With the news that Jake McGee is having knee surgery and is likely lost for the season, there is a new name on the grid for the Rays. As you can see in Marc Topkin’s story, Kevin Cash makes it clear that this doesn’t mean the ninth is Brad Boxberger’s now. We could continue to see him pitch in the eighth if the situation calls for it, with any one of four Rays called upon to close it out. The grid isn’t big enough to put them all on, but Steve Geltz, Xavier Cedeno, Alex Colome and Brandon Gomes will all be in the mix for saves in the event that Boxberger needs a night off or if he’s used earlier in the game. I have Geltz as next in line, but it could be any of the four. We’ll have to wait and see if Cash takes a shine to any of the four before we can have much confidence in the order behind Boxberger. For now, I have Geltz and Colome, but that’s written in sand, not etched in stone.

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Cody Allen struggled a bit in the Bronx today, but escaped a ninth-inning jam to finish off the Yankees and notch his 24th save of the season. He yielded an earned run on a pair of singles and a walk, but managed to induce a fly ball out off the bat of Didi Gregorious for the final out of the game, stranding a duo of ducks on the pond. Just 14 of Allen’s 21 pitches fell for strikes tonight, four of which were looking and one by swing-and-miss. He also nailed the first pitch for a strike to three of the six batters he faced.
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– Uh oh. Glen Perkins had an injection in his neck on Wednesday. Yes, giant needles around my neck area? Sign me up. The scuttlebutt is that he’ll only need a few days off an be available later in the weekend or early next week, but remember, Perkins missed time last year with neck injuries as well. With the Twins going nowhere fast, they don’t have much reason to push him hard. Kevin Jepsen will get first crack at vulturing saves between now and then. The righty has regressed quite a bit after a career-best 2014. His SIERA is north of 4.00 (4.08) and both his K% (19%) and BB% (12%) are mediocre at best. That said, he seems to have a gig, albeit temporary, so pick him up in all leagues you need saves (if he’s not already gone).

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• Tommy Kahnle started off well closing in Colorado but after back to back putrid outings his job was on shaky ground. Today it seems like he’s lost the job. Walt Weiss had good things to say about former closer John Axford and it now looks like he’s reclaimed his familiar role in the ninth. This situation is still red on the grid below as Axford hasn’t pitched well or consistently well all year but nonetheless, it’s his job to lose.

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Before we start I just want to say that I spent the weekend in Cooperstown, New York for a bachelor party. If you’re a baseball nut, and I assume you are if you traffic these parts, I would highly recommend the location. While the Hall of Fame itself is obviously worth visiting, an entire town devoted to baseball is a site to see.

To the bullpens…

• It wasn’t in a save situation but Edward Mujica had another outing to forget on Sunday, allowing three earned runs off of two homers and five hits in only one inning. Mujica’s seasonal ERA has ballooned to 5.25 and he’s been pitching as bad on the A’s as he was with the Red Sox earlier this year. Pitching poorly in the fifth inning of a blowout game probably means that your days of closing are done. I have taken the liberty to remove Mujica from the grid all together. On the bright side of the A’s pen is that Sean Doolittle  is expected back “sometime on their next road trip that begins Aug. 24 in Seattle.” Given the competition, I would expect Doolittle to reclaim his ninth inning role immediately. Until then, Fernando Rodriguez, Drew Pomeranz and/or Evan Scribner could see the next save chances but my guess is that it would be more fleeting.

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-Right after saying nice things about Bruce Rondon yesterday afternoon, he went out and blew the save a few hours later, giving up a leadoff home run in a one-run game. No save situation for anyone today, although Alex Wilson did give up the game-winning hit to Jose Altuve (Tom Gorzelanny took the loss after putting the winning run on). I’ve heard some people suggest Neftali Feliz could be an option if this pen degrades into a full-blown committee. While Feliz has the “proven closer”(TM) tag, he also hasn’t posted a below-4.00 SIERA in five years, so I’m not super interested in wasting my time there. I still bet Rondon gets the next save opportunity.

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– As intimated a few days ago, it appears Bruce Rondon has leapfrogged Alex Wilson in the Detroit pecking order. Brad Ausmus hasn’t gone so far as to say that Rondon is the only closer, but he is the preferred choice when save situations will arise for the immediate future. There’s really no need to cover this situation significantly more than I did the other night; Rondon has the better peripherals, gets swing-and-misses, and rides a high-90’s fastball. Additionally, Alex Wilson has shown that he can be a highly effective multi-inning guy, so it’s possible reserving him for high-leverage situations in the middle innings may be a better use of his talents. Regardless, Rondon should be owned in all leagues going forward — I’d hold Wilson (unless I need the roster spot) because this pen seems tenuous enough that a few bad outings by the burly righty could put Wilson back in line for a few ninth innings.

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Just a few quick notes for this short Thursday slate…

–Andrew Miller last tripped to the hill on Tuesday when he fanned two but surrendered a pair of earned runs on three hits to be charged with his first blown save of the season. And although his 24 consecutive save streak has been reset, the Yankees summonsed their southpaw closer to the mound with a three-run lead over the Indians in Cleveland. Miller entered tonight with a 1.85 ERA (2.49 FIP) and a 27.8% K-BB%, but by the time he left the mound the lefty owned a 2.08 ERA (2.40 FIP) along with a 28.2% K-BB%. Miller surrendered an earned run on two hits while striking out two en route to his 25th save of the season. He needed 18 pitches to get through the five batters and secure the victory of the Yankees.
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– It’s not 100% clear that tonight helped sort out Detroit’s bullpen quagmire at all. Up 7-4, the Tigers called upon Bruce Rondon (not Alex Wilson) to try and finish off the Royals this evening. After inducing a groundout, things got hairy for Brad Ausmus, as the burly righty hit Alex Rios and then walked Omar Infante to bring the tying run to the plate. This got Wilson (who hadn’t pitched yet) quickly to his feet and warming behind Rondon. To Rondon’s credit, he punched out the noodle-batted Drew Butera and got Alcides Escobar to fly out to end the thread and garner “SV” number 2.

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Our apologies on the delay but a few updates on the bullpens around the league:

• After hinting that Jean Machi would be closing for the Red Sox, it was Junichi Tazawa who received the save chance last night. Unfortunately for Tazawa owners he blew the save. This situation is red hot and according to Farrell now, Machi, Tazawa and Ryan Cook could all see save chances moving forward. At this point, all three are worth owning as the Red Sox sort out their back of the bullpen mess for the final two months. Tazawa  received last night’s chance due to matchups, and considering he blew it I’d go Machi over Cook and Tazawa for the next opportunity.

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