August 11, 2023
Pittsburgh Pirates – After throwing 54 pitches in a four-day span, David Bednar got a second consecutive day off, which allowed Colin Holderman to get his second save of the season.
Hierarchy remains: Bednar | Holderman | Mlodzinski.
Detroit Tigers – After AJ Hinch’s weekend comments, we figured the Tigers would start mixing and matching in the 9th, and that strategy continued Thursday, with Beau Brieske picking up the save with two scoreless innings. It’s his second save in six days, so we’ll add him to this hierarchy and bounce off Lange, who hasn’t seen any high-leverage action lately. More importantly, we’re still deciding on whether to call Brieske “Ice Cold,” “12-Hour Smoked,” or to appropriate beat writer Jason Beck’s brilliant SNL reference. Sound off in the comments. (Just kidding, we don’t have comments and never will; you guys are psychos.)
Updated hierarchy: *Foley | Brieske | Cisnero.
* = closer-by-committee
Los Angeles Dodgers – Here’s one we did predict, as Brusdar Graterol notched his 5th save of the year in place of a resting Evan Phillips. VSW +1.
Hierarchy remains: Phillips | Graterol | Ferguson.
Baltimore Orioles – With Danny Coulombe on the IL, we welcome Shintaro Fujinami to the hierarchy.
Updated hierarchy: Bautista | Cano | Fujinami.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Yennier Cano – Felix Bautista has thrown 53 pitches over the last three days and is probably off today.
2. Kyle Barraclough – Remember him? After a year in the indy leagues, Barraclough is back in the bigs and could get a save chance with virtually the entire Boston bullpen running on fumes.
3. AJ Minter – Raisel Iglesias went three straight from Monday to Wednesday, and might get a second day off today.
4. Beau Brieske/Jose Cisnero – Jason Foley is on the bereavement list and may not return today.
Tomorrow
1. Trevor Stephan – If Emmanuel Clase goes today, it’s back to back and three of four.
2. Gregory Soto – Same for Craig Kimbrel.
3. Griffin Jax – If Jhoan Duran goes today, it’s back to back.
4. Brusdar Graterol – If Evan Phillips goes today, it’s three of four.
