August 4, 2014
Texas Rangers – Neftali Feliz blew a save on Sunday, his first blown save in four tries since inheriting the closer job. Normally, that would be good enough to establish a little bit of a leash, but Feliz’s peripherals have been pretty brutal in those four outings — he’s struck out only 1 hitter in 4 innings (compared with 2 BBs), and he’s yielded 9 fly balls (and 1 HR) against just 3 ground balls, which isn’t a particularly healthy ratio. On Sunday, virtually all of the Rangers’ beat writers were wondering about his fastball velocity, as was Ron Washington. If Feliz does need some backup, Neal Cotts has been getting the 8th inning as of late, while righties Shawn Tolleson and Roman Mendez could also potentially be in the mix.
Updated hierarchy: Feliz | Cotts | Tolleson.
Neftali Feliz to Hot Seat.
Baltimore Orioles – Andrew Miller got his third 8th inning hold in four appearances with Baltimore, and along with Darren O’Day has given the Orioles a dominant righty-lefty punch in the 8th inning.
Updated hierarchy: Britton | O’Day | Miller.
Chicago White Sox – The White Sox bullpen on Sunday gave up 15 runs in 4 innings — and they were all earned. I’m not even mad. That’s amazing.
Hierarchy remains: Petricka | Belisario | Guerra.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Bryan Shaw/John Axford, Cleveland Indians – Cody Allen has pitched in back to back games and three of four. Bryan Shaw would normally be the backup, but he has appeared in the same three games, making John Axford a possible candidate.