Rays on pace to have 162 different relievers earn saves

April 9, 2022

Tampa Bay Rays — The Rays got started on chasing down last year’s record of 12 different relievers to get a save on Friday. Andrew Kittridge took the 8th inning against the heart of the Baltimore order, which left the 9th for JP Feyereisen. Feyereisen got 2 quick outs before giving up a single and getting pulled for Brooks Raley. Raley struck out the only batter he faced to earn the first Rays save of the season. Raley spent the last two season in Houston where he was mostly deployed as a lefty specialist. Tampa Bay is always an enigma, but Raley is probably a few more high leverage spots from cracking their normal hierarchy.

Hierarchy Remains: Kittridge* | Chargois | Feyereisen

San Francisco Giants – Despite Gabe Kapler tapping Jake McGee as the closer to start the season it was Camilo Doval who got the first save chance for the Giants. Context is important here, as McGee was brought into the 8th inning of a 1 run game to face the 3-4-5 hitters of the Marlins. Doval got an insurance run to work with, but couldn’t shut the door and was in line for the loss after giving up 3 runs in the top of the 9th, but the Giants would go on to win in the 10th inning. Seeing the nominal closer in the 8th inning isn’t too surprising, so we don’t read too much into this usage, but we still expect Doval to bounce back and work his way into more save situations this year. 
Hierarchy Remains: *McGee | Doval | Rogers.

Baltimore Orioles — If you’re reading the tea leaves of the Baltimore bullpen, yesterday left things as cloudy as ever. Dillon Tate pitched a clean 7th inning of a tie game. He stayed for 1 batter in the 8th, who singled and Tate was lifted for Jorge Lopez. Lopez didn’t get hit very hard, but a sacrifice fly put Tate on the hook for the loss. Paul Fry retired the only batter he faced.  One name that didn’t make it into yesterdays game, but is worth keeping an eye on is Felix Bautista, who has an overpowering fastball and may demand high leverage spots sooner rather than later. It’s safe to say that this is a going to be a committee approach, and its probably best to stay away until the dust clears a bit.
Updated hierarchy: Tate* | Fry | Lopez.

Vulture Save Watch:

  1. Will Smith (ATL) – Kenley Jansen threw 30 pitches last night in a rough outing, and may not pitch back to back games this early in the season.
  2. Kendall Graveman (CHW) – Liam Hendricks also had a bad outing yesterday, throwing 33 pitches and taking the loss. If he gets a day off it should be Graveman who gets the look.

Taylor Rogers confirmed as closer for Padres

April 8, 2022

San Diego Padres — Before Opening Day, the Padres swung a deal for lefty Taylor Rogers and manager Bob Melvin confirmed Rogers would be his closer. Unfortunately, Rogers was unavailable and that proved costly for San Diego. Robert Suarez, the favorite for saves before the Rogers trade, had a disastrous debut. He faced three batters, walking the first two and hitting the third. He also mixed in a wild pitch before he was pulled in favor of Craig Stammen, who threw a wild pitch of his own before allowing a game-ending home run. Yikes! Rogers arrives at the right time and we’ll get rid of that committee label.

Updated hierarchy: Rogers | Suarez | Lamet.

Chicago Cubs –  It’s early in the season so you don’t want to read too much into a situation, but it really looks like David Robertson is the man to own in the Cubs bullpen. Rowan Wick ran into trouble pitching with a lead in the eighth, allowing two hits and a sacrifice fly before he was pulled. Mychal Givens got the last out of the inning but did not stay on for the ninth. Robertson allowed a hit but was able to pitch a clean inning for his first save. We have a new committee leader. 

Updated hierarchy: *Robertson | Wick | Givens.
* = closer-by-committee

Cincinnati Reds – With the Reds, we have another situation that’s hard not to overreact to one game into the season. With the injury to Lucas Sims it was hard to forecast who would be in line for saves. Enter Tony Santillan, who impressed as a reliever late last year (just 2 ER in 19 innings across August and September with 24 Ks) and was overlooked by most prognosticators this spring. On Opening Day, Santillan struck out two in a clean ninth inning to earn his first save. Hunter Strickland and Art Warren did not appear in this game. Santillan has a chance to steal this role before Sims has a chance to claim it back when healthy.

Updated hierarchy: *Santillan | Strickland | Warren.
* = closer-by-committee

Miami Marlins – Manager Don Mattingly cleared up what appeared to be a muddy bullpen situation in Miami, tapping Anthony Bender as his first choice for saves with Dylan Floro injured, even after the acquisition of Cole Sulser. We’ll adjust accordingly.

Updated Hierarchy:  *Bender | Sulser | Bass.
* = closer-by-committee

Boston Red Sox — Manager Alex Cora said he will not have a set closer to begin 2022, but he hopes Matt Barnes can pitch himself back into the role. Barnes dealt with decreased velocity this spring. Garrett Whitlock might be the most talented arm in the bullpen, but he’s currently stretched out and is expected to piggyback Rich Hill starts, at least at the beginning of the year. We’ll put Hansel Robles into the hierarchy, but this situation is still fluid. 

Updated hierarchy: *Barnes | Diekman | Robles.
* = closer-by-committee

Minnesota Twins — Until we see the Twins take the field, it’s hard to know what they’ll do with their save chances now that Taylor Rogers has been dealt. It should be some combination of Tyler Duffey, Jorge Alcala and Emilio Pagan to start. Also, keep an eye on 24-year-old Jhoan Duran.

