August 13, 2015
Cincinnati Reds – In the 7th inning the Reds turned to Jumbo Diaz to protect a 2 run lead. He has now had holds in two of his last three appearances, and has only given up 1 run since returning to the big leagues on July 18th. Meanwhile, Burke Badenhop has appeared in 3 straight losses. On the off chance that both Hoover and Chapman are unavailable, it seems that Diaz would fill in.
Updated hierarchy: Chapman | Hoover | Diaz.
Detroit Tigers – With Detroit up 3, it was Bruce Rondon who got the call to close out the game. When he started to get in trouble, hitting a batter and then issuing a 5 pitch walk, Alex Wilson was seen frantically warming up. Rondon settled down and got the next two outs for his 2nd save. After the game, Brad Ausmus said that with an off day coming up he did not want to use Alex Wilson, who was available, but is still recovering from shoulder fatigue. However, Ausmus also said that with the way Rondon has been pitching recently, he will see more opportunities. We have liked Rondon as the closer ever since the Joakim Soria deal, and this might be the first signs that the Tigers agree, but with Ausmus still backing Wilson for the late innings, we won’t shift this committee around just yet.
Hierarchy remains: *Wilson | Rondon | Alburquerque.
* = closer-by-committee
Washington Nationals – Demoted after the Jonathan Papelbon trade, Drew Storen looked like a man on a mission, racking up nine strikeouts over five hitless innings. But over his last three outings, Storen has been a wreck, taking consecutive losses against the Rockies and letting the game get out of hand last night against the Dodgers. In total, he’s allowed 8 ERs over those three appearances, more than doubling his ERA (1.52 to 3.07). We won’t push him down the hierarchy yet, but with the Nationals starting to lose ground in the standings, they might be quick to push Casey Janssen into a larger role. Janssen has posted 10 scoreless appearances in his last 11 outings.
Hierarchy remains: Papelbon | Storen | Janssen.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Bryan Shaw, Cleveland Indians – Cody Allen has thrown 40 total pitches in back to back appearances and his outing yesterday spanned 1.2 innings.
