping for holds, Hill may be the better bet.
Updated hierarchy: Herrera | Keller | McCarthy.
Colorado Rockies – With a three-run lead on Friday, the Rockies turned to Bryan Shaw in the 7th inning. Shaw stayed on to pitch a clean 8th to pick up his 10th hold of the year. Shaw has only given up one run in his last 10 appearances, lowering his ERA from 7.11 to 4.43. Meanwhile, Jake McGee has been left out of some close games recently. Both McGee and Shaw have been subject to some pretty severe home-road splits (even for Colorado), but it seems that Shaw is slightly ahead of McGee in Bud Black’s mind for now.
Updated hierarchy: Davis | Ottavino | Shaw.
Houston Astros — Ken Giles has converted the last four save opportunities for the Astros, so it finally seems safe to remove the committee tag.
Hierarchy remains: Giles | Devenski | Peacock.
VULTURE START WATCH
Today:
1. Sergio Romo — With Tampa facing a righty-heavy heart of the Angels’ order, Kevin Cash will give Sergio Romo his first career start on Saturday night before bringing in rookie southpaw Ryan Yarbrough. Cash says he’s been kicking the idea around for a while. Will this new approach reap the benefits that Cash is hoping for? Will the Vulture Start Watch become a regular feature? Will Mike Trout make this experiment look like a failure two batters into it? Only time will tell, but with the Rays employing a four-man rotation this year, this plan may not be Romo’s last start.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Drew Steckenreider — Both Brad Ziegler and Kyle Barraclough have pitched in three of the last four. Ziegler has kept his pitch count low, so he may be available. But look for Don Mattingly to try to rest him if possible.
Sunday:
1. Kyle Barraclough/Drew Steckenreider — If Ziegler pitches again on Saturday, there’s a good chance he gets rested on Sunday.
2. Kirby Yates/Craig Stammen — Brad Hand threw 20 pitches to get four outs on Friday. If he has another lengthy outing on Saturday (and he may, with Kirby Yates having thrown 36 pitches over two straight outings), then either Yates (if rested on Saturday) or Craig Stammen may vulture a save Sunday.
