The anticipation is over. Greg Holland is out as the Diamondbacks’ closer.

Torey Lovullo told reporters on Sunday morning that he was making a change, though he did not rule out reinstalling Holland back in the role in the future. In the meantime, Lovullo will employ a closer committee consisting of Yoan Lopez, Yoshihisa Hirano, Archie Bradley and Andrew Chafin. Given the potentially temporary nature of this arrangement and the lack of a clear primary option, this situation can be avoided by owners in most fantasy formats.
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Excitement from signing Craig Kimbrel could be shifting to concern for Cubs fans. Kimbrel suffered his second blown save allowing two home runs resulting in three earned runs without recording an out in Milwaukee. Christian Yelich hit a solo shot leading off the inning, then a walk to Tyler Saladino preceded a two-run walk-off home run by Keston Hiura in the bottom of the 10th inning. This outing snapped Kimbrel’s consecutive save streak at six, but concern lies within four home runs yielded in 10.2 innings this season along with eight walks resulting in a 6.75 ERA and 1.69 WHIP. There’s time for Kimbrel to round into form, but with three teams within one game in the division, it’s a fine line to walk, no pun intended.

Freddy Peralta coughed up a solo home run to Albert Almora in the top of the 10th giving the Cubs a one run lead. But, he garners the win as a result of the rally in the bottom of the inning. Peralta seems to be cementing his role as second in line for high leverage with Milwaukee. He’s recorded two wins and a save in his last three appearances giving up the one earned run over four innings with six strikeouts versus one walk. Limiting free passes will ultimately determine Peralta’s success as a reliever over the last two months.

Ceding a four run lead in the ninth inning, Tampa Bay’s relievers once again struggled. Oliver Drake did not register an out giving up a double to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then walked Eric Sogard leading to a three-run home run by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Adam Kolarek replaced Drake retiring Cavan Biggio then the Rays replaced him with Colin Poche for the save chance. Poche struck out Danny Jansen before serving up a home run to Brandon Drury tying the game. Of interest, passing over Emilio Pagan with two right-handed batters due up for Poche. Pagan took over in the bottom of the 11th inning walking two but escaping the inning unscored upon. However, in the 12th, he yielded the walk-off winning home run to Teoscar Hernandez leading off the inning.

Daniel Hudson nets his sixth win as a result working a clean top of the 12th striking out one. Ken Giles tossed a clean 10th inning after David Phelps logged a clean ninth with a strikeout. Tim Mayza filled in the gap working a scoreless 11th inning striking out two. For this game, the Blue Jays bullpen not only outlasted the Rays, it outperformed them.

After a five day respite, Raisel Iglesias fired a clean ninth with two strikeouts en route to his 18th save. This outing snapped a three game streak allowing at least a run by Iglesias. He’s been in trade rumors and could thrive with a change in scenery. So far in July, Iglesias owns an enticing 12:2 K:BB rate with a 0.96 WHIP and 4.83 ERA. Hope lies within his 3.09 xFIP this month. Michael Lorenzen recorded his ninth hold working 1.2 scoreless innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout. Wandy Peralta gets his second hold with 1.1 clean innings.

A bumpy ride, but Mychal Givens held on for his ninth save yielding a run over 1.1 innings allowing a hit and two walks with two strikeouts. He’s given up runs in consecutive outings but notched a save in three of his last five appearances. Richard Bleier garnered his second win with a clean inning striking out one. Ty Buttrey suffered his fifth loss allowing two hits and two earned runs in one-third of an inning.

Some trade news with Jake Diekman heading to the A’s bullpen. He may not report until Tuesday but will bolster its depth giving them another left-handed reliever for high leverage. Miami dealt Sergio Romo to the Twins. Romo could serve the role vacated by Blake Parker as the right handed complement to Taylor Rogers. This shifts Nick Anderson atop the Marlins hierarchy, however, his time there could be fleeting:

The assumption is Nick Anderson will close, but there is a chance Anderson may be dealt by the #TradeDeadline #Marlins

— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) July 28, 2019

Owners looking for the next save for Miami will add Anderson if he’s available and hope he does not get moved. Stay tuned.

