Closer Monkey

Category: Arizona Diamondbacks

  • Heath Bell hits the Hot Seat; Tom Wilhelmsen needed in Seattle

    June 18, 2013 Seattle Mariners — Carter Capps was summoned in the sixth inning with the Mariners trailing by two. By the time he and Charlie Furbush were done spinning their craft, Seattle was down by nine. Eric Wedge has consistently said that Tom Wilhelmsen’s “mental break” from closing will be short-lived; add that to Monday’s…

  • Brandon League barely hanging on to his job; Heath Bell blows a save

    May 13, 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers – Brandon League entered Sunday’s game with the Dodgers up by four, and promptly allowed two runs to score before nailing down the final out.  His ERA climbed to 6.28 after the crummy outing, and he remains firmly on the Hot Seat.  One more bad outing, and Kenley Jansen…

  • Fujikawa back, Hernandez picks up save

    May 11, 2013 Chicago Cubs – Kyuji Fujikawa returned from the DL last night and threw a scoreless inning.  He will take over as the primary 8th inning guy and could return to the closer’s role once Kevin Gregg remembers that he is Kevin Gregg.   Hierarchy change: Kyuji Fujikawa to Set-up, James Russell to…

  • Bell likely to replace Putz, while Tazawa is confirmed in Boston; Marmol back up, Axford back down

    May 8, 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks — J.J. Putz gave up a four-pitch walk to start the ninth Tuesday night, then immediately exited with elbow stiffness. Although Heath Bell is allowing 1.5 baserunners per inning, he has significant experience as a closer and has probably outpitched David Hernandez so far this year. Kirk Gibson might give lip service to a closer-by-committee system,…

  • Joel Hanrahan returns from the DL, but Andrew Bailey keeps his job

    May 1, 2013 Boston Red Sox — Joel Hanrahan’s return from the DL today came with a clear statement of boundaries from manager John Ferrell: Andrew Bailey will remain the team’s closer for the foreseeable future. Although Hanrahan might pitch some lower-leverage innings to begin with, he will be certainly be the choice in the 9th if the…