July 26, 2020
Tampa Bay Rays — Oliver Drake pitched a perfect 9th inning to pick up the first save of the season for the Rays. Nick Anderson threw 1.1 scoreless innings ahead of Drake and got the win. Jose Alvarado struck out a pair in a scoreless ninth inning of the Rays loss on Friday. The Rays have a number of great options at the back end of the bullpen and aren’t afraid to ride the hot hand, as was evident with Emilio Pagan last year. We will slide Drake to the head of the committee for now.
Updated hierarchy: *Drake | Anderson | Alvarado.
* = closer-by-committee
Kansas City Royals – Kansas City Royals’ fans may have felt a little nostalgic seeing Greg Holland strike out the side on Saturday night to pick up the save. Manager Mike Matheny said that he wouldn’t have traditional bullpen roles this season and has kept his word so far. On Friday, in a losing effort, Scott Barlow and Holland pitched the 5th and 6th innings. Yesterday, Barlow got the 9th in a tie game and Holland converted the save opportunity in the 10th. Ian Kennedy pitched two scoreless innings in the 6th and 7th with the game tied. Holland certainly has closing experience but Kennedy was solid as closer last year so we will leave him at the top of the hierarchy and throw the committee label on there for now.
Updated hierarchy: *Kennedy | Holland | Barlow.
* = closer-by-committee
Colorado Rockies – Wade Davis gave up a run but was still able to record his first save of the season. However, the biggest story of the night was Daniel Bard. Pitching in the majors for the first time in a long time, Bard threw 1.1 scoreless innings to pick up the win. We aren’t quite ready to put Bard on the hierarchy yet, but he did hit 99 on the radar gun.
Hierarchy remains: Davis | Diaz | Estevez.
New York Mets – It took a little bit longer than most Mets’ fans probably expected (two games instead of one), but Edwin Diaz has his first blown save of the season. Diaz gave up a solo homer in the top of the 9th to tie the game. While manager Luis Rojas may not be concerned with Diaz, fantasy owners might be. Dellin Betances made his Mets debut, striking out one in two-thirds of an inning, while Justin Wilson finished the 8th inning for the second night in a row. The Mets have a number of options behind Diaz and with a short season, Diaz likely won’t have the luxury of a long leash.
Hierarchy remains: Diaz| Betances | Lugo.
San Francisco Giants — Trevor Gott gave up a homer to the first batter he faced in the 9th inning but was able to retire the next three batters to nail down the save. Tony Watson and Tyler Rogers combined for the 8th inning ahead of Gott. We will leave Watson at the top of the committee for now, and slide Gott in right behind him. With Gabe Kapler as the manager, we probably won’t ever get a ton of clarity on this situation all season and it might best to avoid all members of this bullpen.
Updated hierarchy: *Watson | Gott | Rogers.
* = closer-by-committee
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Keynan Middleton – Hansel Robles and Ty Buttrey have both pitched in two straight with each throwing over 40 pitches.
2. Dellin Betances/Seth Lugo – Edwin Diaz has pitched in back-to-back games, including a blown save yesterday. Betances pitched yesterday while Seth Lugo had the day off after throwing two innings on Friday.
Monday
1. Pedro Strop – Raisel Iglesias had a rough outing yesterday, throwing 25 pitches while taking the loss after entering a tie game. If he goes again today, he could get Monday off.
