Keynan Middleton picks up a save for the White Sox

May 4, 2023

Chicago White Sox — Cancer survivor Liam Hendriks gave a triumphant news conference in preparation for four or five rehab outings at AAA. Until his return, the White Sox bullpen will remain unsettled. Keynan Middleton picked up the save on Wednesday, following up on scoreless innings by Gregory Santos and Kendall Graveman. We don’t know who’ll get the next save chance, but it’s not likely to be Reynaldo Lopez, who is trying to stay off the IL with a biceps injury. We give Graveman a slight edge for now, but Middleton has a 15.1 K/9 rate and could be allowed to build on recent success.

Updated hierarchy: *Graveman | Middleton | Santos.
* = closer-by-committee

Tampa Bay Rays — When he woke up on Wednesday, 35-year-old Chase Anderson was on Cincinnati’s AAA team, a starting pitcher whose last outing included two home runs, 10 baserunners, four runs allowed in three innings, and an eventual 18-16 loss. So it only makes sense that Anderson’s next three innings were (a) scoreless, (b) in the Rays organization, (c) in the majors, and (d) his first career save in 200 games. You can’t make this stuff up, but if you did, you’d at least know which team to make it up for. As we alerted you yesterday, Pete Fairbanks hit the IL with forearm inflammation, and Jason Adam is best-positioned to close.

Updated hierarchy: *Adam | Poche | Kelly.
*=closer-by-committee

Colorado Rockies — Daniel Bard pitched in the seventh on Wednesday with a four-run lead, and that’s enough for us to swap him with Pierce Johnson at the top of the Colorado closer committee. Justin Lawrence (four holds, 1.65 ERA) and lefty Brent Suter are also in the mix, along with Bard and Brad Hand.

Updated hierarchy: *Johnson | Bard | Lawrence.
* = closer-by-committee

Philadelphia Phillies — Jose Alvarado has been excellent this year, but when called on in the eighth on Wednesday, he gave up several hits and blew a one-run lead. The Phillies tied it up in the top of the ninth, though, setting the table for Craig Kimbrel, who promptly flipped it over. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Max Muncy, and he delivered a walk-off grand slam. It’s not clear why Rob Thomson decided to flip Alvarado and Kimbrel’s roles, but it could be a while before he tries it again.

Hierarchy remains: Alvarado | Kimbrel | Dominguez.

Los Angeles Angels — Unfortunate news for the Angels and Jose Quijada, as the 27-year-old will undergo Tommy John surgery and be out through summer 2024.

Hierarchy remains: Estevez | Moore | Loup.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Matt Moore (LAA) — Carlos Estevez has pitched in three of four.
2. Carl Edwards Jr./Hunter Harvey (CHC) — Kyle Finnegan has gone in two straight and three of four. If Edwards and Harvey are also tired (two straight), Mason Thompson could get the call.

Friday:
1. Nick Anderson (ATL) — A.J. Minter has pitched in two of three.
2. Chris Martin (BOS) — Kenley Jansen is available Thursday, but might not go back-to-back yet.

Clay Holmes gets vote of confidence

May 3, 2023

New York Yankees – After Monday’s blown save, Clay Holmes received a vote of confidence from manager Aaron Boone prior to Tuesday’s game. However, last night’s save chance went to Michael King, who tossed a scoreless ninth inning to preserve a 4-2 win. Holmes may very well rebound from his struggles, but stashing King may be a prudent move if he’s still available.

Hierarchy remains: Holmes | King | Peralta.

Boston Red Sox – With Kenley Jansen still unavailable on Tuesday, Josh Winckowski, who was supposed to also be unavailable, recorded his first MLB save with a seven-pitch ninth inning. John Schreiber was used in the seventh during a tie game to face the top of the Toronto order, and while that’s a big spot, we can’t ignore manager Alex Cora’s willingness to go back to Winckowski in the ninth inning for the second straight night.

Updated hierarchy: Jansen | Martin | Winckowski.

Tampa Bay Rays — Despite being back in Tampa, Pete Fairbanks remained unavailable on Tuesday, which left the save chance to Jason Adam, who preserved the win.

Hierarchy remains: *Fairbanks | Adam | Poche.
*=closer-by-committee

Colorado Rockies — Save chances have been few and far between for the Rockies, but when they got one last night it went to Pierce Johnson, who recorded his fourth save of the season. Daniel Bard has only pitched four times since his return from the injured list, and while he has allowed just one hit in 4.1 scoreless innings, didn’t seem to be available last night with a lead to protect. We’ll slap an asterisk on this hierarchy for now and hope for some more clarity on this bullpen, but Johnson appears to be the guy to own in Colorado right now.

Updated hierarchy: *Bard | Johnson | Hand.
* = closer-by-committee

Texas Rangers – Will Smith recorded the final four outs of Tuesday’s win for his fourth save of the season. Jonathan Hernandez secured the last out of the seventh and the first two outs of the eighth ahead of Smith. Jose Leclerc, who hasn’t pitched since Thursday, was warming up when Smith ran into trouble in the ninth. With Smith likely unavailable on Wednesday after throwing 27 pitches last night, we’ll get a good sense into what Bruce Bochy thinks of Leclerc if the Rangers have a late-inning lead.

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

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Chris Martin (BOS) – Kenley Jansen may still be unavailable.
2. Aroldis Chapman (KC) – Scott Barlow threw 24 pitches yesterday.
3. Jose Leclerc (TEX) – As mentioned above, Will Smith threw 27 pitches last night.

Tomorrow
1. Justin Topa/Matt Brash (SEA) – If Paul Sewald goes today, that’s two straight and four of five. Same is true of Topa.

Daniel Bard back from the injured list

April 20, 2023

Colorado Rockies — Daniel Bard returned from the injured list and had an uneventful eighth inning with the Rockies up 11. He should immediately resume his role as Colorado’s regular closer.

