2017 AL Central Preview

February 27, 2017

Chicago White Sox – As of right now, the White Sox still have David Robertson as their closer.  However, with the White Sox in rebuilding mode, Robertson has been the subject of trade rumors.  Nate Jones and Dan Jennings, Chicago’s primary seventh and eighth inning men from last year, will return in 2017.  Jones had stellar numbers last season, as he finished with 80 Ks in 70.2 innings and a WHIP of 0.89, and should take over as closer if Robertson is dealt.  Another name to keep in the back of your mind is Zack Burdi, who is seen as the closer of the future.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Robertson | Jones | Jennings.
Holds candidates: Jones, Jennings.

Cleveland Indians – Indians manager Terry Francona used his bullpen masterfully during the playoffs last year, and it almost ended with a World Series title.  Cody Allen has already been named the closer going into 2017, which leaves Andrew Miller to be used in high-leverage situations prior to the ninth inning.  Bryan Shaw, who was the primary set-up man before Miller was acquired last season, will also see time in the later innings.  Lefty Boone Logan signed this offseason, and he should be a good source of holds considering how much Francona likes to play the match-ups late in the game.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Allen | Miller | Shaw.
Holds candidates: Miller, Shaw, Boone Logan.

Detroit Tigers — The Detroit bullpen is a big question mark heading into this season.  Francisco Rodriguez, the league’s active saves leader, will once again close.   Bruce Rondon ended up leading the team in WHIP after getting called up in June, and he will have the opportunity to prove he can do it for a full season in 2017.  Justin Wilson was up and down in his first year in Detroit, but should see time in the seventh and eighth innings again to start this season.  Keep an eye on Joe Jimenez, who is a young, hard-throwing closer in waiting.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Rodriguez | Rondon | J. Wilson.
Holds candidates: Rondon, Justin Wilson, Alex Wilson.

Kansas City Royals – Wade Davis was traded in December, and all of a sudden the dominant bullpen trio of Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and Kelvin Herrera (HDH) that helped the Royals win a World Series just two years ago, was down to just one H.  Herrera saved 12 games last year, and he should continue the Royals’ recent tradition of stellar closers.  Veteran Joakim Soria will look to bounce back from a down year in 2016, which saw him rack up eight losses and eight blown saves.  Young lefty Matt Strahm is projected as a starter long-term, but after pitching well in relief last season, he will start 2017 in the bullpen.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Herrera | Soria | Strahm.
Holds candidates: Soria, Strahm.

Minnesota Twins — The Twins’ bullpen was bottom five in the league in ERA last year, and they may start 2017 with a similar set of relievers.  All-Star Glen Perkins missed most of last season, and could start this season on the disabled list.  Brandon Kintzler filled in for Perkins last year and will close again until Perkins is ready to reclaim the job.  The Twins could still add a veteran reliever, but for now, they are expected to lean on Ryan Pressly and Taylor Rogers again.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Kintzler | Pressly | Rogers.
Holds candidates: Pressly, Rogers.

2017 AL West Preview

February 27, 2017

Houston Astros – Ken Giles will certainly hope for a better start to 2017 than he had last year. After losing the closer’s job in spring training, Giles yielded 10 earned runs over 10 innings in April. By mid-August, Giles reclaimed the closer job and never looked back, gathering 14 saves over the final two months of the year. The always reliable Luke Gregerson and Will Harris round out the Stros’ late-inning hierarchy.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Giles | Gregerson | Harris.
Holds candidates: Gregerson, Harris.

Los Angeles Angels – It seems like Huston Street has been around forever, but the longtime closer is still only 33. Still, despite his history, Street is not guaranteed the closer’s job out of camp, especially after registering a 6.45 ERA during an injury-plagued 2016. Injuries are still on the table for 2017, as the righty will look to bounce back from a knee injury. Youngster Cam Bedrosian and former A’s closer Andrew Bailey could also get cracks at the full-time gig.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Street | Bedrosian | Bailey.
Holds candidates: Bedrosian, Bailey.

Oakland A’s — Like Street, Ryan Madson is not guaranteed the closer’s job despite 30 saves in 2016. Manager Bob Melvin essentially told reporters he has four or five guys vying for the gig. Madson, to his credit, is impressed with the bullpen depth. The closing candidates include Madson, Sean Doolittle, Santiago Casilla and John Axford, with the former three likely rounding out the back end deep A’s bullpen.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Madson | Doolittle | Casilla.
Holds candidates: Doolittle, Casilla, Axford.

Seattle Mariners – Edwin Diaz, the 22-year-old fireballer, starts the season as the Mariners’ closer. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Diaz was the quickest rookie to 50 strikeouts since 1893 — and now, he will be introducing a new pitch in 2017. Watch out. Last year’s opening day closer, Steve Cishek, should get the bulk of the holds as the team’s setup man. He’s returning from surgery to repair a torn left hip labrum, so if he’s not ready to go at the start of the year, Nick Vincent, among others, will slide up the hierarchy.

Starting 2017 hierarchy: Diaz | Cishek | Vincent.
Holds candidates: Cishek, Vincent.

Texas Rangers — There has been a lot of turnover at the closer position the last few years for the Rangers, but Sam Dyson, who turns 29 in May, figures to be the team’s closer for all of 2017. Dyson picked up 38 saves last year — all after May 10 — and should be in line for even more opportunities this year. Matt Bush and Jeremy Jeffress — who have each had their issues off the field — should be in line for holds, along with Jake Diekman, with Bush likely stepping into the closer’s role should Dyson falter or get injured.