Quick Hits: Matt Barnes notched his 18th hold striking out four in 1.1 innings giving up a hit. Nathan Eovaldi struggled again allowing three hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts in an inning. Brandon Workman pitched a clean ninth with a four run lead striking out two…Chad Green yielded five hits leading to four earned runs in 2.1 innings with two strikeouts…A non-save outing for Alex Colome resulted in a clean ninth with a strikeout. Aaron Bummer pitched two-thirds of an inning walking one. Evan Marshall logged 1.1 scoreless innings allowing a hit with two strikeouts…Save number nine for Liam Hendriks striking out two and giving up a hit. In July, Hendriks has pitched 10.2 innings with a robust 16:1 K:BB and 1.69 ERA…Jose LeClerc retired the only hitter he faced via strikeout. He’s fired 5.2 clean innings over his last seven appearances with nine strikeouts.

**Post-publish update: Seattle made the following roster move which will be updated on Monday in our closer hierarchy:

The #Mariners have announced the following roster moves: Reinstate RHP Hunter Strickland from 60-day IL; Option RHP Matt Carasiti to AAA Tacoma (postgame 7/27); Transfer RHP Félix Hernández from 10-day IL to 60-day IL.

— Mariners PR (@MarinersPR) July 28, 2019

• Greg Holland is code red after allowing two runs and blowing his 5th save last night. Holland’s 3.51 ERA covers up what has been a very mediocre season with a 4.44 SIERA and below average 13.6% K-BB%. Yoan Lopez is next up for the Diamondbacks and I would pick him up if he’s still available and saves are of need. Although a change has not been made, “Lovullo said the Diamondbacks would discuss Holland’s role prior to Saturday’s game.” That’s never what you want to hear, making a Lopez snag all the more worthwhile.

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Maybe when Wade Davis gets lit up by the Dodgers, it’s a good thing.

A little less than a year ago — on Aug. 9, 2018, to be exact — Davis was charged with a loss against the Dodgers after giving up home runs to Chris Taylor and Brian Dozier in what was the latest in a series of poor outings. The Rockies’ closer made some tweaks to his mechanics, and over the rest of the season, he gave up only one run and was 11 for 11 in his save opportunities.
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• Charlie Morton pitched 7 strong innings for the Rays who then went with Adam Kolarek and Chaz Roe in the 8th leading to Emilio Pagan for the 9th. Pagan pitched a perfect frame, striking out a pair for his 7th save of the season. Pagan is still in a committee with Oliver Drake and Diego Castillo involved along with those who pitched today. With that said, Pagan has been the most consistently effective reliever on the Rays all year and isn’t a left. Jose Alvarado should get back into the mix soon when he returns from the IL with an oblique strain but his return isn’t imminent. Even if Alvarado returns soon, he will have to prove his effectiveness before usurping Pagan. While the Rays won’t resort to traditional closer usage it seems like the head of the committee is Pagan’s job to lose, so long as he’s pitching well he should get more saves than any other member of the pen.

• Greg Holland entered the game last night in 9th inning for a save opportunity but was removed after walking the only two batters he faced on 9 pitches. Yoan Lopez got the final three outs without allowing a run to score for his first save of the season. Holland has struggled with his control all season and is running a 5.45 BB/9 on the year after last night’s performance. While his job is fairly safe, I’m going to change it to yellow on the grid since Holland could blow up fairly quick. If anything were to happen to Holland I would put Lopez as the first in line, and behind him it is a bit of a mess. Andrew Chafin has had a solid season but he’s also a lefty. Yoshihisa Hirano has closing experience in Japan and could be in the mix along with Archie Bradley, who has also struggled this year with his control but has long been considered a closer of the future.

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Several normally-reliable closers blew saves on Tuesday night. Neither Ken Giles nor Will Smith got saves, but the former picked up a win against the Indians, and the latter pitched a pair of scoreless innings versus the Cubs. Given how the night went for other top closers, Giles’ and Smith’s fantasy owners should feel fortunate.

