Brett Cecil on the verge of losing his job

June 22, 2015

Toronto Blue Jays – Brett Cecil owners have had it rough. After going more than a month without so much as a save opportunity, Cecil has gotten a few more high-leverage chances in the past two weeks, and has responded by melting down. He began June with a 2.81 ERA, but after allowing 10 runs in his last six appearances (including a brutal outing yesterday), his ERA has shot to 5.96, and beat writers are speculating about whether he’s already lost his job. Cecil, for his part, thinks the issue might be that he’s tipping pitches, and his middle infielders fell on the sword for yesterday’s disaster, saying they should’ve turned a double play. But regardless of the reason, Roberto Osuna seems like a great add for speculators, while the Jays are also reportedly looking at Francisco Rodriguez.

Hierarchy remains: Cecil | Osuna | Delabar. 

Atlanta Braves – Jason Grilli had pitched in back to back games, so the Braves tapped Jim Johnson for the save chance on Sunday. Johnson converted his fourth save of the season, allowing Closer Monkey to brag about the Vulture Save Watch, as is our wont. Behind him, Nick Masset has supplanted Brandon Cunniff for the 2nd in line spot.

Updated hierarchy: Grilli | Johnson | Masset.

Arizona Diamondbacks – Andrew Chafin picked up a three-inning save on Sunday. He does not factor in to Arizona’s usual late-inning plans.

Hierarchy remains: Ziegler | Hudson | Reed.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Jake Petricka, Chicago White Sox – David Robertson has pitched in three straight, and Zach Duke has pitched in two straight and five of six.
2. Roberto Osuna, Toronto Blue Jays – Even if he hasn’t lost the job, Brett Cecil threw 33 pitches last night, two days after throwing 32 pitches on Friday. He’ll likely need a night off.

Boxberger re-asserting himself in Tampa Bay

June 21, 2015

Tampa Bay Rays — Brad Boxberger ran into a little trouble on Saturday night, loading the bases in the 9th, but he was able to get out of it without allowing any runs, and picked up his 18th save of the season in the process.  After recording no saves in the first half of June, Boxberger has now gotten saves in each of the past three games.  Manager Kevin Cash has other good options to close out games with Jake McGee and Kevin Jepsen, but Boxberger seems to be re-asserting himself as the guy after a shaky start to the month.

Hierarchy remains: *Boxberger | McGee | Jepsen.
* = closer-by-committee

Colorado Rockies — Tommy Kahnle got the call last night with the Rockies protecting a two run lead in the 7th inning and two men on base. He got a double play ball to get out the inning and then came back to pitch a scoreless 8th.  Kahnle was called up at the beginning of June and has recorded a couple holds to go along with an ERA under 1.

Updated hierarchy: Axford | Logan | Kahnle.

Chicago Cubs — Hector Rondon picked up his 12th save of the season on Saturday.  Pedro Strop and Jason Motte each threw scoreless innings in a tie game ahead of Rondon, with Motte getting the win.  Based on that usage, it seems like manager Joe Maddon was saving Rondon for the save opportunity.  Rondon has now converted two straight saves and could be moving towards removing that committee label.

Hierarchy remains: *Rondon | Strop | Motte.
* = closer-by-committee

New York Yankees — Bryan Mitchell pitched the last three innings of a blowout Yankees win to record the save last night.  Mitchell was just called up, and was an option to start yesterday, so he does not factor into the Yankees normal late inning bullpen plans.

Hierarchy remains: Betances | Wilson | Shreve.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Jake McGee/Kevin Jepsen, Tampa Bay Rays – Brad Boxberger has pitched in three games in a row.
2. Bobby Parnell, New York Mets – Jeurys Familia will likely be unavailable again on Sunday with his groin injury.
3. Jim Johnson, Atlanta Braves – Jason Grilli has pitched in two straight, and three of the last four.
4. Fernando Rodney/Charlie Furbush, Seattle Mariners – Carson Smith has pitched in back-to-back games and has yet to go three in a row this season.
5. Zach Duke, Chicago White Sox – David Robertson has appeared in two straight games, including a 28 pitch outing on Friday.

