Chris Martin closing for Boston this week

September 14, 2023

Boston Red Sox — As we alerted you yesterday, Kenley Jansen has COVID-19 and will be out at least seven days on that specialized IL. Chris Martin should be in line for whatever saves come in Jansen’s absence, with Josh Winckowski, Garrett Whitlock, and John Schreiber in the middle-innings mix.

Updated hierarchy: Martin | Winckowski | Whitlock.

St. Louis Cardinals — Ryan Helsley is pitching back-to-back again already and has three straight saves; let’s axe his asterisk.

Hierarchy remains: Helsley | Gallegos | King.

Pittsburgh Pirates — Carmen Mlodzinski’s second hold in two days officially makes him the third-best reliever on the fourth-best team in the fifth-best division in baseball. Get that on his surprisingly comprehensive Wikipedia page!

Updated hierarchy: Bednar | Holderman | Mlodzinski.

Atlanta Braves — Good show for the Vulture Save Watch, correctly tabbing Kirby Yates for Wednesday’s save with Raisel Iglesias and A.J. Minter each resting after three straight days of use.

Hierarchy remains: Iglesias | Minter | Yates.

Miami Marlins — David Robertson isn’t closing for Miami anymore, but he’s found a pretty comfortable home in the seventh inning. Robertson is the only righthander in the Marlins’ top five relievers.

Updated hierarchy: Scott | Nardi | Robertson.

Tampa Bay Rays — Just when we thought the Rays had foresaken their eternal quest to spread out saves, Robert Stephenson earned his first of the season on Wednesday. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Updated hierarchy: Fairbanks | Poche | Stephenson.

Washington Nationals — Mason Thompson was optioned to Rochester on Wednesday, reopening the seventh inning for Jordan Weems.

Updated hierarchy: Finnegan | Harvey | Weems.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Garrett Whitlock (BOS) — The Red Sox play two against . . .
2. Tommy Kahnle (NYY) — . . . the Yankees.
3. Lucas Sims (CIN) — Alexis Diaz has pitched in two straight and three of four.
4. Justin Lawrence (COL) — Tyler Kinley has pitched in three of four.
5. Taylor Rogers (SF) — So have Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers.

Friday:
1. Colin Holderman (PIT) — David Bednar threw 30 pitches Wednesday and won’t go in three straight.

Jansen to IL with COVID

September 13, 2023

Boston Red Sox – Turns out the fatigue and illness was actually COVID, as Kenley Jansen was placed on the IL today. We expect Chris Martin to take over the job, with Josh Winckowski and Garrett Whitlock moving up. 

Updated Hierarchy: Martin | Winckowski | Whitlock.

Justin Lawrence returns to the ninth inning

September 13, 2023

Colorado Rockies – It looks like Justin Lawrence is back in the high-leverage mix for the Rockies, as he closed out Tuesday night’s win with his 11th save of the season. Tyler Kinley was likely down after two straight days of work, but we’ll keep an eye on this to see if it turns into a committee.

Updated hierarchy: Kinley | Lawrence | Bird.

Atlanta Braves – For the second straight night and the fourth time in five appearances, Raisel Iglesias allowed a run, this time giving up a leadoff homer that sent Tuesday’s game to extras. After Atlanta regained the lead in the 10th, Brad Hand retired all three batters he faced for the save. Iglesias now has two blown saves in a row, but those are his first blown saves since June 12, so we don’t expect him to be in any danger of losing his job. If anything, the Braves will likely be cautious with Iglesias once they clinch the NL East title.

Hierarchy remains: Iglesias | Minter | Yates.

Boston Red Sox – Kenley Jansen left Tuesday night’s game because of fatigue and illness symptoms, which makes sense because we’d be sick and tired of being on the Red Sox too.

Hierarchy remains: Jansen | Martin | Winckowski.

New York Yankees — After all three members of the Yankees’ hierarchy pitched in game one of Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep of the Red Sox, Nick Ramirez finished off the nightcap with a perfect ninth inning for his first career save.

Hierarchy remains: Holmes | Kahnle | Peralta.

Cincinnati Reds – All three Reds hierarchy members had already pitched, so Buck Farmer collected a 10th-inning save on Tuesday.

Hierarchy remains: Diaz | Sims | Gibaut.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Chris Martin (BOS) – Jansen may be unavailable today after leaving yesterday’s game.
2. Trevor Stephan (CLE) – Emmanuel Clase has gone back-to-back.
3. Jason Foley (DET) – Alex Lange has gone in three of four.
4. Lucas Erceg (OAK) – Trevor May has thrown in two straight.
5. Kirby Yates (ATL) – Both Raisel Iglesias and AJ Minter have gone in three straight.
6. Seranthony Dominguez/Gregory Soto (PHI) – Craig Kimbrel and Jose Alvarado have both pitched back-to-back days while Dominguez threw 24 pitches last night.
7. Robert Suarez (SD) – Josh Hader may get a second straight night off after throwing 43 pitches on Monday.

Tomorrow
1. Colin Poche (TB) – If Pete Fairbanks pitches today that will be three of four.
2. The Rogers Brothers (SF) – The same is true for Camilo Doval and for Tyler Rogers.
3. Tommy Kahnle/Wandy Peralta (NYY) – If Clay Holmes pitches today that will be two straight and three of four, which is also true of both Kahnle and Peralta.
4. Griffin Jax (MIN) – If Jhoan Duran goes today that will be two in a row.
5. Lucas Sims (CIN) – Same for Alexis Diaz….
6. Joel Payamps (MIL) – …and Devin Williams.

