May 26, 2015
Oakland Athletics – Sean Doolittle will be activated from the disabled list today. Bob Melvin has repeatedly said that while Doolittle won’t close right away, he will be serving in that role in short order. So we’re moving him to the top of the hierarchy because the assumption is that he will be the closer by the end of the week; we’ll tag him with an asterisk for now and remove it once he gets his first save.
Updated hierarchy: *Doolittle | Clippard | Scribner.
* = closer-by-committee
Texas Rangers – Neftali Feliz had only gotten into one game since the blown save that cost him his job, and on Monday we were given the reason — an abscess on his right side that has now resulted in a trip to the disabled list. Shawn Tolleson just picked up his fourth save in six games, and Feliz would have to do a lot upon returning to even get himself into the 1st in line spot. So if you don’t have a DL spot open, he’s probably droppable in most leagues at this point.
Hierarchy remains: Tolleson | Kela | Ohlendorf.
Kansas City Royals – In his first appearance since May 14, Greg Holland had a discouraging outing against the Yankees, allowing two runs while only recording one out. It was a blowout, and many closers are notoriously ineffective without the context of a save situation to jack up their adrenaline, but Holland wasn’t throwing as hard as usual. As we alluded in last week’s Hot Seat column, it might be time to buy some Wade Davis shares.
Hierarchy remains: Holland | Davis | Herrera.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Casey Janssen/Aaron Barrett, Washington Nationals – Drew Storen has pitched in back to back games, three of four, and five of seven. He could get the night off.
2. Seth Maness, St. Louis Cardinals – Trevor Rosenthal has pitched three innings over the last two days.
3. Tony Cingrani, Cincinnati Reds – Aroldis Chapman has pitched in back to back games, throwing 46 pitches.
4. Chris Hatcher, Los Angeles Dodgers – Kenley Jansen has pitched in three of four and is coming off an injury.