Weekly Hot Seat Update: June 20, 2015

We currently have three closer committees and each one is a little bit different. Let’s take a look at them in a little greater detail, and think about what they might look like in the short term and the long term.

Tampa Bay Rays — When Jake McGee started the season on the DL, most people thought that whoever started the season as the closer for the Rays would just be keeping it warm until McGee got back.  After all, McGee was coming off a season where he recorded 19 saves, struck out well over a batter per inning, and had an ERA under 2.00.  Brad Boxberger had other ideas, however.  By the time McGee made his season debut on May 17th, Boxberger was already 10 for 10 in save opportunities and had an ERA just over 1.00.  Boxberger picked up five more saves in the month of May, but then the calendar turned to June, and everything seemed to change.  McGee rattled off seven straight scoreless appearances, including saves in three straight outings.  Meanwhile, Boxberger blew a couple of saves and saw his ERA jump over 3.00.  It looked like McGee had all the momentum moving forward.  Then things changed again. On Thursday, Boxberger recorded the save, while McGee took the eighth inning.  There didn’t seem to be any special reasons for this, as the Nationals had two righties and a switch-hitter to start the eighth inning against the lefty McGee, and Boxberger took the top of the order in the ninth.  Again on Friday, Boxberger got the save after McGee pitched the eighth.  It’s hard to read too much into a couple games but usage certainly suggests that Boxberger continues to be the closer.  We think the Rays will use both guys (and mix Kevin Jepsen in as well) to try and keep everyone fresh, but Boxberger should see the majority of save chances.

Seattle Mariners — Carson Smith has recorded the last three saves for the Mariners and his numbers have been fantastic this season.  Still, manager Lloyd McClendon seems to want Fernando Rodney back in his former role as closer.  It took McClendon a long time to remove Rodney from the job, and now, after three scoreless outings, he has already started talking about Rodney getting save opportunities when Smith is unavailable.  If Smith continues to pitch as well as he has, it will be hard to remove him from the closer’s role, but if he falters at all, and Rodney can put together a few more strong appearances, Rodney could get a chance to reclaim the job.

Chicago Cubs — Seven different Rays relievers recorded saves last season when Joe Maddon was the team’s manager.  This year, four different relievers have already picked up saves for the Cubs, even though Maddon said a week ago that he would prefer to have one guy for the ninth inning.  Hector Rondon has gotten most of the save chances, including the most recent one.  Rondon was very good last year and despite a couple blown saves, his numbers are pretty good this year.  Rondon should have a chance to become the full-time closer again for the Cubs, but with Pedro Strop, Jason Motte, (and potentially Rafael Soriano) looming, he needs to make sure he doesn’t slip up.

Jeurys Familia will be out for the next few games

June 20, 2015

New York Mets — Jeurys Familia entered Friday night’s game with the team behind in the eighth, and exited with an apparent injury. After the game, Terry Collins called it a cramp, but Familia said it was “left groin tightness” that might keep him out for the next few days.

Hierarchy remains: Familia | Parnell | Robles.

New York Yankees — Since Chris Martin returned from the disabled list eight days back, he’s been hit hard, yielding five runs and eight hits in three appearances. As a result, the Yankees announced today that they and the big righthander will consciously uncouple, with New York moving on to young Brian Mitchell, and Martin riding the rails to Scranton to try his luck with the IronPigs of Lehigh Valley. Nobody said it was easy. But no one ever said it would be this hard.

Updated hierarchy: Betances | Wilson | Shreve.

Arizona Diamondbacks — Although Addison Reed has been fairly effective since being demoted, Chip Hale continues to use Daniel Hudson as his number two reliever.

Updated hierarchy: Ziegler | Hudson | Reed.

Toronto Blue Jays — Steve Delabar threw only three strikes on Friday, but they were enough to get the Blue Jays out of the eighth inning on their way to victory. Hitters have a paltry .100 average against Delabar, who has allowed only two earned runs in 15 appearances.

Hierarchy remains: Cecil | Osuna | Delabar.

Washington Nationals — Former Yankee David Carpenter has paid immediate dividends in the Nationals bullpen, giving the team four straight scoreless appearances — the most recent in the eighth inning ahead of Drew Storen on Friday night. The Nats, who became familiar with Carpenter during his successful tenure with their NL East foes in Atlanta, hope that he can regain some of his former glory.

