April 18, 2022

Chicago Cubs – David Robertson picked up his third save of the season on Sunday, while Rowan Wick pitched a solid 8th to earn one of the odder wins we’ve seen recently. (The Cubs led all game long, but the starter failed to reach 5 innings, and the official scorer determined that the three relievers who came before Wick, including committee-participant Mychal Givens, were all undeserving of the win.) While Givens did get a save earlier this week, we’re getting close to removing Robertson’s asterisk here.

Hierarchy remains: *Robertson | Givens | Wick.
* = closer-by-committee

New York Mets – Given their track records, it’s probably a little early to be worrying about Seth Lugo and Trevor May. But the pair of righties, who were expected to be the main bridges to Edwin Diaz, have both struggled thus far. Meanwhile, Drew Smith, who spent the offseason tinkering with his secondary stuff, has been dominant through his 5.2 innings of work so far, and it was Smith who got the 8th ahead of Diaz in Sunday’s victory. We’ll shake this hierarchy up for the time being, with the expectation that Lugo can make his way back on quickly with even a short run of success.

Updated hierarchy: Diaz | May | Smith.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Chris Stratton – David Bednar has gone back to back.

Tomorrow
1. Devin Williams – If Josh Hader goes today, it’s two straight.
2. Mychal Givens – If David Robertson goes today, it’s two straight.
3. Trevor May – If Edwin Diaz goes today, it’s two straight.
4. Robert Suarez – If Taylor Rogers goes today, it’s two straight.