The slugfest between the Yankees and the Twins was rough on starters and relievers alike, and both team’s closers blew a chance at a save. Initially, it looked as if Taylor Rogers was going to put an end to the scoring — and the game. With just six pitches, he set down Gleyber Torres and Giovanny Urshela, and then he got a 1-2 count on Mike Tauchman. Rogers missed on his next three pitches, putting Tauchman on first base. His first pitch to Aaron Hicks was right down the middle, and the Yankees’ center fielder deposited it in the Yankees’ bullpen, turning an 11-10 deficit into a 12-11 lead.
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In spite of a limited slate which shrunk due to a postponement in Washington, plenty of high leverage events occurred on Monday night. Starting in Pittsburgh in a game which required extra innings to be decided, both bullpens pitched well until the 10th inning. Clay Holmes coughed up a grand slam to Paul Goldschmidt providing the Cardinals with what seemed to be a comfortable lead. Chasen Shreve took the mound with the four run advantage allowing back-to-back doubles to Starling Marte and Josh Bell leading to a run. This prompted the Cardinals to bring in their closer, Carlos Martinez. This marked his seventh appearance over the last 10 days.

Martinez yielded a home run to Jung-Ho Kang cutting the lead to one run. A single by Corey Dickerson put the tying run on base with no outs. Kevin Newman reached on an error by Paul DeJong putting the go ahead runner on base as well. A bunt by Elias Diaz forced out Dickerson at third base for the first out. Jacob Stallings entered hitting a pinch hit single to left field but St. Louis cut down Newman at the plate for the second out. An Adam Frazier fly out ended the game providing Martinez with his eighth save, and fifth in a row despite the drama. It’s been rocky recently for Martinez yielding runs in four  of his last five appearances but he’s getting the work, perhaps too much as the clear cut closer in this bullpen. Shreve garnered his first win of the season despite giving up two earned runs in one-third of an inning.

In Milwaukee, both bullpens imploded ceding leads resulting in a wild finish. Cincinnati used Michael Lorenzen in the seventh inning in relief of Sonny Gray. Lorenzen worked two-thirds of an inning walking two and striking out one for his eighth hold. Amir Garrett entered with runners on walking Christian Yelich but bounced back to strikeout Yasmani Grandal ending the inning. Garrett returned for the start of the eighth inning but left after allowing a lead-off single to Mike Moustakas. Raisel Iglesias took over against Jesus Aguilar giving up a single then issued a walk to Keston Hiura loading the bases with no outs. Iglesias struck out Orlando Arcia then served up a grand slam to Tyler Saladino, his second in two days. After striking out Ben Gamel, Iglesias then allowed a single to Lorenzo Cain leading to his departure from the game recording two outs with three hits and three earned runs against.

Wandy Peralta took over for Iglesias in the eighth inducing a ground out by Yelich to first base. However, the damage had been done by Iglesias resulting in his third blown save of the season snapping his save streak at 11 in the process. Milwaukee turned to Jeremy Jeffress for the save chance with Josh Hader having worked in back-to-back games over the weekend. Jeffress struck out Derek Dietrich starting the ninth but gave up a one out single to Nick Senzel. Joey Votto grounded out to third letting Senzel move up a base before Eugenio Suarez hit his second two run home run off a Brewers reliever last night. The second Suarez homer handed Jeffress his third blown save and third loss of the year. It’s been migration to the mean for Jeffress battling injury issues and too much traffic on the bases. Cincinnati stayed with Peralta in the bottom of the ninth. He retired Grandal on a lineout to and Moustakas on a fly out. Jared Hughes then entered to face Aguilar but walked him prior to striking out Manny Pina ending the game for his first save of the season.

It’s been a slippery slope predicting saves for the Reds. Iglesias seemed to regain his hold on the job prior to this meltdown. Home runs continue to plague Iglesias with last night’s slam the ninth against him in only 43 innings. He set a career high last year giving up 12 across 72 innings. Perhaps the team will go back to Lorenzen for the next save or Iglesias or eventually go to a fluid match-up bullpen like their pitching coach deployed with his former team Milwaukee last season.

