August 25, 2014
Oakland A’s – Sean Doolittle has been placed on the DL with an intercostal strain. Luke Gregerson was expected to see the majority of save chances, but before Sunday’s game, Bob Melvin said that Gregerson would stay in the eighth inning while Dan Otero, Ryan Cook, and Eric O’Flaherty share save chances. It’s an odd decision, since Gregerson closed earlier this year and has pitched the 8th ever since, but it’s all we’ve got to go on for now, so we’ll do our best to handicap things based on the one-game sample size that we’ve got. On Sunday game, Otero pitched in the 7th inning with the A’s down by nine runs, while Cook pitched the 9th and O’Flaherty was idle. The fact that O’Flaherty didn’t pitch, combined with this strong endorsement from A’s beat writer Susan Slusser, means that O’Flaherty starts at the top of the committee for now. We’ll slot Cook in afterwards, since he’s got the past closer experience, and follow him with Gregerson, mostly because we’re stubborn and still think he’s the guy for the job. And despite his usage yesterday, Otero is in the mix as well.
Updated hierarchy: O’Flaherty | Cook | Gregerson.
Tampa Bay Rays – After Jake McGee pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th inning for the Rays, Brad Boxberger picked up the save after the Rays took the lead in the 10th. We said a little while back that McGee was getting 86% of the Rays save chances — that still seems about right.
Hierarchy remains: McGee | Boxberger | Peralta.
Cincinnati Reds – The Reds entered the 9th inning on Sunday with a four-run lead, but Logan Ondrusek couldn’t quite close the door and allowed two runs to score before Jonathan Broxton came in to get the last out. Broxton picked up his 5th save of the season and remains the handcuff for Aroldis Chapman, who got the day off.
Hierarchy remains: Chapman | Broxton | Diaz.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Dellin Betances, New York Yankees – David Robertson has pitched in three straight.
2. Adam Ottavino, Colorado Rockies – LaTroy Hawkins has pitched in back to back games.