In the aftermath of Wednesday’s trade that saw the White Sox send Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to the Yankees, it was widely presumed that Anthony Swarzak would inherit the closer’s role on the South Side of Chicago. Then came the announcement later on Wednesday that Rick Renteria would be turning to Tyler Clippard, who came over in the deal from the Yankees, instead.

The fantasy community let out a collective groan. Clippard’s second tenure with the Yankees ended with a thud, as he allowed 16 runs over his final 13 1/3 innings with 10 walks and five home runs allowed. His White Sox debut against the Royals did not go much better. He entered in the bottom of the 10th inning with the game knotted at 6-6. Clippard began by allowing back-to-back singles to Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon and then loaded the bases with a walk to Jorge Bonifacio. The fourth batter Clippard faced, Whit Merrifield, walked off with a sacrifice fly.
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The Cardinals’ closer situation took an interesting turn on Sunday when Mike Matheny brought Brett Cecil in to close out a 3-2 game against the Pirates. While Cecil getting a save chance added a new wrinkle to the Cardinals’ committee arrangement, it was a sensible move. Cecil would have to face Francisco Cervelli, Gregory Polanco and Jordy Mercer, and while Polanco was the only left-handed batter in that group, Cecil had been far more effective against righties this season. He was also on a roll, having built a string of 15 straight scoreless appearances covering 15 2/3 innings. Over that span, Cecil allowed just five singles, two doubles and a walk. It also made sense that Matheny called upon Trevor Rosenthal to take care of the top of the Pirates’ order in the eighth inning.

Cecil picked a bad time to take a break from shutting down opponents, as he gave up a lead-off single to Cervelli, a game-tying double to Mercer and a walk-off single to Adam Frazier.
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We may have just taken a four-day break from games that count, but closer drama did not take a vacation. The trade market heated up over the All-Star break, and while no closers were dealt, there were plenty of reports and rumors regarding closer trades.

None was more attention-grabbing than Jon Heyman’s report for FanRag Sports that the Dodgers called the Orioles to check on Zach Britton‘s availability. While Heyman noted that the Orioles have not yet made Britton available, the possibility that he could head out of Baltimore to be Kenley Jansen’s set-up man is exciting from a fan’s perspective, but it’s a fantasy nightmare.
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The Braves’ solid late-innings trio has taken a couple of hits lately. Jim Johnson blew his seventh save of the season Friday night, and it was his fifth blown save since May 23. Over that stretch, Johnson has a 5.59 ERA with a 4.7 BB/9 ratio, after posting a 2.84 ERA and 1.4 BB/9 ratio prior to this stretch. His BABIP has also risen from .245 to .323, though some of that increase could be a function of pitching in less favorable counts.

In a post-game interview, Brian Snitker said he has “no problem” with Johnson, so we can expect him to get the Braves’ next save opportunity. In general, when blown saves pile up, an ouster is almost inevitable. Remember when it seemed that Francisco Rodriguez and Matt Bush were on seemingly infinite leashes? Their respective managers stood by them far longer than many fans and fantasy owners would have preferred, but in both cases, patience and support had their limits. I suspect if Johnson’s next blown save occurs within a week after the All-Star break, Snitker’s patience will reach its end as well.
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One day shy of the two-month mark for his stay on the DL, Zach Britton was activated by the Orioles on Wednesday. Buck Showalter wasted no time in getting Britton into a game, calling on him to pitch the seventh inning with a 4-0 deficit to the Brewers. To no one’s surprise, Showalter informed Britton that he plans on returning him to the closer’s role, but he would try to ease him back with a low-leverage situation in his first appearance off the DL.

