April 25, 2022
Tampa Bay Rays – Ryan Thompson got a save for the Rays on Sunday, and so we’ll kick off yet another edition of “This is the Rays, so should we care?” Well, the righty sidearmer is off to a nice start thus far, with no earned runs allowed through 6.1 innings and a 0.95 WHIP. But he’s clearly a matchup play, and he’s got only 3 Ks so far (and 2 BBs) so his usage will likely be situational. We’ll put him on the hierarchy since he’s the only non-Andrew Kittredge reliever to get a save for the Rays so far (other than Brooks Raley, who got a weird one on opening day), but he’s probably just a speculative add in deeper leagues at this point.
Updated hierarchy: *Kittredge | Feyereisen | Thompson.
* = closer-by-committee
Miami Marlins – Had Tanner Scott made his way through the 9th inning unscathed (or even scathed but successful), we likely would’ve been hemming and hawing about whether he was on the verge of taking the top spot of this committee, as the Marlins have continued to keep Anthony Bender out of action while he recovers from a hip injury. But Scott got into trouble, allowing three earned runs and only recording one out before giving way to Louis Head. Head allowed a long double to Marcell Ozuna before striking out the final two hitters to end it. Bender maintains his place at the top of this mess for now.
Updated hierarchy: *Bender | Scott | Bass.
* = closer-by-committee
Cincinnati Reds – The Reds aren’t likely to win much this year, but that might actually make their reliever usage more streamlined, and it’s possible that Sunday’s usage gave us some insight into how they’d like to do things going forward. Tony Santillan got the 7th inning, Art Warren got the 8th, and the recently-activated Lucas Sims got the 9th; all had scoreless outings. We’ll align the committee to that usage accordingly, with the caveat that there wasn’t much postgame discussion about the bullpen.
Updated hierarchy: *Sims | Warren | Santillan.
* = closer-by-committee
Oakland A’s – Dany Jimenez got his third save of the season on Sunday; all have come since Lou Trivino went on the COVID IL. While Trivino could return any day now, we’re removing the asterisk here, as the A’s have made their backup plans clear. Even when Trivino returns, Jimenez may be worth hanging on to, as Trivino struggled mightily in the second half last season.
Updated hierarchy: Jimenez | Acevedo | Jackson.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Devin Williams/Brad Boxberger – Josh Hader and Devin Williams have gone back to back, albeit with very low pitch counts for both.
2. Alex Colome – Daniel Bard is still dealing with a back issue and may need another day off.
Tomorrow
1. Yimi Garcia – If Jordan Romano goes today, it’s back to back and four of five.
2. Jose Alvarado – If Corey Knebel goes today, it’s back to back and three of four.
3. Daniel Hudson – If Craig Kimbrel goes today, it’s back to back.
4. Kendall Graveman – Liam Hendriks through a lot of pitches Saturday and Sunday and might be given two days off to recover.