Closer Monkey

Tag: Pete Fairbanks

  • Fairbanks expects to return, Will Smith takes over in Texas.

    April 29, 2023Tampa Bay Rays — After Pete Fairbanks was removed in the middle of the 9th inning, rookie Kevin Kelly came in with two men on and two outs in a 1 run game. Kelly got a popout to end the threat, and secured the first save of his career. After the game, Fairbanks…

  • Pete Fairbanks Leaves Game

    April 28, 2023Tampa Bay Rays — Pete Fairbanks was removed from tonight’s game with an apparent finger injury. It may be just a blister or possibly a recurrence of Reynaud’s Syndrome which affected him last year. While this may turn out to be a temporary bump, anytime a closer leaves in the middle of a…

  • 2023 Tiered Closer Rankings

    The closer position seems especially volatile in 2023 after a significant injury to Edwin Diaz and Liam Hendriks was diagnosed with lymphoma. Diaz is likely to miss the entire season, while Hendriks is expected to miss at least a chunk of it, though it’s unknown how long he will be out. Best wishes to both…

  • 2023 AL East Preview

    March 13, 2023 Baltimore Orioles — There’s a lot of optimism in Baltimore after a surprising 83-win season in 2022 – an astonishing 31-win improvement from 2021. Part of the resurgence can be attributed to a strong back half of the bullpen, led by 6-foot-8 Felix Bautista, who had 15 saves, a 2.19 ERA, a…

  • Jhoan Duran’s dominance continues

    September 19, 2022 Tampa Bay Rays – With four of the last five saves, including Sunday’s, Pete Fairbanks is the closest thing that the Rays have had to a full-time closer this session. The righty started his after returning from injury in July, whereupon he gave up three runs across his first two outings, but…