Updated hierarchy: Storen | Janssen | Carpenter.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Bobby Parnell, New York Mets — Familia could be unavailable for at least the rest of the weekend.
2. Kevin Jepsen/Jake McGee, Tampa Bay Rays — You know the routine with these guys. Brad Boxberger has the last two saves, so it’s time to share the wealth.
3. Roberto Osuna, Toronto Blue Jays — Brett Cecil needed 32 pitches to get through Friday’s save.
4. Fernando Rodney, Seattle Mariners — Carson Smith is still in a committee.

Trevor Rosenthal ready to close again; Fernando Rodney on the ascent

June 19, 2015

Tampa Bay Rays — The committee chugs along in Tampa, where Brad Boxberger earned the save on Thursday night. Boxberger allowed a hit and struck out two in a complete ninth for the save, preceded by Jake McGee in a scoreless eighth, and Kevin Jepsen pitching around two hits and a walk in the seventh. We expect this committee to remain for the bulk of the season, with Boxberger still most likely to collect saves.

Hierarchy remains: *Boxberger | McGee | Jepsen.
* = closer-by-committee

Seattle Mariners — Carson Smith has converted all three save opportunities since taking over the closer’s role, but manager Lloyd McClendon is still worried about Smith’s durability, and said on Wednesday that old closer Fernando Rodney, or a combination of Rodney and others, would get the call when and if Smith is unavailable.

Updated hierarchy: *Smith | Rodney | Lowe.

Cleveland Indians — Bryan Shaw picked up his first save on Thursday night, but there’s nothing wrong with closer Cody Allen. During a long rain delay, manager Terry Francona had a lot of time to consider how to handle a bases-loaded threat in a tied fifth inning. Francona turned to Allen in the most pivotal moment of the game, and he got a fly out to end the danger, then followed with a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. Zach McAllister then tossed 1.1 scoreless innings, leaving Shaw with the opportunity in the ninth. It’s safe to say this game featured some strange circumstances, and that Allen is still Francona’s man.

Hierarchy remains: Allen | McAllister | Shaw.

Colorado Rockies — Righty Brooks Brown was placed on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation, and Scott Oberg (5.55 ERA) had his second awful outing in three games, allowing three runs in an inning on Thursday night. So, who should slot in after John Axford in one of the worst bullpens in the major leagues? Mike Hampton? Pedro Astacio? Jose Jimenez? We’ll go with Boone Logan — who leads the team in holds (13) and averages 11.2 K/9 — and former closer LaTroy Hawkins, who tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts Thursday. It’s also worth keeping an eye on Tommy Kahnle, who has impressed since his major league callup on June 1.

Updated hierarchy: Axford | Logan | Hawkins.

St. Louis Cardinals — Trevor Rosenthal said after Wednesday night’s game that he feels he’s ready to return to closing, and on Thursday night, it appeared that was going to be the case. In a 1-0 game in the eighth inning, manager Mike Matheny sent Kevin Siegrist — who picked up a couple saves when Rosenthal was hurt — to the mound, while Rosenthal warmed up in the bullpen. Siegrist allowed the game-tying home run, though, so he earned the blown save and Rosenthal never got into the game. The Cardinals eventually lost when Kennys Vargas hacked a walkoff HR off Carlos Villanueva.

Hierarchy remains: Rosenthal | Siegrist | Maness.

Kansas City Royals — The last time we saw Greg Holland, he couldn’t record an out, and Wade Davis, the Robin to his Batman, was called on to convert the save. Holland returned with a vengeance Thursday night, earning the save while striking out two. Davis backed him up with a clean eighth.

Hierarchy remains: Holland | Davis | Herrera.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Tony Watson, Pittsburgh Pirates — Mark Melancon has earned saves on three straight nights, so he may be unavailable Friday.
2. Pedro Strop/Jason Motte, Chicago Cubs — Joe Maddon could turn to Strop, Motte, or Hector Rondon on any given night, depending on the matchup.
3. Jake McGee, Tampa Bay Rays — Brad Boxberger got the turn Thursday night, but keep an eye on Jake McGee, who also has three saves this year.