September 12, 2022
Boston Red Sox – A dare-we-say resurgent Matt Barnes pitched a clean 9th inning for his 5th save of the season. He’s now logged two of the last four Boston saves (John Schreiber got the other two) and Alex Cora likes what he sees from the righty, who came into the season with expectations that he’d be one of the better closers in the league. Obviously, it didn’t go that way at first, but in 13 appearances spanning the last calendar month, he’s allowed runs in only two appearances, and he could ascend to the top of this committee if Cora continues to look his way.
Updated hierarchy: *Schreiber | Barnes | Whitlock.
* = closer-by-committee
Washington Nationals – Kyle Finnegan’s usage hasn’t resembled anything close to “closer” lately, and that trend continued last night, when he was sent out for the bottom of the 7th inning in a tie game, whereupon he promptly gave up a hit, then a homer, and took the loss. We’re putting a committee tag on here and wouldn’t be surprised if Carl Edwards Jr. got the next save chance.
Updated hierarchy: *Finnegan | Edwards | Harvey.
* = closer-by-committee
Cleveland Guardians – With Emmanuel Clase getting the day off after pitching two straight and three of four, James Karinchak picked up his second save of the year. Having read the Vulture Save Watch yesterday, you already knew this.
Hierarchy remains: Clase | Karinchak | Stephan.
Texas Rangers – The Rangers have won exactly three times since August 26, and Jose Leclerc has saved all three games. Goodbye, asterisk. “Jonathan Hernandez, closer,” we hardly knew ye.
Updated hierarchy: Leclerc | Hernandez | Moore.
Atlanta Braves – Kenley Jansen has been dreadful in his last seven appearances, including yesterday’s crushing blown save loss, a stretch during which deadline acquisition Raisel Iglesias has a 0.00 ERA. Brian Snitker defended him postgame by saying that Jansen leads the league in saves, an excuse we heard from Taylor Rogers not too long ago. The Braves certainly need Jansen to right the ship, but it’s possible they ask him to do so in lower leverage spots. We’ll continue to monitor.
Hierarchy remains: Jansen | Iglesias | Minter.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Raisel Iglesias – Even if the Braves want to keep Kenley Jansen in the 9th, he could get today off after pitching two of three.
2. Scott Alexander – Sunday’s bullpen game left the Giants’ hierarchy pretty well taxed — Camilo Doval and John Brebbia have gone two straight and Tyler Rogers pitched 2 innings yesterday — so we’re digging deep for this one.
3. Tanner Scott – The Marlins have a doubleheader…
4. Jonathan Hernandez/Matt Moore – …against the Rangers, who might not have Jose Leclerc available for either game.
Tomorrow
1. Jonathan Hernandez/Matt Moore – If Jose Leclerc is indeed able to go today, he’ll definitely be down tomorrow.