Luke Gregerson posts solid outing; Boone Logan returns

June 7, 2016

Houston Astros – Luke Gregerson pitched a clean eighth inning in his first outing in the post-Gregerson era. AJ Hinch had previously expressed a desire to keep Gregerson in the late-inning mix, but we did not expect him to go back to him so quickly.

Updated hierarchy: *Harris | Giles | Gregerson.

Colorado Rockies – Boone Logan has been reinstated from the DL following a stint with a strained shoulder. Twenty-one year old flamethrower Miguel Castro was sent down to Triple-A Albuquerque to make room for Logan’s return.

Updated hierarchy: McGee | Estevez | Logan.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Andrew Miller, New York Yankees – Aroldis Chapman has pitched in three straight.
2. Xavier Cedeno, Tampa Bay Rays – Alex Colome has pitched in four straight.

The Twins turn to Fernando Abad and Brandon Kintzler

May 26, 2016

Minnesota Twins — With all that’s gone wrong for the Twins this season, it’s been easy to overlook how bad their bullpen has gotten. Glen Perkins is on the 60-day DL and Kevin Jepsen has made his home on the hot seat, but now Trevor May’s recent struggles have led Paul Molitor to demote him from the setup role, in favor of journeyman lefty Fernando Abad and the oft-injured Brandon Kintzler. We can’t give up on May just yet, though; his high K rate (33 in 22.2 IP) and favorable xFIP suggest that this is mostly a run of bad luck. Abad’s success this year gets him in the hierarchy, but we’ll keep a close eye on Minnesota’s bullpen use going forward — provided they can get the lead.

Updated hierarchy: Jepsen | Abad | May.

Colorado Rockies — Jason Motte is back from the disabled list, but taking his place will be Boone Logan (strained shoulder). Walt Weiss intends to ease Motte back into things, so for now, Miguel Castro moves to second in line.

Updated hierarchy: McGee | Estevez | Castro.

Texas Rangers — Shawn Tolleson didn’t do himself any favors on Wednesday, giving up two singles and a home run in a brief eighth-inning appearance. The outing didn’t really hurt the team — Texas was up seven when Tolleson came in — but it won’t get him any closer to regaining his old job.

Hierarchy remains: Dyson | Diekman | Bush.

Los Angeles Dodgers — Louis Coleman has holds in his last three appearances and appears to have moved ahead of Chris Hatcher in the Dodgers’ hierarchy.

Updated hierarchy: Jansen | Baez | Coleman.

Pittsburgh Pirates — Bullpen completists and holds connoisseurs should know that Tony Watson went on paternity leave Wednesday, and could be out until Saturday.

Hierarchy remains: Melancon | Watson | Feliz.

Milwaukee Brewers — The top three options in the Brewers bullpen had already pitched, so Carlos Torres wound up with the 13th-inning save Wednesday night. As always, the first person to contact us with proof that they owned and started Torres yesterday gets a free year of Closer Monkey Premium (full text emails)!!

Hierarchy remains: Jeffress | Thornburg | Blazek.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Tyler Thornburg/Carlos Torres, Milwaukee Brewers — Jeremy Jeffress has thrown in two straight, including a two-inning outing last night. Thornburg is the most rested option in the hierarchy, but if the whole triumvirate needs rest, we could always see Torres again.
2. Ken Giles, Houston Astros — Luke Gregerson has thrown 43 pitches over two straight days of work.

Blake Wood becoming key in the Reds’ brutal bullpen

April 23, 2016

Cincinnati Reds — J.J. Hoover is having a very rough April. Even a relatively low-pressure outing, down three in the ninth, turned into a four-run, five-hit implosion. It’s unclear whether Hoover will still be on the team through the weekend, but we have to believe he’s not sniffing any save chances for a while. Blake Wood and Ross Ohlendorf should move up accordingly.

