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May 31, 2016
Tampa Bay Rays — Brad Boxberger’s return to major league action didn’t go quite the way he’d hoped. After quickly retiring two batters in the sixth inning, Boxberger gave up a single and a home run, then grabbed his left abdomen after hitting the next batter. He was diagnosed with a side muscle strain and is likely to return to the DL — where he’d been ever since adductor surgery in March. Hope you hung on to Alex Colome.
Updated hierarchy: Colome | Cedeno | Ramirez.
May 31, 2016
Cincinnati Reds – Pitching in the bottom of the ninth up six runs, Tony Cingrani gave back three to the Rockies before getting yanked out of the game in favor of J.C. Ramirez. Ramirez stopped the bleeding, earning his first career save in the process. While the Reds’ bullpen continues to be a mess, we don’t expect Ramirez to play a significant role in the late innings. That said, we would not be surprised if this latest blow-up increases Ross Ohlendorf’s chances to get saves going forward.
Hierarchy remains: *Cingrani | Ohlendorf | Wood.
Texas Rangers – Cesar Ramos earned his first save of the season the hard way, pitching three innings of relief to save the win for Derek Holland. It was a nice box score surprise for Ramos, but that’s it.
Hierarchy remains: Dyson | Diekman | Bush.
Toronto Blue Jays – With Roberto Osuna on the shelf, John Gibbons used a combination of Aaron Loup and Drew Storen to finish off the Yankees in the ninth inning, with Storen picking up the Vulture Save. We have not been too bullish on Storen lately given his struggles and the rumors that he is on the trading block, but his usage last night may force us to reconsider.
Hierarchy remains: Osuna | Floyd | Biagini.
Tampa Bay Rays – The Rays activated Brad Boxberger from the disabled list yesterday and will ease him back in to the closer role. Kevin Cash insisted there would be no closer controversy despite Alex Colome’s success, so we’ll place Boxberger straight into the closer spot, with the understanding that he might pitch the 8th inning a couple of times before he gets a save chance.
Updated hierarchy: Boxberger | Colome | Cedeno.
Los Angeles Angels – Huston Street also returned from the DL yesterday, and while he wasn’t needed immediately (Jhoulys Chacin threw a complete game), he, too, should return to closing rather quickly, if not right away.
Updated hierarchy: Street | Smith | Salas.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Addison Reed, New York Mets – Jeurys Familia has pitched in back to back games and three of four, throwing 67 pitches in that span. Reed has appeared in the same three games, but has had a much lighter workload.
Welcome to our weekly Closer Hot Seat column! Each week — usually on Mondays — we’ll update this space to give you an easy-to-reference guide on who might be closest to losing their jobs. Note that this isn’t necessarily a ranking of the best closers; rather, it’s a guide to job security.
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Latest update: May 30, 2016
The Reds remain in a committee — you know that — but most of the other relievers on the hot seat this week are ones facing competition from their predecessors. Two of these are DL situations. Brad Boxberger could make his Tampa debut as early as today, and although he’s expected to be eased back into the closer role, everyone anticipates that he’ll get there. The Angels are counting on Huston Street’s return this week too, even if his fastball is a bit underwhelming. Meanwhile, Ryan Madson still has the edge in Oakland, but Sean Doolittle picking up a save on Sunday turns up the heat at least a little. Finally, Kevin Jepsen has been pretty bad for the Twins, but with Glen Perkins taking a week off in his rehab, Minnesota doesn’t have many good alternatives on the horizon.
Hottest: In a committee or on the verge of losing their job right now.
30. Tony Cingrani (Handcuff: Ross Ohlendorf)
Hot: Guys who could be in danger after their next blown save.
29. Alex Colome (DL return: Brad Boxberger)
28. Joe Smith (DL return: Huston Street)
27. Ryan Madson (Handcuff: Sean Doolittle)
26. Kevin Jepsen (Handcuffs: Fernando Abad/Trevor May)
Warmish: Two blown saves in a row and these players might be in trouble.
