For someone who had managed to pile up 28 saves, Bud Norris never seemed to have a firm grasp on the Cardinals’ closer role. Now he has lost his grip on the job entirely.

On Sunday, Mike Shildt named Carlos Martinez as the team’s new closer, and Norris is being moved to a lower-leverage role, albeit one that will still involve the later innings. Martinez had already been called upon to close out Wednesday’s 7-6 win over the Nationals, as Norris was unavailable, and then he recorded his first save as the team’s official closer on Sunday. His 1-2-3 ninth inning finished off a 5-2 win over the Tigers.
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With attention shifting to football for many fantasy owners, remaining vigilant with baseball will be important when projecting roles for next season. For example, Ty Buttrey notched the first save of his career last night for the Angels striking out one in a clean outing. His role continues to grow in high leverage and Buttrey’s been scoreless in eight of his nine appearances this season. He, along with Jose Alvarez own the best peripheral numbers in the Angels bullpen over the last 30 days. As for Buttrey, he’s pitched 9.1 innings since his promotion with a 0.96 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 10:3 K:BB, 16.9 swinging strike percentage, an ERA- of 23 and limiting contact to 65.5 percent. Keep in mind, Blake Parker recorded the previous two saves for the Angels but has not pitched since September third. This could just be a preview of next year for Buttrey, but if he moves into a share of the closer role, he’s an intriguing pickup for the remainder of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday’s slate was short on games — just four of them — but it was not totally devoid of closer developments. Two of the contests went to extra innings, and in the case of the Braves-Diamondbacks game, closer failure played a role in the game going beyond regulation. The Braves rolled into the bottom of the ninth inning with a 6-4 lead, but Brian Snitker did not have A.J. Minter to close out the game, since he had thrown 36 pitches in Wednesday’s loss to the Red Sox. Instead, Snitker turned to Jesse Biddle, who entered with a streak of nine straight appearances without an earned run, covering 8.1 innings.
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Masked within encrypted updates,time’s running out on a return for Brandon Morrow. Pedro Strop’s filled in affably as the closer since July 19th converting 10 of the 12 save chances provided, including his outing on Wednesday night giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout for his 12th save of the season. As for Morrow, he would need to throw at least two bullpen sessions and a simulated game prior to returning before the playoffs, but still not progressing well during his rehab, as intimated here:

https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/1037473848873168896

With the high leverage bridge evolving the last three weeks, plan on Strop anchoring the bullpen the rest of the way. There’s a slight glimmer of hope Morrow could return, but this rhetoric about his progress has been proliferated for almost two months. Plan accordingly.

More concrete news regarding Kenley Jansen. He will not make the trip to Colorado for a big series with implications in the standings. However, staying healthy, as it should be, remains of the utmost importance regarding his heart issues. Jansen did get work in on Wednesday tossing a clean ninth inning with two strikeouts. He’s made four straight scoreless appearances with five strikeouts against three hits since his four game runs allowed stretch. While this proves encouraging, his doctor also recommended Jansen returns to using the prescribed medication which made him feel like a “zombie” during the runs streak, so stay tuned to how this could affect his future performance. As for this weekend, Los Angeles could deploy a committee of Ryan Madson, Kenta Maeda and a wild card in high leverage:

Given the downside risk of bringing Kenley Jansen to Denver, plus the addition of Ryan Madson and the expected activation of Ross Stripling, it is hard to imagine the Dodgers will bring Kenley Jansen to Denver.

— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 5, 2018

Unlike Maeda, Ross Stipling seemed excited for a chance to record a save if transitioned to the bullpen and makes for an intriguing arm this weekend in Coors for the Dodgers. Stay tuned. Read the rest of this entry »

Heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Nationals, we had already been given an indication that if the Cardinals needed a closer, they were not likely to go with Bud Norris. Mike Shildt told reporters that he was probably going to avoid using his incumbent closer on the night after he had given up Bryce Harper’s game-tying home run, which came the day after he yielded back-to-back 10th inning homers to Eugenio Suarez and Brandon Dixon. In fact, neither Norris nor Carlos Martinez were available for Tuesday night’s game against the Nationals, so Shildt set out to use Jordan Hicks as his closer, should he need one.
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Hoping that everyone had a lovely Labor Day, here’s what went on with the bullpens on Monday…

