September 21, 2017
Baltimore Orioles — If you missed our alert late last night, Zach Britton will have an injection in his knee and miss the rest of the season with an MCL strain. Brad Brach should get any Baltimore save chances over the final nine games, with Darren O’Day his primary backup.
Updated hierarchy: Brach | O’Day | Givens.
New York Yankees — Dellin Betances has been struggling, and Joe Girardi has no shortage of high-quality bullpen options to replace him. For now, we think David Robertson will get any save chances if Aroldis Chapman is unavailable but, like Chapman earlier this season, Betances could still earn his job back by the time the Yankees hit the postseason.
Updated hierarchy: Chapman | Robertson | Betances.
Boston Red Sox — The Red Sox are preparing for the playoffs by talking up their new $31 million middle reliever. Don’t be surprised to see David Price get a seventh, eighth, or ninth inning in the next week to prepare him for high-leverage relief work in October.
Updated hierarchy: Kimbrel | Reed | Price.
Cleveland Indians — Bryan Shaw picked up a two-inning save on Wednesday, saving Cody Allen some work heading into the postseason.
Hierarchy remains: Allen | Shaw | Miller.
Oakland A’s — We warned you to expect a deep vulture save from Oakland on Wednesday, but what we didn’t know is that they’d try to ride Ryan Dull for two innings to get it. Dull made things exciting by giving up two quick runs in the ninth, so Aussie Liam Hendriks came on to bail him out and earn his first career save.
Hierarchy remains: Treinen | Hatcher | Casilla.
Houston Astros — Joe Musgrove’s journey to the bullpen is allowing the Astros to give a little more rest to Ken Giles and Chris Devenski ahead of the playoffs. Wednesday night, Musgrove picked up another save in a tight spot, and he could wind up challenging for the closer job next spring.
Hierarchy remains: Giles | Devenski | Musgrove.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Edubray Ramos — Both Hector Neris and Luis Garcia have pitched in three straight and four of five.
2. Josh Hader — Corey Knebel blew a save in his third straight day of work. Anthony Swarzak has also gone three in a row.
3. Tony Barnette — Alex Claudio has pitched in two straight (43 pitches), including two innings on Wednesday.
4. Michael Lorenzen — Raisel Iglesias was out on Wednesday with flu-like symptoms.
Friday:
If Neris, Knebel, or Claudio pitch on Thursday, they’ll almost certainly sit on Friday.