25. Sam Dyson
24. Jeremy Jeffress
23. Luke Gregerson
22. Santiago Casilla
21. Jeanmar Gomez
Cool: These players would have to blow 3 consecutive saves for their jobs to be in jeopardy.
20. Steve Cishek
19. Francisco Rodriguez
18. A.J. Ramos
17. Jake McGee
16. Cody Allen
15. Fernando Rodney
14. Arodys Vizcaino
13. Roberto Osuna
12. Jeurys Familia
11. Brad Ziegler
10. David Robertson
9. Hector Rondon
8. Jonathan Papelbon
7. Mark Melancon
6. Craig Kimbrel
5. Trevor Rosenthal
Sub-zero: These players would have to blow 4+ consecutive saves for their jobs to be in jeopardy.
4. Aroldis Chapman
3. Wade Davis
2. Zach Britton
1. Kenley Jansen
May 30, 2016
Oakland A’s – Sean Doolittle picked up his first save in over a month after Ryan Madson was used to get the heart of the order in the 8th inning. Doolittle has looked sharper lately, but he’s still not going to get too many opportunities to close, as even he admitted after the game. This was a matchup play, and while Doolittle might see another chance here or there, Madson remains the man in Oakland.
Updated hierarchy: Madson | Doolittle | Axford.
New York Mets – Two consecutive rough outings have doubled Jeurys Familia’s ERA — he gave up a four-run lead on Friday and then allowed two go-ahead runs to score last night. He’s still actually perfect in save opportunities because neither of those were blown saves, and the Mets seem to think it’s not a mechanical issue. But Familia’s strikeout rates are down this season and a few more bad outings might open the door for Addison Reed.
Hierarchy remains: Familia | Reed | Henderson.
Milwaukee Brewers – We figured that the Brewers would stay away from Jeremy Jeffress yesterday, but we were wrong about who would close in his place. Rather than being moved to the 9th, Tyler Thornburg stayed in his traditional spot, finishing off the 8th inning. Blaine Boyer then came on and gave up three hits and two runs in the 9th, but managed to hold on for the save. If anything happens to Jeffress long term, Thornburg (or the soon-to-return Will Smith) would be more likely than Boyer to assume the closer role, but yesterday’s game proved that Boyer is in the mix for one-off opportunities.
Updated hierarchy: Jeffress | Thornburg | Boyer.
Boston Red Sox – The Vulture Save Watch was right about this one, though — with Craig Kimbrel getting the afternoon off, Koji Uehara picked up his first save of the season.
Hierarchy remains: Kimbrel | Uehara | Tazawa.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Addison Reed, New York Mets – Jeurys Familia may get a day off to clear his head, especially with the Mets playing the earliest game of the day after hosting Sunday Night Baseball.
2. Gavin Floyd, Toronto Blue Jays – Roberto Osuna has pitched in four of the last five and Joe Biagini threw two innings last night.
May 29, 2016
Cincinnati Reds – Tony Cingrani struck out the side in the ninth inning last night to record his fourth save of the season. Ross Ohlendorf was warming up in the eighth but it was Cingrani who got the call in the ninth. We aren’t quite ready to pull the asterisk based on Cingrani’s blown saves and his occasional usage prior to the ninth inning, but one more clean save and the committee could be over.
Hierarchy remains: *Cingrani | Ohlendorf | Wood.
* = closer-by-committee
Chicago White Sox – The White Sox blew a six run lead in the ninth inning yesterday. David Robertson got the call to start the inning, as he hadn’t pitched since May 23rd and only had three appearances since May 9th. It began well, with Robertson striking out the first batter, but it unraveled quickly from there. Six of the next seven batters reached and Robertson was pulled with the score 7-6. Tommy Kahnle came on and immediately gave up a game tying double, followed by two walks and a walk-off single. It was a rough day, to say the least, but it shouldn’t impact the White Sox late inning bullpen plans moving forward.
Hierarchy remains: Robertson | Jones | Duke.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Tyler Thornburg, Milwaukee Brewers – Jeremy Jeffress has pitched in two straight and four of the last five.
2. Koji Uehara, Boston Red Sox – Craig Kimbrel threw 39 pitches yesterday in a blown save.
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