June 1, 2013

New York Mets – A few days ago, Brandon Lyon was in line to get any Mets save opportunities on nights Bobby Parnell was unavailable, but two horrendous outings against the Nationals may have dropped him off the hierarchy altogether.  On Friday, Lyon gave up a game-tying three-run double, and on Sunday, he gave up 6 earned runs in just 0.2 innings.  David Aardsma has been pitching well (1.80 ERA), but despite his recent closing experience, he hasn’t seized the set-up role yet.  For the time being, non-Parnell save opps will likely go to LaTroy Hawkins, who pitched the 9th in a four-run Mets win on Saturday.  Hierarchy change: LaTroy Hawkins to Set-up, replacing Brandon Lyon.

	.	Closer	.	Set-Up	.	2nd in line	.	2014 Closer	.	Updated
NYM		Bobby Parnell		LaTroy Hawkins		David Aardsma		Bobby Parnell		7/1/13

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Milwaukee Brewers – A week after Ron Roenicke insisted that Jim Henderson was his closer, Sunday’s game provided some evidence to the contrary.  Henderson pitched the 8th inning, allowing a run and blowing the save in the process, while Francisco Rodriguez was held out of the game entirely until the 13th, seeming to fulfill the classically stupid (but conventionally accepted) theory that you don’t use your closer in a tie game on the road.  K-Rod eventually took the loss in the 14th.  The Brewers haven’t been winning much, making it hard for them to establish a clear hierarchy, but Henderson’s usage has been very un-closerlike this week.  After not working for four days, he pitched the 8th inning on Thursday.  Then he got the 8th again on Saturday, in a game the Brewers were losing.  Then came last night, when he was very clearly being used as a set-up man.  It’s possible that the Brewers are just juicing up K-Rod’s trade value, but either way, the next save opp in Milwaukee will hopefully provide some additional clarity.  No hierarchy change.

(UPDATE: We missed this one this morning; thanks to a reader for pointing it out: Ron Roenicke said that in most situations, K-Rod will be his closer.  So we’re swapping them in our hierarchy and putting K-Rod on the Hot Seat for the time being.)

	.	Closer	.	Set-Up	.	2nd in line	.	2014 Closer	.	Updated
MIL		Francisco Rodriguez		Jim Henderson		John Axford		Jim Henderson		7/1/13

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VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Joel Peralta, Tampa Bay Rays – Fernando Rodney has pitched in two straight, including a two-inning appearance on Saturday.