July 22, 2018
Toronto Blue Jays – Ryan Tepera pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for his seventh save of the season. Seung Hwan Oh pitched a perfect eighth inning ahead of Tepera, and the Blue Jays seem content to use Oh in a set-up role. We will move Tepera back to the head of the hierarchy, and he should see the bulk of the save opportunities until Roberta Osuna is eligible to return on August 5th.
Updated hierarchy: *Tepera | Oh | Clippard.
* = closer-by-committee
Baltimore Orioles – Zach Britton threw a scoreless inning for the Orioles yesterday, but he could be pitching for somebody else soon. The Orioles want to get a deal done this weekend or early next week. The Astros, Cubs, and Dodgers are among the teams interested in Britton. Brad Brach would likely take over as closer if Britton is dealt, but Brach is also a trade candidate and the Orioles could turn to Mychal Givens or Tanner Scott if both are traded.
Hierarchy remains: Britton | Brach | Givens.
New York Yankees – Aroldis Chapman had a tough outing on Saturday as he faced five batters and recorded zero outs. 16 of his 19 pitches were balls, including his last 11. Chasen Shreve came on with the bases loaded and nobody out and got a double play and groundout to record his first save of the season. Chapman has been battling tendinitis in his knee, but it’s hard to know if that had any impact on his performance yesterday.
Hierarchy remains: Chapman | Betances | Robertson.
Kansas City Royals – Wily Peralta bounced back last night with a perfect inning for the save. Peralta is three for three in save chances and is close to kicking the asterisk.
Hierarchy remains: *Peralta | McCarthy | Maurer.
* = closer-by-committee
Cleveland Indians — If you checked the Indians box score this morning, you may have been surprised to see Cody Allen threw 0.1 innings in the seventh inning of an eventual 16-3 blowout win. We aren’t reading too much into this as manager Terry Francona said Allen needed to work on some things with his mechanics. Despite Allen’s high ERA, Friday night was only his second blown save of the season and it also ended a streak of 15 consecutive saves converted. We expect Francona to stay true to his word to use Allen as the primary closer but it will be worth monitoring if he continues to struggle with giving up home runs.
Hierarchy remains: Allen | Hand | Ramirez.
New York Mets — After an evening of speculation on Friday, Jeurys Familia was officially traded to Oakland Saturday afternoon. Mickey Callaway said that he’ll prefer to use a committee as opposed to one main closer. Robert Gsellman should be the leader of a pack that includes Anthony Swarzak and Seth Lugo.
Updated hierarchy: *Gsellman | Swarzak | Lugo.
* = closer-by-committee
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Kevin McCarthy – Wily Peralta has pitched in two straight, including a 35 pitch outing on Friday.
Monday
1. Brad Hand – If Cody Allen pitches on Sunday, that will be three in a row.