• Bud Norris is currently struggling and although Jordan Hicks hasn’t been lights out, Norris may not be receiving consistent saves. I don’t want to overdo the alarm but Norris had a very poor Labor Day Weekend. On SAturday Norris received the L giving up 3 earned and 4 baserunners and yesterday he blew the save giving up 2 earned runs and allowing 4 baserunners while only getting two outs in the 9th.  On the year, Norris’ 3.86 FIP and 3.02 SIERA look good enough but with the Cardinals in a playoff race, he might not be their current best option. Additionally, with Norris on a one-year contract in St. Louis they aren’t beholden to him for future years. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt didn’t give Norris a resounding vote of confidence,  and I would bet that Jordan Hicks or a make-shift committee will see the next save opportunity in St. Louis. Without word from Shildt, we will keep Norris on top here, but note he is very red, with Hicks and Daniel Hudson currently behind him.

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Welcome to September as the marathon reaches its final stage. An encouraging outing by Kenley Jansen notching his first save since August seventh. Jansen needed to survive the heart of the Diamondbacks order and only yielded a double to Paul Goldschmidt of the four batters he faced including striking out the red hot David Peralta. As for Jansen, he’s stopped taking the medication which made him feel like he was “sleepwalking”, which may not be in the best interest of his health with a heart condition, but Jansen snapped a four outing streak of allowing a run in each with last night’s scoreless save. Jansen’s shown the ability to overcome a slow start in April to surge, so his owners will hope for a similar bounce back in September. Los Angeles did add veteran Ryan Madson in a waivers trade and plan on deploying him in high leverage to lead up to Jansen. Bullpen evolution never ceases.

A return to the ninth inning for veteran David Robertson who converted his fifth save of the season, and second in his last three outings. He’s made three consecutive scoreless appearances with seven strikeouts, two walks and one hit allowed in them. Robertson also finished August without ceding an earned run in 11.2 innings, but did give up three unearned in them. With Dellin Betances under the microscope after serving up back-to-back home runs in Thursday’s loss, the closer by committee to fill-in for Aroldis Chapman should continue. However, do note, Zach Britton’s last save was a week ago and he’s been working in a set-up role since. While the Yankees intimated a three-headed closer timeshare could ensue, it’s been Robertson and Betances in the ninth the last seven days. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s probably a stretch to say that Brad Boxberger is sharing the Diamondbacks’ closer duties, but for the second night in a row, he was not alone in a ninth-inning save situation. In Wednesday night’s series finale against the Giants, Andrew Chafin was brought out to begin the ninth inning against Brandon Crawford. Once Chafin got the strikeout, he gave way to Boxberger, who finished off the 3-1 win. Then on Thursday night, the Diamondbacks had another 3-1 lead to protect — this time, against the Dodgers. Once again, a lefty (Cody Bellinger) led off, and it was Chafin who was assigned to retire him. The déjà vu continued, as Chafin struck Bellinger out, and he was followed by Boxberger, who struck out Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig.
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When the game reached the seventh inning and Kenley Jansen remained in the dugout, it became apparent the Dodgers were going to keep him out of a potential save situation in Texas. Jansen’s allowed runs in each of his four appearances since returning from the disabled list without a rehab outing resulting in seven earned runs, two losses and a blown save. Less than optimal in the midst of a pennant chase. Kenta Maeda recorded his first save of the year, and second in his career during the regular season, allowing a hit, an earned run and two walks with a strikeout. He’s made six appearances as a reliever this year with a 2.69 ERA, 10 strikeouts against two walks and a matching 1.42 WHIP and FIP. While it’s apparent Maeda will back up Jansen going forward, the team will use their veteran closer this weekend in the role in a key match-up versus Arizona:

Kenley Jansen will be ready to close tomorrow against Arizona, Dave Roberts said.

— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) August 30, 2018

In other Dodgers news, the team placed a waiver claim on Ryan Madson in an attempt to bolster the bullpen before September. The teams have until Friday afternoon to consummate a deal. Stay tuned to world of evolving bullpens. Read the rest of this entry »

When the Nationals and Phillies got together for a Tuesday night game, you figured you were getting some bullpen drama. But for the Red Sox and Marlins? Who needs closers when you have the majors’ highest-scoring team facing off against the 29th-highest scoring team?

Well, it turns out, the Red Sox and Marlins do.
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