Updated hierarchy: Bard | Johnson | Hand.

Milwaukee Brewers — Devin Williams had thrown 53 pitches over the last three days, so the Brewers used Matt Bush to nail down the save on Wednesday.

Hierarchy remains: Williams | Bush | Strzelecki.

New York Mets — The Mets’ two-headed closer continues to roll. Adam Ottavino picked up his second straight save after David Robertson was called on for a high-leverage eighth. Over the past five days, each man has two saves.

Hierarchy remains: *Robertson | Ottavino | Raley.
* = closer-by-committee

San Francisco Giants — Taylor Rogers has had a rough start to this season (13.50 ERA, 2.36 WHIP, 11.6 BB/9), but in closing out the eleventh inning on Wednesday, he earned his first save.  

Hierarchy remains: Doval | Ty. Rogers | Brebbia.

Minnesota Twins — Brent Headrick’s MLB debut came Wednesday, and for protecting a big lead for three innings, he left Fenway Park with a three-inning save. If you had Headrick in your lineup yesterday, congratulations are in order — because you are Brent Headrick.

Hierarchy remains: *Duran | Lopez | Thielbar.
* = closer-by-committee

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Jose Quijada (LAA) — Carlos Estevez has pitched a lot lately (56 pitches over three days).
2. Seranthony Dominguez (PHI) — Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel have pitched in two straight.

Friday:
1. Brooks Raley (NYM) — Both David Robertson and Adam Ottavino have seen some heavy use.

Reynaldo Lopez, Andres Munoz, Dany Jimenez all secure saves on busy Opening Day for relievers

March 31, 2023

Chicago White Sox — As Chicago awaits the potential return of Liam Hendriks later this year, their ninth inning situation appears a bit cloudy. Reynaldo Lopez got the first crack on Opening Day, yielding a run on a colossal home run by Yordan Alvarez. Aaron Bummer secured the last two outs of the seventh inning and Kendall Graveman tossed a scoreless eighth to set things up. Let’s slide Lopez, who had a lot of hype in the fantasy baseball industry this spring, to the top given the usage to start 2023, but he isn’t cemented into any role just yet.

Updated hierarchy: *Lopez | Graveman | Bummer.
* = closer-by-committee

Seattle Mariners — It appears we have a committee in Seattle. The Mariners trotted out Matt Brash for the seventh inning, Paul Sewald for the eighth and Andres Munoz for the ninth on Thursday. Munoz allowed a couple of baserunners but escaped the jam to register the save. We’ll leave Sewald atop the hierarchy for now, but if Munoz sees another save or two, it will be a different story. 

Updated hierarchy: *Sewald | Muñoz | Castillo.
* = closer-by-committee

Oakland A’s — It wasn’t a traditional setup for the A’s on Opening Day. They were down 1-0 in the eighth inning when presumed closer Trevor May pitched a clean frame. After Oakland scored two runs to take the lead, Dany Jimenez came on for the ninth to secure the save. It would appear to be a committee now. We’ll see what happens next!

Updated hierarchy: *May | Jimenez | Jackson.
* = closer-by-committee

Chicago Cubs — The Cubs had a 4-run lead late on Opening Day, and deployed their late-inning arms with Brad Boxberger in the eighth and Michael Fulmer in the ninth. Both pitched scoreless frames. We gave Boxberger a razor-thin edge to start the year, but for now let’s swap this pair in the hierarchy and we’ll continue to monitor the usage moving forward.

Updated hierarchy: *Fulmer | Boxberger | Alzolay.
* = closer-by-committee

Colorado Rockies — After placing Daniel Bard on the injured list so he can deal with anxiety issues, the Rockies held a 5-run lead on Opening Day, so committee leaders Pierce Johnson and Brad Hand were not used. This situation is very fluid so stay tuned.

Hierarchy remains: *Johnson | Hand | Lamet.
* = closer-by-committee

St. Louis Cardinals — Ryan Helsley allowed only nine earned runs and held a 9-1 record in 2022, but he’s currently sitting at an 18.00 ERA and an 0-1 record in 2023 after he allowed two earned runs on 24 pitches to blow the save and take the loss Thursday. To make matters worse for the Cardinals, presumed setup man Giovanny Gallegos was not available on Opening Day as he deals with a tweaked back. He is listed as day-to-day, so the injury doesn’t seem to be serious.

Hierarchy remains: Helsley | Gallegos | Hicks.

Minnesota Twins – Jhoan Duran picked up his first save of 2023, pitching a clean ninth inning Thursday in a 2-0 win. His main competition for the closer gig, Jorge Lopez, pitched the last two outs of the seventh inning.

Hierarchy remains: *Duran | Lopez | Thielbar.
* = closer-by-committee

New York Mets – With Edwin Diaz likely out for the entire season, the Mets turned first to David Robertson, who secured the save with a clean ninth inning. Will he get the next shot?

Hierarchy remains: *Robertson | Ottavino | Raley.
* = closer-by-committee

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Adam Ottavino (NYM) – David Robertson got the first shot on Opening Day, and Adam Ottavino did not appear. Will it be Ottavino’s turn in Game 2?
2. Kendall Graveman (CWS) – Reynaldo Lopez nailed down the save in the first game, but his hold on the ninth inning is no sure thing, especially after allowing a long home run. Graveman looked great in the eighth and could be in line for the team’s second save opportunity.

Tomorrow
1. Hunter Harvey (WAS) – Kyle Finnegan looked rough on Opening Day, allowing three runs (two earned) on 23 pitches. The Nats are off Friday, but could Finnegan need more rest Saturday, or, perhaps, would Hunter Harvey (who pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the opener) get a chance because of Finnegan’s early struggles?