Justin Lawrence and Aroldis Chapman are struggling

September 3, 2023

Texas Rangers — In a tie game, the Rangers summoned Will Smith for the 8th inning and he responded with a scoreless inning.  Smith came back out for the first batter of the 9th inning with the game still tied and recorded an out before giving way to Aroldis Chapman.  Chapman retired both batters he faced to send the game to extra innings.  Chapman came back out for the 10th inning but the results were much worse.  He walked the first batter before giving up a pair of singles and was removed without recording an out.  Chapman has now given up at least one run in five of his last six appearances.  Will Smith has four straight scoreless appearances after also having a stretch of giving up runs in five of six appearances.

Hierarchy remains: *Chapman | Smith | Leclerc.
* = closer-by-committee

Colorado Rockies – The Rockies were up 3 heading into the 9th inning and called upon their closer Justin Lawrence to finish off the win.  Lawrence walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a triple to cut the lead to two.  He seemed to settle by getting the next two batters outs but then things really fell apart.  Lawrence allowed another run to score on a wild pitch and loaded the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch.  He was finally pulled and replaced by Tyler Kinley, who struck out the only batter he faced for his first save of the season.  Lawrence has given up 10 earned runs over his last six appearances and his ERA is almost up to 4.00 on the season.  We will see if the Rockies continue to send Lawrence out there is save chances or if they look at switching things up.

Hierarchy remains: Lawrence | Bard | Koch.

Boston Red Sox – Nick Pivetta pitching the final three innings of a 9-5 Red Sox win yesterday to earn his first of the season.  Pivetta has bounced between starting and multi-inning relief outings this season and does not typically factor into the Red Sox late inning plans.

Hierarchy remains: Jansen | Martin | Winckowski.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Tommy Kahnle (NYY) – Clay Holmes has pitched in two of three and four of six.
2. Trevor Stephan (CLE) – Emmanuel Clase has pitched in two straight and four of five.
3. Emilio Pagan (MIN) – Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax have both pitched in two straight and three of four.
4. AJ Minter/Kirby Yates (ATL) – Raisel Iglesias has pitched in four of the last five while AJ Minter has pitched in three of five, including a 22 pitch outing yesterday.
5. Joel Payamps (MIL) – Devin Williams has pitched in two straight, throwing 44 pitches in that time.
6. Colin Holderman (PIT) – David Bednar has pitched in two straight and three of four.

Monday
1. Mark Leiter Jr. (CHC) – If Adbert Alzolay pitches today, it will be two of three and four of six.

Miami’s Tanner Scott notches save, further cementing role as Marlins closer

August 28, 2023

Miami Marlins – As we alerted, David Robertson was removed from the closer’s role before Sunday’s game, and the new closer, Tanner Scott, pitched well Sunday to earn his third save of the season.

Updated hierarchy: Scott | Nardi | Puk.

Texas Rangers – Will Smith notched a clutch strikeout against the only batter he faced to finish off the eighth inning in Sunday’s game, leaving Aroldis Chapman to handle the ninth inning in a save situation. Chapman did not deliver, though, allowing the tying run to send the game to extras. The Rangers eventually lost, which is something happening a lot lately. Texas has lost nine of 10, and the struggles in the late innings are a big part of it. It appears manager Bruce Bochy is starting to play the matchups again in the ninth inning, so we’ll slap on the committee tag with Smith still in the lead role, for now. 

Updated hierarchy: *Smith | Chapman | Sborz.
* = closer-by-committee

Toronto Blue Jays – Erik Swanson was placed on the injured list with thoracic spine inflammation. Expect Yimi Garcia and maybe Tim Mayza to vie for saves when the Jordans (Romano and Hicks) aren’t available.

Updated hierarchy: Romano | Hicks | Garcia.

Boston Red Sox – Manager Alex Cora said Kenley Jansen was available to pitch Sunday. The Red Sox lost, so there was no save situation and Jansen did not play, but he should be presumed to be available moving forward.  

Hierarchy remains: Jansen | Martin | Winckowski.

St. Louis Cardinals — Ryan Helsley resumed a rehab assignment on Sunday after his first one was paused over concerns about continued forearm discomfort. New imaging came back clean, allowing his return to action, though there is no timetable for his return to the majors. For what it’s worth, he did not pitch well in the rehab outing, allowing a couple of runs. 

Hierarchy remains: *Romero | Gallegos | Pallante.
* = closer-by-committee

Tampa Bay Rays – The Vulture Save Watch projected a day off Sunday for Pete Fairbanks, but instead of turning to Colin Poche, manager Kevin Cash went with Jason Adam for the third time in four games. Adam nailed down his 12th save of the season.

Hierarchy remains: Fairbanks | Adam | Poche.

Arizona Diamondbacks – Paul Sewald did not pitch Sunday, as forecast by the Vulture Save Watch, but it was Ryan Thompson who earned the save in his first game for Arizona, not Kevin Ginkel, who had already pitched Friday and Saturday. 

Hierarchy remains: Sewald | Ginkel | McGough.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Brooks Raley (NYM) – Adam Ottavino has gone in two straight.
2. Shintaro Fujinami (BAL) – Yennier Cano has also gone in two in a row.
3. Griffin Jax (MIN) – Same as above for Jhoan Duran.
4. Brusdar Graterol (LAD) – Evan Phillips has pitched in three of four.
5. Jordan Hicks (TOR) – Jordan Romano threw 36 pitches to record five outs Sunday and could need a breather.

Tuesday:
1. Andrew Nardi (MIA) – Miami is off Monday but new closer Tanner Scott might need a second day of rest after pitching Saturday and Sunday.
2. Trevor Stephan (CLE) – If he goes Monday, that would be two straight and three of four for Emmanuel Clase.
3. Matt Brash (SEA) – A Monday outing would be three of four for Andres Munoz.