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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The weekend’s most momentous closer development did not take place on the mound or in a manager’s office. It happened in the shower.

Koda Glover tweaked his back while bending over to pick up his body wash, but he kept the incident to himself until after Saturday’s game against the Rangers. In the interim, he was brought in to the preserve the Nationals’ 3-1 lead in the top of the ninth inning, but before he even got his first out, he allowed a Shin-Soo Choo solo homer and a game-tying RBI double to Nomar Mazara. Read the rest of this entry »

Tony Watson’s tumultuous reign as the Pirates’ closer has come to an end. Clint Hurdle announced on Friday that he was removing Watson, who blew each of his last four save chances, from the role and handing it to Felipe Rivero and Juan Nicasio.

Why the tandem closers? Back on Wednesday, Hurdle had explained his decision to retain Watson as closer at that point, saying that he did not want to move Rivero out of a setup role, because he envisioned him as the Pirates’ answer to Andrew Miller. The Pirates’ manager also
noted that he had considered Nicasio as a possible replacement for Watson. So for the time being, Hurdle will afford himself the luxury of using his reliever with the highest average leverage index (besides Watson) in situations other than the ninth inning, since he has Nicasio as a second closing alternative. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, Tony Watson blew his third straight save opportunity, letting a two-run lead against the Orioles slip away with a Jonathan Schoop home run. On Wednesday afternoon, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle asserted that Watson was still his closer. Just hours later, Watson botched his fourth consecutive save, and this time it was a Trey Mancini two-run homer that did him in.

After Wednesday’s game, Hurdle took responsibility for the loss, telling reporters, “I make decisions. When they don’t work out, they’re on me.” Whether that means Hurdle intends to make a different decision the next time the Pirates need a closer is unclear, but it can only be a matter of time before Watson is replaced. Since May 9, the lefty has a 7.71 ERA with five blown saves in eight chances over 14 innings. Read the rest of this entry »

• Corey Knebel was called on in the ninth and pitched a perfect frame for his sixth save of the year. Before and after taking the closer’s gig from Neftali Feliz, Knebel has been outright fantastic. A 14.2% BB% isn’t ideal but when you combine it with a K% of 45.1% it’s plenty OK. Knebel’s SIERA stands at 2.36 and his ERA/FIP/xFIP after tonight’s outing is 1.24/2.12/2.24. Among qualified relievers his strikeout rate ranks 5th and in spite of the elevate walks his K-BB% still ranks 12th. Knebel was intriguing last year but it’s hard to say anyone saw this coming. I expected the Brewers to be sellers at the deadline and with their recent history of trading relievers I figured Knebel could have been shipped out like Tyler Thornberg last year. Instead the Brewers are in first place and Knebel figures to stay, continue to get saves and rack up strikeouts.

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• Not a standard save in Chicago tonight as Mike Montgomery went 3.1 innings for his second save of the year. Wade Davis had thrown a couple days in a row so Koji Uehara received the save opportunity last night for the Cubs. Wade Davis is now ready to pitch but was actually placed on paternity leave. We won’t take him off the grid for such a short break but look for Uehara to get a look in the ninth if an opportunity arises tomorrow. Montgomery has only pitched out the pen to start the year and although his ERA dropped to 2.21 after tonight’s outing, his 3.78 FIP and 4.29 xFIP and 26 strikeouts against 20 walks in 36.2 innings don’t paint the picture of someone worth rostering at the moment.

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Plenty of compelling bullpen activity around the major leagues on a busy Sunday afternoon…

Koda Glover was brought into an existing eighth inning with a 6-4 lead, two outs, and a runner on second. He retired Jed Lowrie to end the inning, then the Nationals proceeded to score five runs in a long top of the ninth. Despite the 11-4 lead and lengthy half inning, Glover came back out for the bottom of the ninth, and he allowed four straight singles and a walk before being replaced by Shawn Kelley with the bases loaded, no outs, and two runs already in. After retiring Rajai Davis on a shallow fly ball, Kelley served up a grand slam to Matt Joyce that made it 11-10 Nationals. Kelley retired the next two batters he faced to secure the victory. When it was all said and done, Glover was charged with five earned runs in 0.1 innings, and Kelley was charged with one earned run in one inning.

