June 27, 2014
Los Angeles Angels – That Joe Smith is one shrewd sidearmer. After inheriting three of Ernesto Frieri’s baserunners with two out in a 5-run 9th inning last night, Smith cleverly allowed a double to the first hitter he faced, plating all three runs and raising Frieri’s ERA to 6.39. Then he looked into the dugout and he laughed and he laughed (probably), before striking out Kendrys Morales to pick up the save. With Frieri’s continued implosion, Smith’s hold on the closer role is strengthening, with his main competition now coming from Kevin Jepsen and youngster Mike Morin, the latter of whom has a 1.37 ERA in 25 appearances.
Hierarchy remains: Smith | Jepsen | Frieri.
Houston Astros – Yeah, okay, he had an 8.10 ERA with the Cubs in a memorably awful two months earlier this year, but it wasn’t that long ago that Jose Veras was literally the only reliable reliever in the Houston bullpen. The Astros, who signed him to a minor league deal a few weeks back, just called Veras back to the bigs, where he’ll slide into the hierarchy based on experience alone. In our hierarchy and in the real life bullpen, Veras replaces Kyle Farnsworth (who, interestingly, was also holding a spot in both places based on experience alone), who was sent to the minors to make room.
Updated hierarchy: Qualls | Sipp | Veras.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Jonathan Broxton, Cincinnati Reds – Aroldis Chapman has pitched in back to back games, and has thrown 81 pitches across four outings this week.
