Koji Uehara activated; Chris Hatcher has another bad outing

April 13, 2015

Pittsburgh Pirates – After a ridiculous spring that included a 21:1(!) K:BB ratio, Arquimedes Caminero has brought his 101-mph fastball to the 7th inning in Pittsburgh. On Sunday, he picked up his 2nd hold of the season, and he’s now totaled 2.2 scoreless to start the year.

Updated hierarchy: Melancon | Watson | Caminero.

Chicago White Sox – Zach Duke picked up his second straight 8th inning hold on Sunday. The White Sox have been wise to make good on their offseason investment (3 years, $15M), as Duke has been one of the only reliable arms in the Chicago bullpen thus far. Would-be set-up man Zach Putnam has struggled out of the gate (4 ERs in 2 innings) after struggling during the spring (9.35 ERA) and might be looking at a trip to the minors if he can’t sort things out soon.

Updated hierarchy: Robertson | Duke | Guerra.

Tampa Bay Rays – Ernesto Frieri cleaned up an 8th inning mess and then stayed on for the 9th after the Rays tacked on a run. Frieri allowed a run himself, but picked up a vulture save.

Hierarchy remains: Boxberger | Jepsen | Balfour.

Colorado Rockies – John Axford has left the Rockies for a while to be with his son, who just had surgery following a rattlesnake attack. His absence may be poorly timed for Axford owners, as LaTroy Hawkins just blew his second save in a row and remains firmly on the Hot Seat. With Axford away, Adam Ottavino and Boone Logan are the relievers who could benefit if the Rockies are looking to give Hawkins a break.

Hierarchy remains: Hawkins | Ottavino | Logan.

Seattle Mariners – Fernando Rodney had an atrocious outing on Sunday afternoon, allowing the A’s to score four runs in the bottom of the 9th inning — Yoervis Medina would eventually pick up the save in extras. Rodney also had a shaky spring, with 7 walks in 8.1 IPs, and with his control problems spilling over into the regular season, those in deeper leagues might look to stash either Medina or Danny Farquhar should Rodney end up on the Hot Seat. (He’s already pretty close.)

Hierarchy remains: Rodney | Farquhar | Medina.

Los Angeles Dodgers – Chris Hatcher had another brutal outing on Sunday, allowing 3 runs to score while only recording one out. Joel Peralta came in afterwards to lock down the 1-out save, and is now firmly in the lead in the Los Angeles committee; in fact, the way things have gone thus far, it would surprise us to see anyone other than Peralta used in the 9th going forward. We’ll hold off on lifting the asterisk for one more save, but frankly, Hatcher might not even stay in the bigs for very much longer if he keeps pitching the way he has (33.75 ERA) over the season’s first week.

Updated hierarchy: *Peralta | Hatcher | Howell.
*closer-by-committee

Boston Red Sox – Koji Uehara will come off the disabled list today and will resume closing immediately.

Updated hierarchy: Uehara | Mujica | Ogando.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Joba Chamberlain, Detroit Tigers – Joakim Soria has pitched in three straight.
2. Roman Mendez, Texas Rangers – Neftali Feliz and Shawn Tolleson have both pitched in three straight.
3. Eric O’Flaherty, Oakland A’s – Tyler Clippard has pitched in two straight and three of four, throwing 57 pitches in the process.
4. Jumbo Diaz, Cincinnati Reds – Aroldis Chapman has pitched in four of the last five games.

Mujica replaces Uehara as closer, Soriano to hot seat

September 6, 2014

Boston Red Sox — Edward Mujica will now close for the Red Sox, with Koji Uehara taking a few days off, then returning to a non-closing role to work through his struggles. If all goes well, Uehara will apparently close again by the end of the month.

Updated hierarchy: Mujica | Tazawa | Uehara.

Washington Nationals — Rafael Soriano blew his second straight save on Friday night.  When manager Matt Williams was asked about Soriano as closer, he said “We need to address it.” Soriano has really struggled since the All-Star break, with an ERA of almost 7.00.  If Williams decides to make a change we expect Clippard to get the first chance, but Storen is also an option as he has more closing experience.

Rafael Soriano to Hot Seat
Hierarchy remains: Soriano | Clippard | Storen.

Toronto Blue Jays — Casey Janssen blew another save last night.  He gave up three runs on five hits, while only recording one out.  After Aaron Sanchez got the save on Wednesday, it sounds like manager John Gibbons told Janssen that Sanchez would get the save opportunities when he is available.  Janssen then recorded the save on Thursday but wasn’t able to get it done yesterday.  He could still be in the mix for saves, and we will leave him there for now, but if Sanchez gets the next save chance and converts it, that should confirm a change.

Casey Janssen to Hot Seat
Hierarchy remains: Janssen | Sanchez | Cecil.

Kansas City Royals — Super set-up man Wade Davis picked up his first save of the season yesterday.  Davis struck out both batters that he faced with the tying run on second base.  Greg Holland got the day off, as he has a minor triceps issue, and if he misses more time, Davis should continue to see the save chances.

Hierarchy remains: Holland | Davis | Herrera.

Houston Astros – Tony Sipp recorded his third save of the season last night, as he pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four batters.

Hierarchy remains: Qualls | Sipp | Fields.

Los Angeles Angels – Kevin Jepsen got the save in extra innings last night.   Huston Street and Joe Smith had already pitched so Jepsen was left to finish the game.  Jepsen lowered his ERA to under 2.00 for the season but still remains behind Street and Smith for save chances.

