March 31, 2015
Houston Astros – Luke Gregerson will close for the Astros to start the season, manager AJ Hinch said this afternoon. Gregerson was the frontrunner for the job after signing a 3-year, $18.5 million contract with the Astros in the offseason, and solidified his status with a strong spring. Chad Qualls and Pat Neshek also had excellent springs, and will fill the 7th and 8th innings. It isn’t apparent who would fill in on nights when Gregerson is unavailable, but we’ll give the edge to Qualls, who closed last season.
Hierarchy remains: Gregerson | Qualls | Neshek.
Chicago White Sox – Jake Petricka has been battling forearm and elbow soreness for the past week and will open the season on the disabled list. Petricka was the heavy favorite to set up for David Robertson (who was battling a sore forearm himself earlier this spring), and the White Sox may have to mix and match until his return. Zach Putnam has had an awful spring, though he’s come around as of late; given his brief experience in the closer role, we’ll move him to first in line by default. Javy Guerra and Zach Duke will likely see their roles increase as well.
Updated hierarchy: Robertson | Putnam | Guerra.
Washington Nationals – The injury bug has been buzzing around the Nats clubhouse all spring, and their top two relievers have gotten bit. Drew Storen left a game yesterday after popping a blister on his foot. He doesn’t expect to miss any regular season time, but Casey Janssen might — the set-up man has been battling shoulder tendonitis. Craig Stammen stands to inherit 8th inning duties if Janssen is out.
Hierarchy remains: Storen | Janssen | Stammen.
Los Angeles Dodgers – We’re continuing to look for some clarity in the Los Angeles bullpen, but it seems more and more likely that Don Mattingly will head into the regular season with a closer-by-committee. The two leading candidates for the job, Joel Peralta (5.68 ERA in 6.1 spring IPs) and Chris Hatcher (7.36 ERA in 7.1 IPs) have done little to distinguish themselves; meanwhile, once-darkhorse Sergio Santos had a rough outing the other day and saw his own spring ERA jump to 4.70. Santos is still an interesting candidate, as he’s got the past experience and is consistently missing bats (10 Ks in 7.2 IPs). But given his contract status, he’s not even a lock to make the team. Those in deep leagues or leagues with holds may want to look at the only reliever who has been dominant for the Dodgers this spring: lefty Paco Rodriguez (9.1 IPs, 0.00 ERA, 0.32 WHIP, 12 Ks, 0 BBs). Given J.P. Howell’s pedestrian spring (6.2 IPs, 8.10 ERA), Rodriguez could jump him as the go-to lefty in the Dodgers pen, and potentially snag an occasional save when matchups are right.
Hierarchy remains: Peralta* | Hatcher | Santos.
*closer-by-committee