Wednesday’s appearance certainly qualified, though Britton did not exactly ace this lower-stress situation. His velocity was down a tick, as he averaged 95.1 mph on his 16 two-seamers. Britton needed 19 pitches to get through the inning, throwing just eight strikes, a wild pitch and allowing a Hernan Perez single and an Eric Thames walk.
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The Cardinals have been teetering on a the cusp of a closer change for awhile, and Mike Matheny may be finally taking the plunge with Trevor Rosenthal. It was Rosenthal, and not Seung Hwan Oh, who came in for the save at Arizona on Wednesday night, even though Oh was clearly available, having warmed up earlier in the game. Rosenthal came close to frittering away a 4-2 lead, as a wild pitch allowed Brandon Drury to score and Chris Herrmann to advance to third base with two outs. He eventually got out of the jam, getting David Peralta to ground into the final out.

Whether Rosenthal is officially the closer, sharing the job with Oh or the recipient of a one-off save chance is not yet known. If he is not the Cardinals’ full-time closer, he is certainly much closer to having that status than he was prior to Wednesday’s win. It’s time to find room to stash him.
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On Friday night, a couple of shaky closers dug their holes deeper, but perhaps the greatest stress was felt by Roberto Osuna’s owners. The Blue Jays’ closer has been close to automatic since late April, and he was sorely missed as the Toronto bullpen tried to hold a 4-1 lead without him. John Gibbons told Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet that Osuna was unavailable due to illness, so fantasy owners and Blue Jays fans caught of a glimpse of what the ninth inning might look like without their dominant closer.

At least for this one game, it was not pretty. Ryan Tepera, who got the final out of the eighth inning, was brought back for the ninth to get the save. He came within an out of notching his second save of the season, but he was removed after allowing an RBI single to Alcides Escobar. Aaron Loup was summoned to get Alex Gordon out, but instead, he gave up a run-scoring single on the first pitch. Then Gibbons tried Jason Grilli, but he yielded a Whit Merrifield double that brought in Escobar and Gordon, giving the Royals a walk-off win. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no news flash that Corey Knebel is really good.  But is he Aroldis Chapman-good?

On Wednesday night, Knebel tied Chapman’s record for most appearances with at least one strikeout to begin a season. In his 37th game of 2017, not only did Knebel notch his 64th strikeout of the year, but he also earned his 11th save in a 4-3 win over the Pirates. He leads all relievers in strikeouts, even though he ranked 39th in swinging strike rate prior to Wednesday’s games. While there was nothing wrong with his 13.8 percent whiff rate, Knebel has been unparalleled in getting strikeouts because he had coaxed swings on only 41.3 percent of his pitches. To put that in perspective, only 36 out of 719 qualified relievers have had a rate at least that low since 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

Just as it looked like Felipe Rivero might have the Pirates’ closer job all to himself, Clint Hurdle made good on his word to have him share the role with Juan Nicasio. With a 4-3 lead, Hurdle summoned Rivero for the eighth inning, as the top of the Cubs’ order was due up. However, the lefty needed 20 pitches to work through Anthony Rizzo, Ian Happ, Kyle Schwarber and Addison Russell.

But work through them he did, allowing only a Happ double. The ninth inning, then, belonged to Nicasio, who allowed a pair of doubles and a single and issued an intentional walk to Kris Bryant. He departed the game with a blown save and no outs recorded. Nicasio was followed by deposed closer Tony Watson, who allowed all three inherited runners to score (saddling Nicasio with the loss), plus two more runs to create a 9-4 deficit.

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Tuesday’s slate of games was a quiet one for saves. There were 16 contests in total, but only six relievers emerged with saves. One of them was Tyler Lyons, whose first career save was the result of a scoreless three-inning effort, in which he allowed three hits, walked none and struck out two.

Things were also eerily quiet on the Phillies’ closer front, as we are now a full week removed from when Pete Mackanin suggested that he may use Pat Neshek in the closer’s role over Hector Neris, at least on a temporary basis. They have gone 0-7 since then and have not had a ninth-inning save opportunity during that time. On Monday, they came close, as the Phillies entered the eighth with a 5-4 lead over the Red Sox. The curious thing was that Neshek had already been used in the seventh, and Mackanin brought Joaquin Benoit in to pitch the eighth. Benoit allowed a two-out solo home run to Hanley Ramirez, thus blowing the save as well as the chance for us to see if Neris would come in for the ninth inning.
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