Hierarchy remains: Street | Smith | Jepsen.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Aaron Sanchez, Toronto Blue Jays – It sounds like Sanchez could be the closer whenever he is available, and he hasn’t pitched in two days while Janssen blew the save last night.
2. Wade Davis, Kansas City Royals – Greg Holland is dealing with a triceps injury that the team is calling minor but if he can’t go today, Davis should get the call again.
3. Tyler Clippard/Drew Storen, Washington Nationals – The Nats could give Clippard or Storen a shot after Soriano blew the save yesterday.

Jake Petricka hits the hot seat

August 27, 2014

Chicago White Sox — Jake Petricka blew his second straight save on Tuesday, and the last five batters he’s faced have scratched out two doubles, two home runs, and an intentional walk. There are three other guys in the White Sox bullpen who have at least three saves this year, so Petricka can’t afford too many more nights like this.

Hierarchy remains: Petricka | Putnam | Lindstrom.
Jake Petricka to Hot Seat.

Chicago Cubs — While Kyuji Fujikawa is being used sparingly as he builds arm strength, Neil Ramirez has picked up where he left off as a dominant late-inning option. He struck out the side in the seventh on Tuesday night before turning things over to Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon.

Updated hierarchy: Rondon | Strop | Ramirez.

Detroit Tigers — Joakim Soria is still working his way back from an oblique injury and could return sometime next week. In the meantime, the Tigers put in a revocable waiver claim on Astros closer Chad Qualls, although it’s unlikely to amount to anything. If you were wondering about Jim Johnson, stop. Even after a clean 1.2-inning outing on Sunday, his WHIP remains over 2.

Hierarchy remains: Nathan | Chamberlain | Alburquerque.

Oakland A’s — Something to keep in mind when thinking about the Oakland committee is that Eric O’Flaherty has yet to pitch in back-to-back games all year. Luke Gregerson spared him the chance tonight by giving up a three-run homer in an eventual 4-2 loss.

Hierarchy remains: O’Flaherty | Cook | Gregerson.

San Diego Padres — Kevin Quackenbush struck out the side in the eighth against Milwaukee, and Kato Kaelin wept.

Hierarchy remains: Benoit | Quackenbush | Thayer.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Ken Giles, Philadelphia Phillies — Jonathan Papelbon earned a quick nine-pitch save on Tuesday, but it was his fourth outing in five days (58 pitches).
2. Brett Cecil/Aaron Loup, Toronto Blue Jays — Casey Janssen pitched one clean inning and the start of a rotten one last night, his third day of work in the last four (57 pitches). Cecil threw 15 fewer pitches than Loup on Tuesday.

Trevor Rosenthal yanked mid-save chance

August 18, 2014

Baltimore Orioles – The Orioles have an embarrassment of riches in their bullpen right now, as Andrew Miller has wonderfully complemented the dominant duo of Darren O’Day and Zach Britton. Miller got the 8th inning hold last night, and has been splitting those opportunities with O’Day over the past several weeks, depending on match ups. This does make it hard to guess who would be the beneficiary should Britton go down — but we’ll leave the hierarchy as is for the time being with the above qualifier in place.

Hierarchy remains: Britton | O’Day | Miller.

St. Louis Cardinals – After Trevor Rosenthal walked three batters in the 9th inning on Sunday, Mike Matheny yanked him from the game, allowing Seth Maness to pick up his second save of the year. Despite the hook, Matheny remained adamant after the game that Rosenthal was his man. But with Pat Neshek continuing his run as maybe the best set-up man in the game, Rosenthal has to be looking over his shoulder.

Hierarchy remains: Rosenthal | Neshek | Maness.
Trevor Rosenthal to Hot Seat.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Kevin Jepsen/Jason Grilli, Los Angeles Angels – Both Huston Street and Joe Smith have pitched in three straight.
2. Jeurys Familia, New York Mets – Jenrry Mejia has pitched in three of four and has been battling injuries.

Sergio Romo records save, Jim Johnson returns

August 17, 2014

San Francisco Giants — Sergio Romo got the last two outs of the game last night and picked up his first save since June 22nd.  Manager Bruce Boche said he wanted to give closer Santiago Casilla a day off.  Casilla has allowed a run in his last three appearances, picking up losses in the past two.  Romo, on the other hand, has not allowed a run in his last eight games.  Casilla has not blown a save since he took over as closer at the end of June but if he continues to give up runs and former All Star closer Romo regains his form, the Giants could consider making a change.

Hierarchy remains: Casilla | Romo | Affeldt.
Santiago Casilla to Hot Seat.

Detroit Tigers – Joe Nathan gave up another run last night but picked up his 25th save of the season.  Nathan’s ERA is over 5.00 but that seems great compared to his new bullpen mate.  The Tigers have called up Jim Johnson, and his 7.14 ERA.  If Johnson can regain the form that saw him record 50 saves last season, he could factor into the late inning plans for the Tigers, but for now he is likely just bullpen depth.

Hierarchy remains: Nathan | Chamberlain | Alburquerque.

St. Louis Cardinals – Kevin Siegrist took the loss last night, giving up four runs in less than an inning of work.  Siegrist has now given up 11 runs in 9 appearances since returning from the DL on July 25th.  Seth Maness picked up the 8th inning hold on Friday night and has not given up any runs so far in August.  With Siegrist struggling, Maness should see more time in the later innings.

Updated hierarchy: Rosenthal | Neshek | Maness.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Edward Mujica, Boston Red Sox – Koji Uehara has pitched in two in a row.
2. Kevin Jepsen, Los Angeles Angels – Huston Street and Joe Smith have both pitched in two straight and three of the last four.