Updated hierarchy: *Duffey | Alcala | Pagan.
* = closer-by-committee

Twins to trade Taylor Rogers to Padres

April 7, 2022

Minnesota Twins — The Twins are trading Taylor Rogers to the Padres, which means the Twins will go into Opening Day without their projected closer. Emilio Pagan is heading to Minnesota as part of the deal. We’ll slap a committee tag on a hierarchy that will be feature Pagan, Tyler Duffey and Jorge Alcala, and see who the Twins turn to first in the ninth inning. Don’t be surprised if Jhoan Duran and his splinker make an appearance in the late innings.

Updated hierarchy: *Duffey | Alcala | Pagan.
* = closer-by-committee

San Diego Padres — Taylor Rogers should start the year at the top of the Padres’ hierarchy after the team acquired him on Thursday, but we’ll keep an eye out to see how Bob Melvin deploys his bullpen in the early stages of the season. One thing we know for sure is Emilio Pagan will not be part of Melvin’s plans, as he is off to Minnesota.

Updated hierarchy: *Rogers | Suarez | Lamet.
* = closer-by-committee

Rangers shake up their bullpen while the A’s try to find the next Josh Hader

April 6, 2022

Texas Rangers – In a flurry of bullpen roster moves, the Rangers sent Spencer Patton to Triple-A, placed Garrett Richards on the IL, and added Greg Holland to the roster.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t do much to clarify who will be getting saves for the Rangers when the season begins.  We will move veteran Matt Bush to the top of the committee, but we think that Joe Barlow, Greg Holland, and maybe even Josh Sborz will be in the mix for saves.  We will continue to monitor this situation closely to see if anybody emerges as the primary source of saves.

Updated hierarchy: *Bush | Barlow | Holland.
* = closer-by-committee

Oakland A’s — Deolis Guerra will undergo surgery and start the season on the IL.  Manager Mark Kotsay also confirmed that A.J. Puk will open the season in the bullpen and he is hoping Puk could take on a role similar to Josh Hader.  We will add Puk to the hierarchy and he is definitely somebody to keep an eye on as the season progresses.  

Updated hierarchy: Trivino | Acevedo | Puk.

Seattle Mariners — Ken Giles will miss the start of the season due to a tendon issue in his finger.  Giles wasn’t on our hierarchy to start the season but he was a popular sleeper if he could work his way back to pitching like he did a couple of years ago.  This setback will hurt those chances but if you are still looking for a sleeper who is not on the Mariners’ hierarchy currently, Andres Munoz is throwing 101 MPH fastballs and that is always interesting from a reliever. 

Hierarchy remains: *Steckenrider | Sewald | Castillo.
* = closer-by-committee

Spring Training Update Reloaded

4/4/2022

Miami Marlins – The other side of the Cole Sulser trade is leading to an unsettled situation in Miami. Furthermore, we learned recently that Dylan Floro wouldn’t be ready to start the year but it shouldn’t be too long before he’s back in the mix. For now, count on Sulser with a slight lead in a very muddy committee that should get muddier when Floro returns. Anthony Bender and Anthony Bass should also factor into the saves conversation.

Updated hierarchy: Sulser* | Bender | Bass
*= closer-by-comittee

Texas Rangers – As teams finalize their Opening Day rosters, it’s becoming clear how the Rangers plan to deploy their bullpen corps. Earlier in the spring, manager Chris Woodward indicated he’d move away from Joe Barlow in favor of a committee approach given the rise in the team’s expectations. Now, it appears members of that committee will include Spencer Patton, Matt Bush, Garrett Richards, Josh Sborz and others. Watch for non-roster invitee Greg Holland, who could still make the team, though a corresponding 40-man roster move would be needed to squeeze him in. Barlow also made the team, it’s worth noting, so we’ll give him the nod at second in line over other more established veterans until we see this unit deployed in the regular season.

Updated hierarchy: Patton* | Bush | Barlow
*= closer-by-committee

Cleveland Guardians – It’s now clear that James Karinchak will miss the start of the season. He was placed on the IL this weekend as he recovers from a muscle strain in his right shoulder. We’ll slide Anthony Gose into the hierarchy, but righty Nick Sandin could snag some late-inning looks, too.

Updated hierarchy: Clase | Shaw | Gose

Colorado Rockies – When the Rockies signed Alex Colome, it seemed on that bringing in an established closer on a guaranteed contract would establish that there’s one closing candidate in Colorado. That’s not necessarily true, according to manager Bud Black. Colome, Daniel Bard and Carlos Estevez are seen as strong late-inning options. He says he the team will have a “guy in mind” for the ninth once the season begins, but until it does, let’s go ahead and apply the committee tag.

Updated hierarchy: Colome* | Bard | Estevez
*= closer-by-committee

Toronto Blue Jays – Closer Jordan Romano recently stepped in a hole while walking his dog and sprained his ankle. He’s considered day to day and is targeting a return to a big league mound on Tuesday. For now, assume he’s ready for Opening Day. And assume he might hire a dog walker, too. Meanwhile, keep an eye on Julian Merryweather. If he stays healthy he could emerge as a top late-innings weapon for the Blue Jays.

Hierarchy remains: Romano | Richards | Cimber

Pittsburgh Pirates — As noted in our NL Central Preview, the Pirates have a 2 handed committee approach to this season, with David Bedner and Chris Stratton sharing the closing duties. Manager Derek Shelton confirmed that in an interview last week, noting that they plan to cycle them in and out of the 9th inning as matchups dictate. The Pirates still will struggle to win games, but if you’re looking for a saves option that may have flown under the radar in your draft, picking up either half of this committee might earn some cheap saves.

Hierarchy Remains: Bednar* | Stratton | Hembree
*= closer-by-committee