Closer Monkey | 2026

  • Alex Wilson, Tommy Kahnle beginning to emerge from committees

    August 3, 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates – Three batters into his appearance, Mark Melancon got ejected for hitting Tucker Barnhart. Joakim Soria entered and picked up his first save as a Pirate. Should Melancon be suspended — and we don’t think he will, since the HBP didn’t seem intentional at all — Soria would pick up…

  • Carson Smith struggling, Tommy Hunter records save for Cubs

    August 2, 2015 Seattle Mariners — Carson Smith had another rough outing on Saturday night, as he blew a one run save opportunity and took the loss.  Despite Smith’s recent troubles, manager Lloyd McClendon said he would be out there again if there was a save on Sunday.  Former closer Fernando Rodney struck out the side in the…

  • Kevin Jepsen and Mark Lowe get dealt on Deadline Day

    August 1, 2015 Colorado Rockies — As we predicted Friday morning, John Axford lost his job as Rockies closer after a string of five straight miserable appearances. Walt Weiss said that he had not yet decided who would take over, but name-checked Tommy Kahnle, Rafael Betancourt, and Justin Miller, who had six saves at AAA Albuquerque this season.…

  • Tommy Kahnle, Rafael Betancourt, and Justin Miller in new Colorado closer committee

    July 31, 2015 Colorado Rockies — As we predicted this morning, John Axford has lost his job as Rockies closer after a string of five straight miserable appearances. Walt Weiss said that he had not yet decided who would take over, but name-checked Tommy Kahnle, Rafael Betancourt, and Justin Miller, who had six saves at AAA Albuquerque…

  • MLB Trade Deadline Day: Joakim Soria traded. Could a Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman trade be next?

    July 31, 2015 Detroit Tigers — After closer Joakim Soria was traded to the Pirates Thursday, the Detroit bullpen was left in disarray. We originally made an educated guess that Bruce Rondon would get the first shot for the Tigers, based mostly on his advanced stats, dissected in our alert sent right after the trade, and the…

Thanks for supporting Closer Monkey.