Starting 2016 hierarchy: Dyson | Bush | Jeffress.
Holds candidates: Bush, Jeffress, Diekman.

Closer Monkey hibernation

Closer Monkey is going into hibernation for the winter, but as always, we wanted to say thank you to all of our subscribers for a great year. We tried our best to respond to your feedback from previous seasons (speed! speed! and more speed!) and are happy to report that our average alert time this year was the best of any of our six seasons. Hopefully, it made up for a few less-than-perfect predictions.

For next year, we already know what we have to work on — and that’s ensuring our site does not lock up during spikes of high traffic. We heard from many of you who were unable to access us at that time, and spent much of the season attempting stopgap solutions or sending out information in other ways, and hopefully now, with an offseason to correct things, this won’t be an issue next year. If there is anything else you’d like to see from us in the future, please contact us at [email protected].

Finally, as you’ve probably heard us say before, we made a decision early on that we would never charge for this service, but this has meant that the site is only reliant on ad revenue and your support to help cover the cost of sending nearly 2 million(!) emails a year. So if we helped you win some scratch in your league this year, we’d love it if you were willing to throw us a banana or two, either through a donation (left sidebar of the desktop site) or by picking up some Closer Monkey swag from our store.

Thank you again and we’ll see you all next year!

-CM

Jacob Barnes records save

October 2, 2016

Fall is here, the perfect time for a Closer Monkey hoodie!  Tweet or email us a photo of you wearing your hoodie — or any CM apparel — at an MLB playoff game, and you’ll get free Premium service for the 2017 season!

Milwaukee Brewers — Jacob Barnes picked up his first career save last night.  Tyler Thornburg blew the save in the ninth inning, and Carlos Torres and Corey Knebel had already pitched, so that left Barnes for the extra-innings save.

Hierarchy remains: Thornburg | Knebel | Torres.

Cleveland Indians — Cody Allen recorded his 31st save of the season on Saturday.  Since the Indians acquired Andrew Miller at the end of July, Allen has picked up eleven saves.  Miller only has three saves during that same time and has consistently appeared in games ahead of Allen.  Allen and Miller are both under team control for the next two seasons, so this might be something to monitor next spring, but it looks like manager Terry Francona prefers to use Allen as his closer.

Hierarchy remains: *Allen | Miller | Shaw.
* = closer-by-committee

Boston Red Sox — Joe Kelly threw two perfect innings yesterday with four strikeouts.  Kelly has made eleven appearances out of the bullpen since getting recalled at the beginning of September, and he has only given up one earned run.  Koji Uehara and Brad Ziegler are both free agents after this year and if the Red Sox do not bring them back next season, Kelly could challenge Matt Barnes for the set-up role ahead of closer Craig Kimbrel.

Hierarchy remains: Kimbrel | Uehara | Ziegler.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Randall Delgado, Arizona Diamondbacks – Daniel Hudson has pitched in three straight.
2. Koji Uehara, Boston Red Sox – Craig Kimbrel has appeared in two straight and three of four, throwing a total of 65 pitches over those three appearances.
3. Hansel Robles/Jerry Blevins, New York Mets – With the Mets clinching a playoff birth yesterday, they can finally rest their overworked bullpen.  Familia, Reed, and Salas have all pitched in two straight and four of the past five.

Jake Barrett closed out 2016 on a roll; watch for him next year

October 1, 2016

Fall is here, the perfect time for a Closer Monkey hoodie!  Tweet or email us a photo of you wearing your hoodie — or any CM apparel — at an MLB playoff game, and you’ll get free Premium service for the 2017 season!

Arizona Diamondbacks — Jake Barrett hasn’t pitched for nine days; well over his previous high in appearances, it’s possible the young righty is done for the year. If so, he closed the season on an impressive 13-game scoreless streak, during which he allowed only two hits in 12.2 innings. Barrett could well be the favorite for saves next season in Arizona.

Updated hierarchy: *Hudson | Delgado | Burgos.
*closer-by-committee

Philadelphia Phillies — Michael Mariot pitched the seventh inning with the Phillies down, and gave up a couple runs in the process. It’s hard to see how anybody but Hector Neris gets any final save chances this year — that is, if the Phillies can somehow grab a lead over the Mets.

Updated hierarchy: *Gomez | Neris | Mariot.
*closer-by-committee

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND VULTURE SAVE WATCH

Saturday
1. Hector Neris, Philadelphia Phillies — The Phillies may not see a save opportunity against the Mets but, if they do, it will likely fall to Neris.
2. Kevin Siegrist, St. Louis Cardinals — Seung Hwan Oh has been battling a tight groin.
3. Hector Rondon, Chicago Cubs — Chicago has guaranteed the best record in baseball and might continue to rest their big-bucks closer.
4. Brad Ziegler/Matt Barnes, Boston Red Sox — Craig Kimbrel threw 20 pitches last night, and with the Red Sox locking up their division, he may sit the final two games of the season. Koji Uehara has been excellent in his return from injury, but John Farrell has been hesitant to use him in back-to-back games, and he pitched last night.

Sunday
5. Fernando Salas, New York Mets — Jeurys Familia has been a workhorse for the Mets this year, with 77 appearances, tied for third-most in the league. Directly above him with 79 is teammate Addison Reed. Both have pitched in three of four, but are probably still available since the Mets are in the midst of a wild card fight. If the Mets lock up a playoff spot tonight, though — with a win or a Cardinals loss — Salas could be the guy you see in Sunday’s ninth.