May 23, 2014
Tampa Bay Rays – We’ve mentioned Grant Balfour’s ratios here before, but it truly is incredible to see a pitcher with peripherals this bad continue to get the ball in the 9th inning. After walking two (and getting annoyed with the crowd for booing him) in a blown save on Thursday afternoon, Balfour now has 18 BBs and just 15 Ks in 18.1 innings pitched. He’s already on the Hot Seat, though he might hang on to his job in part because the Rays ended up winning their game in extras. But Joel Peralta — and maybe Jake McGee — is definitely worth a speculative pick up at this point.
Hierarchy remains: Balfour | Peralta | McGee.
New York Mets – The 9th inning in New York suddenly seems like a pretty solid proposition, as Jenrry Mejia has now pitched 5.1 scoreless innings (6 Ks, 0 BBs) since his move to the bullpen, including his first back-to-back appearances on Wednesday and Thursday. But after that, it’s hard to figure anything out. Would-be set-up man Jeurys Familia has a 2.38 ERA in May, but he was summoned in the 5th inning a few days back. (This, just a week or so after Terry Collins said Familia was about to win the closer gig.) And instead, last night, it was Daisuke Matsuzaka who got the 8th inning hold. Matsuzaka isn’t an ideal reliever by any means; astoundingly, he has walked at least one batter in 14 of his 17 appearances. But perhaps even more astoundingly, he’s managed to post an ERA of 2.14 thus far, and his strikeout rate is higher than it ever was when he was a starter (24 Ks in 21 innings).
Updated hierarchy: Mejia | Familia | Matsuzaka.
Baltimore Orioles – Tommy Hunter was placed on the disabled list on Thursday with a strained groin. There’s no indication of when he was injured, but this might be why the former closer had been so ineffective as of late.
Updated hierarchy: Britton | O’Day | Webb.
Cleveland Indians – Scott Atchison picked up a 13th inning save on Thursday. Cody Allen and John Axford had already pitched, and Bryan Shaw was unavailable.
Hierarchy remains: Allen | Shaw | Axford.
Chicago Cubs – Carlos Villanueva threw the final three innings in the Cubs victory to earn his first save of the season. He does not factor in to Chicago’s usual late-inning plans.
Hierarchy remains: Rondon | Ramirez | Schlitter.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Darren O’Day, Baltimore Orioles – Zach Britton has been more effective than Darren O’Day since Tommy Hunter’s demotion, but Britton pitched two innings last night.
2. Daniel Webb, Chicago White Sox – Ronald Belisario has thrown 4 innings (65 pitches) over the last four days.
3. Bryan Shaw, Cleveland Indians – Cody Allen has pitched in four of the last five, throwing 70 pitches in the process.
4. Jeurys Familia/Daisuke Matsuzaka, New York Mets – Jenrry Mejia has pitched in back to back games, and we doubt he can go three in a row just yet.