Despite today’s craziness, Glover has brought much-needed calm to the Nationals bullpen as of late. He has four saves since May 24, and before today, he had recorded saves in four straight appearances. This was the first time Glover has allowed a run in 10 appearances since he landed on the disabled list with a left hip impingement in late April. Even with today’s meltdown, Glover has a 1.74 FIP and 3.21 xFIP on the season. A 3.21 xFIP is hardly something to scoff at, and it seems as if the Nationals have finally found their ninth-inning man (although it remains probable they’ll target bullpen help before the trading deadline). The home run Kelley gave up was the seventh he’s allowed in 15 innings this season, and overall, he has a 5.40 ERA and 5.37 xFIP. As such, he has been surpassed on the grid by Matt Albers, who boasts a strong 1.29 ERA and 3.14 xFIP in 21 innings this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Before getting on with the business of breaking down Friday’s bullpen developments, there was one closer situation worth checking in on from Thursday’s short slate of games. The Angels brought a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning against the Twins, and manager Mike Scioscia entrusted it to Jose Alvarez, rather than Bud Norris. The Twins had Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario coming up — in other words, a pair of lefties sandwiching a switch hitter who is batting .218 against southpaws. As it turned out, Alvarez blew the save and was tagged with the loss, as he stuck around long enough to give up a single to Jason Castro (another lefty) that scored Polanco and Rosario.

Norris came in after the Castro single to face Brian Dozier, so this had the look of a closer platoon. However, Scioscia told reporters he did not bring Norris in to start the ninth inning because of his lingering knee soreness. While Huston Street has had a setback in his rehab stint, experiencing tightness in his right triceps, Cam Bedrosian is expected back next week. Not only are Norris’ days as the Angels’ closer possibly numbered, but it doesn’t appear he will be a reliable source of saves between now and when Bedrosian returns. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since Matt Bush took over the closer’s role for the Rangers in mid-April, I haven’t spent much time on him in this space. I haven’t had to — he has been automatic. Through his first 15 appearances as closer, Bush had not allowed an earned run and was 6-for-6 in save opportunities.

The string of earned run-free innings and converted saves ended on Wednesday night. Bush was one out away from his seventh save, protecting a 4-3 lead against the Rays, when Kevin Kiermaier took a first-pitch fastball over the wall in right-center. That was the only baserunner Bush allowed, so despite the blemish on his stat line, he still has a 1.37 ERA and an 0.97 WHIP on the season. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of quick notes from Memorial Day:

• Tony Watson got the win after Andrew McCutchen hit a walk-off homer which is nice but it also meant that he blew the save (his third of the season) as well. On the year Watson has a very mediocre 4.03/5.31/4.82 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line. As a lefty without considerable swing and miss stuff, Watson may not be long for closing in Pittsburgh. Behind him we have Felipe Rivero and Daniel Hudson and I would look to grab Rivero pretty soon if you’re looking for saves. Although he is also a lefty, his 0.68/2.80/2.90 pitching line with nearly a 27% K% is more in line with what one expects out of their closer. Tony Watson might not have much leash left and I’m moving this situation to red as I would rather sound the alarm a tad early over having you pass on placing a bid on Rivero.

• We might have a committee in San Diego. Brad Hand received two save opportunities earlier but the last two, including last night, went to Brandon Maurer. I am going to keep Maurer in the closer’s chair for now as he received the most recent saves and was the closer to start the year. However, Hand showed he could handle the job if Maurer were to falter again. Maurer has a 6.00 ERA but 20 strikeouts against only 4 walks indicates he’s actually pitched quite well, in spite of his .351 BABIP and 51.7% LOB%. If Maurer pitches like his underlying numbers indicate, Hand may not see many more save opportunities but a manager won’t be so patient as an ERA climbs up from 6.00.

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