August 12, 2013
St. Louis Cardinals – We’ve extolled the virtues of Kevin Siegrist in this space before, and finally, the young lefty is getting some love. On Sunday, he pitched the 7th inning and earned his fifth hold of the season, three of which have come this week in similar circumstances. The 24-year old lefty currently has a 0.84 ERA, a 0.60 WHIP, and is now getting the high-leverage innings he deserves. Hierarchy change: Kevin Siegrist to 2nd in line, replacing Seth Maness.
| . | Closer | . | Set-Up | . | 2nd in line | . | 2014 Closer | . | Updated | |
| STL | Edward Mujica | Trevor Rosenthal | Kevin Siegrist | Jason Motte | 8/12/13 |
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New York Yankees – Most closers who blow three consecutive save chances would be destined for a trip to the Hot Seat. But Mariano Rivera, who completed the third leg of that ignominious feat on Sunday, would probably have to double, or maybe even triple, his current streak of blown saves in order for the Yankees to consider derailing his farewell tour. No hierarchy change.
| . | Closer | . | Set-Up | . | 2nd in line | . | 2014 Closer | . | Updated | |
| NYY | Mariano Rivera | David Robertson | Boone Logan | David Robertson | 8/12/13 |
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VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Matt Belisle, Colorado Rockies – Rex Brothers has pitched in three straight.
2. David Aardsma, New York Mets – LaTroy Hawkins has pitched in two straight and three of the last four.
3. David Robertson, New York Yankees – Less concerning than his string of blown saves (mentioned above) is the fact that Mariano Rivera has thrown a total of 81 pitches over the past five days. He might get Monday off to recover.
4. Ryan Cook/Sean Doolittle, Oakland A’s – Grant Balfour has pitched in two straight, including a 37-pitch outing on Sunday.