Updated hierarchy: *Cotham | Cingrani | Wood.
* = closer-by-committee

Colorado Rockies — Miguel Castro joined Jason Motte on the disabled list Friday, caused by inflammation in his right shoulder. It ain’t pretty, what’s left behind Jake McGee in the Rockies pen: new set-up guy Chad Qualls has a 6.35 ERA, Justin Miller averages two baserunners an inning, and Christian Bergman is giving up hits to everyone he doesn’t strike out. We’ll give the slot to lefty Boone Logan for now, but callup Gonzalez Germen could make it his before long.

Updated hierarchy: McGee | Qualls | Logan.

Oakland A’s — Although Bob Melvin says Oakland still has a closer committee, Sean Doolittle allowed two inherited runners to score before Ryan Madson earned save number seven with a perfect ninth. The A’s have been keeping their bullpen busy, with nine saves in their ten wins.

Hierarchy remains: *Madson | Doolittle | Axford.
* = closer-by-committee

Atlanta Braves — It doesn’t look like much of a committee in Atlanta either. Jason Grilli’s only save was of the vulture variety, and he came in on Friday night with the Braves down three in the eighth.

Updated hierarchy: Vizcaino | Grilli | Johnson.

Kansas City Royals — With Joakim Soria struggling, the Royals used Luke Hochevar in the seventh and Kelvin Herrera in the eighth, in a two-run game. Soria has earned enough goodwill to keep his slot through this one snub, but we’ll be watching to see who gets the next high-leverage eighth.

Hierarchy remains: Davis | Soria | Herrera.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Bryan Shaw, Cleveland Indians — Cody Allen didn’t take Friday off, but Saturday could be a different story. He’s now thrown 41 pitches in two days.
2. Joaquin Benoit, Seattle Mariners — Steve Cishek has gone in three straight.
3. Neftali Feliz, Pittsburgh Pirates — Both Mark Melancon and Tony Watson had lengthy outings on Friday night. Melancon also pitched on Thursday.
4. Joe Smith/Fernando Salas, Los Angeles Angels — Huston Street has pitched in two straight (37 pitches).

Sean Doolittle gets his first save; Bruce Rondon still inconsistent

September 8, 2015

Detroit Tigers – Even when he converts a save, Bruce Rondon does little to assure the Tigers that they’re making the right move in handing him the closer role. Yesterday, he was asked to get the final two outs of a 1-run game, and responded by walking the first hitter, allowing a flyout and single, walking another hitter, and then finally inducing a game-ending force play that was so tight that the Rays challenged the call at 2nd base, which would have meant a tie game if overturned. Still, Rondon did get the job done, and no one else has gotten a save chance in a while. We’ll remove his asterisk under the pretense that he’s still maybe the shakiest “full-time” closer in baseball right now.

Updated hierarchy: Rondon | Wilson | Hardy.

Colorado Rockies – The only bright spot in the Rockies’ car wreck of a bullpen lately has been Jairo Diaz, a 24-year-old righty who has allowed only 1 run in 8 innings of work this season. His peripherals aren’t great, but any form of production means that Walt Weiss gives you a shot, and yesterday, Weiss combined Diaz with lefty specialist Boone Logan to get through the 8th inning. Good enough for us.

Updated hierarchy: Axford | Diaz | Oberg.

Oakland A’s – We speculated yesterday morning that Sean Doolittle would get the first save chance the next time the A’s were in a tight game, and sure enough, that opportunity came that very afternoon. Doolittle needed only five pitches — two pop outs and a three-pitch strikeout — to convert, and with his velocity continuing to climb, he looks to be in the driver’s seat for saves in Oakland the rest of the season.

Hierarchy remains: *Doolittle | Pomeranz | Venditte.
* = closer-by-committee

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. J.J. Hoover, Cincinnati Reds – Aroldis Chapman has pitched in back to back games; he hasn’t yet gone three in a row since shoulder fatigue sidelined him last month.
2. Drew Pomeranz, Oakland A’s – Sean Doolittle has pitched in back to back games and three of four, and is only a few weeks removed from the DL.