Edwin Diaz and Brad Hand are making moves

July 23, 2016

Seattle Mariners — Edwin Diaz pitched the eighth inning of a one-run game and added two more strikeouts to his league-leading 44 relief strikeouts since his June 6 debut. A converted starter, Diaz has a plus fastball and an incredible 18.3 K/9 ratio this season. All that’s holding him back thus far is his age (22), but four straight eighth-inning appearances suggests that Scott Servais is coming around to using him over Joaquin Benoit. It may be hard for Diaz to keep up his otherworldly ratios, but he could still see save chances soon.

Updated hierarchy: Cishek | Diaz | Benoit.

San Diego Padres — Lefty Brad Hand pitched the eighth inning in a three-run game; although he gave up a run, he earned his third hold in the last week, edging him past Kevin Quackenbush in our hierarchy. Hand could see another promotion soon, as Ryan Buchter has been drawing interest from teams in the market for lefthanded relief help.

Updated hierarchy: Maurer | Buchter | Hand. 

New York Mets — Hansel Robles pitched a solid sixth and seventh to earn the win on Friday. Robles has seen his role expand in the New York bullpen, while Jerry Blevins has been used as more of a LOOGY.

Updated hierarchy: Familia | Reed | Robles.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Pedro Strop, Chicago Cubs — Hector Rondon has pitched in four of the last five games, including a 22-pitch outing last night.
2. Fernando Abad, Minnesota Twins — Brandon Kintzler worked in and out of a jam on Friday, needing 24 pitches to close out the Red Sox. He’s gone in three of four now, while the rest of the Twins’ pen is well-rested.
3. Adam Ottavino, Colorado Rockies — Carlos Estevez pitched in his third straight game on Friday. Ottavino has been excellent since his return and may get a shot at a save on Saturday.

Adam Liberatore continues ascent in Dodgers bullpen

July 22, 2016

Los Angeles Dodgers – Adam Liberatore continued his impressive run on Thursday, pitching a clean eighth inning to set things up for closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth. In fact, Liberatore has pitched the eighth inning ahead of Jansen twice this week and has not allowed a run since May 18, when he forked over his only two earned runs allowed this season (0.56 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, nine holds).

Updated hierarchy: Jansen | Liberatore | Blanton.

Boston Red Sox — Converted starter Joe Kelly, currently at Triple-A Pawtucket, could help a beleaguered Red Sox bullpen without Carson Smith, Craig Kimbrel and Koji Uehara for an extended period of time. There’s no word on when Kelly will make it back with the big club, but reinforcements are returning, as Junichi Tazawa will be activated from the disabled list later today. Meanwhile, has anyone seen Clay Buchholz?

Updated hierarchy: Ziegler | Tazawa | Barnes.

Detroit Tigers – As the Vulture Save Watch foresaw, closer Francisco Rodriguez had the night off Thursday, albeit because the game was called after the top of the 7th inning due to rain. We’ll still gloat about it. Shane Greene got the last two outs of the sixth inning, leaving the bases loaded in a 2-1 win. It was his first save since Opening Day, when he closed the door in the 11th after K-Rod allowed three game-tying runs in the ninth.

Hierarchy remains: Rodriguez | J.Wilson | Rondon.

Chicago White Sox — The White Sox are quickly slipping out of contention, and rumors are flying that the team is listening to offers for closer David Robertson, who is owed $29.45 million through the end of the 2018 season. With the deadline less than two weeks away, stay tuned.

Hierarchy remains: Robertson | Jones | Duke.

Major League Baseball — Commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN’s Mike and Mike Thursday that the league is looking into restricting the number of relievers teams can use in a game or inning, noting that pitching changes “slow the game down.” He added that the relievers are so good that “they actually rob action out of the end of the game.” Furious at the thought of any drastic change to how relief pitchers are implemented, the Closer Monkey was left speechless. He elected to drown his sorrows.

Hierarchy remains: Manfred | Selig | Torre.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Jake Barrett/Daniel Hudson, Arizona Diamondbacks — Tyler Clippard is expected to lead this up-in-the-air committee, but theoretically, any one of these three could pick up the next save chance.
2. Adam Ottavino, Colorado Rockies — Carlos Estevez threw just two pitches Thursday, but he has pitched in three of the last four and could need the night off Friday.

Brad Ziegler officially closing in Boston

July 21, 2016

Boston Red Sox — As expected, Brad Ziegler was named the Boston closer now that Koji Uehara has joined Craig Kimbrel on the disabled list. Although Matt Barnes and Robbie Ross, Jr. are backing Ziegler up in the late innings, Ross entered in the fourth on Wednesday night, while Barnes pitched the sixth, seventh, and eighth. Heath Hembree is another late-inning option, but if the Red Sox don’t want to release Clay Buchholz, Hembree will likely be demoted when Junichi Tazawa rejoins the team on Friday. Uehara tweeted (in Japanese) that he expects to be out for a month.

Hierarchy remains: Ziegler | Barnes | Ross.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Hector Neris, Philadelphia Phillies — Jeanmar Gomez has gone three in a row.
2. Justin Wilson, Detroit Tigers — K-Rod took the loss in a rough 25-pitch outing last night, and has pitched in three of four.
3. Fernando Abad, Minnesota Twins — Brandon Kintzler has pitched in two straight (41 pitches).
4. Jonathan Broxton, St. Louis Cardinals — Seung Hwan Oh saved both ends of Wednesday’s doubleheader, and Kevin Siegrist appeared in both games also.

Koji Uehara suffers right pectoral strain

July 20, 2016

Boston Red Sox — The injury woes continued for the Boston bullpen on Tuesday as fill-in closer Koji Uehara left an eventual 4-0 win with a strained pectoral muscle. He will be reevaluated on Wednesday, but in the meantime Brad Ziegler will get the 9th if any save opportunities arise. Some good news for Boston is that Junichi Tazawa is expected to return from the DL before Friday night’s game.

Hierarchy remains: Uehara | Ziegler | Barnes.

Tampa Bay Rays — Matt Andriese picked up a three-inning save in a 10-1 Rays win over the Rockies. He does not normally factor into the team’s late-inning plans.

Hierarchy remains: Colome | Cedeno | Ramirez.

Pittsburgh Pirates – Mark Melancon has had two rare hiccups in his last two outings, recording back-to-back blown saves. He has been excellent this season and his job shouldn’t be in any danger. However, it is worth noting that he also struggled a bit in the second half of last season as well, allowing 12 of his 19 total earned runs after August 1 en route to an impressive 51-save season.

Hierarchy remains: Melancon | Feliz | Watson.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Brad Ziegler, Boston Red Sox – As mentioned above, Koji Uehara is being reevaluated today and is likely unavailable for at least the next couple of games.
2. Fernando Rodney, Miami Marlins – A.J. Ramos has pitched in three straight games while Rodney enjoyed a night off on Tuesday.
3. Luke Gregerson, Houston Astros – Will Harris suffered his first blown save of the season on Tuesday, throwing 31 pitches in the process.
4. Edubray Ramos, Philadelphia Phillies – Both Jeanmar Gomez (46 pitches) and Hector Neris (45) have appeared in two straight and three of the last four.
5. Kevin Siegrist, St. Louis Cardinals – Seung Hwan Oh is well-rested, but the Cardinals will play a doubleheader on Wednesday and Siegrist may get a chance in the second game if Oh can’t pitch both.
6. Ryan Buchter, San Diego Padres – Likewise, the Padres may turn to Buchter if Brandon Maurer can’t go in the second game of their doubleheader against the Cardinals.