Although it’s been a slow start to the second half for Will Smith, he did not get the save chance on Monday night due to past usage. San Francisco reported Smith unavailable after working six times in the previous 10 days. Sam Dyson recorded his second save, and first since April 13th navigating around a walk and a hit in the ninth inning. Dyson’s not been scored upon in 14 of his last 15 outings while leading the team in appearances (47) this season. He’s emerged as the number two option in a loaded bullpen. Drew Pomeranz made his debut as a reliever hitting 95 MPH on the radar with his fastball and striking out four of the six batters he faced in two clean innings. Trevor Gott gets his second win in as many days pushing his total to seven this year despite allowing an earned run on two hits. Pedro Strop incurred his fifth blown save and fourth loss giving up four hits and three earned runs in the bottom of the eighth leading to the Giants win. Strop’s allowed four earned runs his last three outings spanning three innings.

As reported by Al Melchior in the column yesterday, the Red Sox continue to explore options to bolster their team, including the bullpen. Nathan Eovaldi made his debut as a reliever last night with less than stellar results. Eovaldi yielded five hits, three earned runs and struck out two in two-thirds of an inning. Of more concern, the 112.9 MPH maximum exit velocity on the batted balls against Eovaldi in this outing. It can take time to transition to the bullpen so it may benefit Eovaldi owners to keep him reserved until he gains footing as a reliever.

No official word from the Rangers about who will replace Shawn Kelley as the closer other than Chris Martin and Jose LeClerc could share them. Kelley landed on the injured list with a biceps strain but hopes to return as close the minimum as possible escaping major injury. Stay tuned. In Seattle, Roenis Elias recorded a one out save after Cory Gearrin coughed up a solo home run to Rougned Odor then walked Ronald Guzman and hit Shin-Soo Choo with a pitch with two outs in the top of the ninth. Elias entered getting Danny Santana to fly out stranding both runners for his 12th save.

Quick Hits: Sergio Romo worked a scoreless eighth inning giving up a hit with a strikeout. He’s not received a save chance since July sixth…Save number 15 for Taylor Rogers working around two one out singles by Aaron Judge and Edwin Encarnacion. Rogers moved to 5-for-6 in save chances this month with 14 strikeouts over 10.1 innings with no walks. Lewis Thorpe gets his first win working 2.2 innings allowing four hits and one earned run with two strikeouts…Greg Holland notched his 17th save giving up a hit with two strikeouts. He’s recorded a save in each of his last five appearances with the last three being scoreless. Stefan Crichton gets his first hold with a clean eighth and Yoshihisa Hirano his ninth hold firing a clean seventh.

The Rangers have not had a save opportunity since June 27, including in Sunday’s loss to the Astros. Yet Shawn Kelley, who had not pitched in a game in nine days, was warming up to enter the game with a three-run deficit in the eighth inning with two outs. Kelley felt soreness in his right biceps while throwing his warmup pitches and exited the game before throwing an official pitch. He is now expected to undergo an MRI.

Given that the Rangers have gone close to a month without a save opportunity, it’s hard to get a handle on what Chris Woodward’s preferences might be for handling save situations if Kelley has to miss time. Also, with the Rangers having lost seven games in a row and falling in the wild card standings, we can’t count on any particular reliever still being with the team on the other side of the July 31 trade deadline. However, it is highly unlikely they would trade Jose Leclerc, who signed a four-year, $14.75 million contract back in March, and it is also hard to see them dealing Chris Martin, who won’t be arbitration eligible until 2021.
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It’s been an up and down season for Luke Jackson transitioning to the bullpen for Atlanta. Last night, he allowed a two out two run home run to Victor Robles resulting in his seventh blown save and a tied game in the ninth inning. Every time it seems like Jackson rights the ship, another blip surfaces on the horizon. Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday’s schedule did not produce many notable performances from closers, but it did produce one from a possible future closer. Nathan Eovaldi made his first appearance for Triple-A Pawtucket, and he pitched a scoreless inning. He struck out the side but also issued a walk.

This would appear to be the only rehab appearance Eovaldi is going to make. He has already joined the Red Sox, who are in Baltimore for their weekend series, and he could be activated as soon as Saturday. While earlier reports had suggested that Eovaldi was going to be used as the Red Sox’s closer, Alex Cora has only specified that he plans to use the converted starter in high-leverage situations. Eovaldi’s imminent activation might not mean it’s the end of Brandon Workman’s recent run as the team’s primary closer. Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree, who have combined for six saves, may still figure into saves situations as well.
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