• Dale Thayer looks to be the closer to own in San Diego for the foreseeable future. Padres’ manager Bud Black indicated today that “Street’s injury is going to be past the 15 days.” At this time there doesn’t appear to be an exact timetable for Street’s return, although Corey Brock suggests it “won’t likely come before September.” Thayer has earned six saves in eight chances this season and sports a 3.51 ERA (4.12 xFIP) with a 3.33 K/BB. He’s available in 80 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
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• Greg Holland saved his fourth consecutive game since the Royals dealt Jonathan Broxton to the Reds. Holland needed 18 pitches, but gave up just one hit and fanned two en route to the save against the Athletics. Since taking over the closer’s gig, Holland has appeared in seven games, going 1-0, 4-for-4 in save chances with a 4.0 K/BB while improving his ERA from 3.54 to 3.21. Holland is available in 53 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
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• Hiroki Kuroda threw a shutout tonight for the Yankees, so there was no save situation but that doesn’t mean the Yankees won’t find their way into every news item as Mariano Rivera continued his rehab, throwing his first long-toss session. The Yankees maintain that Mo won’t pitch in 2011, but for those in deep keeper leagues his progress is nice to see and expect the Sandman to be closing games for the Yankees in 2013.

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• Derek Lowe picked up the traditional four inning save tonight for the Yankees. Yes, you read that correctly — four-inning save. In his debut for the Yankees, Lowe came on in relief of David Phelps in the sixth and dished four scoreless innings of two-hit ball while fanning four. For those youngsters out there, this was not Derek Lowe’s first career save. In fact, this was Lowe’s 86th career save and first regular season save since 2001 — almost 11 years to the day. It’s unlikely that Lowe will earn many more saves this year, but he could turn into an interesting rotation option for the Bronx Bombers should they need an extra arm.
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• The merry-go-round in the Milwaukee bullpen continues. One night after Jim Henderson allowed Houston to walk off with a win, the Brew Crew came upon a save opportunity and turned to someone other than Henderson, John Axford, and Francisco Rodriguez. Yup, Ron Roenicke turned to righty Kameron Loe to finish off the hapless Astros. Loe’s ninth wasn’t completely clean — he allowed a hit, committed his own error, and threw a wild pitch — but the end result was a scoreless performance. Loe has a pedestrian (for a reliever) 17.9% K%, but his stinginess with providing free passes (6.6% BB%) has helped guide him to an unspectacular, but solid, 3.54 xFIP in 2012. With Axford, Rodriguez, and (AAA) Henderson’s BB% all above 11%, Loe’s strike-throwing ways might be welcome relief at the back end of a messy bullpen. Loe is probably worth a pickup, especially for vultures, but the situation remains so murky and fluid that it’s a bullpen you’ll generally want to stay away from it if you can help it. It’s likely we haven’t seen the last shuffling of deck chairs on this sinking ship before the season ends.

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• It finally happened. Bob Melvin has (temporarily, at least) removed Ryan Cook from the closer role. Since July 19th, Cook has given up runs in six of his eight appearances leading to a bloated 10.13 ERA over that time frame. Cook’s 4.24 xFIP remains well above his 2.76 ERA and his BB% rate remains one of the worst among qualified relievers. Melvin has left the door open for Cook to regain his job in the ninth if he can make it through a couple clean innings first, but for the time being Grant Balfour (who wrapped up Saturday’s 9-7 win) will get save opportunities. Balfour’s 4.16 xFIP is nearly as uninspiring as Cook’s but he holds a 0.63 ERA since the beginning of June with a solid 15/4 K/BB in 14.1 innings. Sean Doolittle, while a lefty who has hit a bump or two in the road recently, has a 2.43 xFIP and a 5.6 K/BB and also may be a dark horse candidate for saves in the interim but probably would require continued slips by both Cook and Balfour.

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• Andrew Bailey struck out two batters in a scoreless inning of work today for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox of the International League. In doing so, Bailey achieved one of the essential goals of his rehab assignment prior to returning to the Red Sox — pitching on back-to-back days. In five rehab outings, Bailey has surrendered just one earned run while posting a 9.0 K/BB. The Red Sox reliever isn’t quite sure where his next stop will be, but based on his successful rehab appearances, “he can’t see it being much longer.” In his stead, Alfredo Aceves has done a fine job, nailing down 23-of-29 save opportunities with a 4.21 ERA (4.32 xFIP) and a 2.43 K/BB. However, Aceves’ recent struggles — two blown saves and an 11.57 ERA in the last week — could mean that Bailey will be eased back into the closer’s role sooner than later.
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• Jim Henderson earned his second career save in as many nights this evening as the Brewers clipped the Reds, 3-2. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was asked to close out the Reds after John Axford entered in the top of the eighth-inning with the Crew down a run. Axford sat down the Reds in order, but instead of the mustache running back out for the ninth after the Brewers claimed the lead, Ron Roenicke decided to use Henderson for the second consecutive save opportunity. It’s nearly impossible to get into the heads of the managers — especially those with unreliable bullpens — but I suggest adding Henderson now if you’re chasing saves, worry about definitive roles later.
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• Last night Nationals closer Tyler Clippard blew the save against the Astros, but Drew Storen also looked shaky issuing two walks while only getting one out in the inning. Nationals manager Davey Johnson indicated that Tyler Clippard will remain the closer, but said he will also use Storen as needed and is “real confident right now in either Clip or Storen closing.” Expect Tyler Clippard to still receive save opportunities but if Storen pitches well, Clippard won’t have the luxury of many more blown saves to keep his job.

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• The Royals decided to let lefty reliever Jose Mijares go as the Giants picked him up on a waiver claim today. Jose Mijares is a solid matchup against left-handed hitters (.273 wOBA against lefties compared to .358 wOBA against righties) but he doesn’t figure to enter the closer discussion on San Francisco. However, the Mijares addition allows the Giants to use him as a lefty specialist and let Jeremy Affeldt be part of a closer-by-committee approach at least while Santiago Casilla heals from a recurring blister according to manager Bruce Bochy. Casilla, Sergio Romo and Jeremy Affeldt should all receive opportunities in the upcoming weeks, and all should be owned at least until the situation starts to sort itself out more clearly.

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