• Quick Notes from Sunday: Ryan Madson received and finished another save opportunity last night against the Royals earning his fourth save on the year. No announcement on a change has been made but Madson has received more save chances than Doolittle thus far. I’m going to put Madson ahead on the red hot grid for now but we might be looking at a quasi-committee of sorts. Alex Colome earned his first save for the Rays and should be an option for saves until Brad Boxberger returns. Jonathan Papelbon blew his first save of the year. Jason Grilli also blew the save but Arodys Vizcaino wasn’t available and this only helps Vizcaino’s standing in the Braves pen.

And on to today’s games:

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• After a four game slide Terry Collins didn’t play around today calling on Jeurys Familia for a five-out save. Familia answered the call pitching around a couple of hits for his second save of the year. Hansel Robles got the last two outs of the seventh (both via strikeout) and Jerry Blevins got the call to start the eighth inning with the left-handed Ichiro and Christian Yelich due up. Addison Reed still figures to be the main eighth inning set up man with Blevins playing the matchups. Although he doesn’t have the “closer experience” like Reed, Robles has some real strikeout potential and could end the year in a more prominent role behind Familia.

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• Although he nailed down the last two save opportunities for the Phillies, Jeanmar Gomez has not yet been named closer with Pete Mackanin saying “I don’t want to jump to conclusions here […] Let’s keep playing it out until we see what happens.” Mackanin won’t say it, but I will – Gomez is the closer in Philadelphia. He may not have a long leash if he were to start struggling but David Hernandez and company likely won’t be seeing the next opportunity.

• Craig Kimbrel had a forgettable night for the Red Sox. Entering the ninth inning in a tie game Kimbrel allowed three runs with Chris Davis taking him deep for a 449 foot, three run homer. Kimbrel’s velocity (97.6 mph) was right in line with what you would expect from him and he still ranks among the elite closers in the game. Keep walking, nothing left to see here except future saves and loads of strikeouts.

• Fernando Rodney was able to shoot his first arrow of the year, closing the door on the Phillies today. Rodney is unlikely to be a safe haven for saves all year, whether it’s due to poor performance and a role change or a strong performance and a mid-season trade but owners should be happy with the clean save nonetheless. Rodney is certainly secure for now but Brandon Maurer is the guy to own as a handcuff.

• Jumbo Diaz received the ball in the eighth inning tonight and blew the lead for the Reds. It’s early on but Diaz’ 3.86/6.64/4.95 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line is certainly less than impressive. J.J. Hoover isn’t a stud by any means but with Diaz and Tony Cingrani (who gave up two runs of his own for the loss) struggling his job remains secure.

•Quick Hits: David Robertson threw a scoreless ninth for his third save of the year. Robertson’s ERA was a little inflated last year at 3.41 but his underlying numbers were strong as normal and he remains a great option. After Chris Davis gave the O’s the lead, Britton pitched around a Mookie Betts solo shot for his third save as well. Jonathan Papelbon (4), Mark Melancon (3) and Hector Rondon (2) also recorded clean saves tonight.

Closer Grid:

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]

• Santiago Casilla blew his first save of the season against the Dodgers today, though a key bobble by Kelby Tomlinson is taking away some of that heat. Casilla loaded the bases with one out, then induced what seemed to be a game-ending double play ball to Tomlinson. Tomlinson bobbled the ball, allowing the run to score, and only getting one out. Casilla’s job is safe for now, but Sergio Romo and Hunter Strickland both pitched scoreless innings, earning themselves holds, and would be next in line for saves. Again, don’t see it happening just yet as a result of today’s blown save since Casilla is not 100% to blame. Romo pitched the 7th and Strickland came in with a runner on in the 8th. Don’t think this is indicative of who is necessarily next in line, just thought it was worth noting.

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• As expected, the Astros looked towards Luke Gregerson with their first save chance of the year and he rewarded the team with a clean save, throwing a perfect inning along with a strikeout against the Yankees. Ken Giles threw in the eighth allowing a solo shot to Didi Gregorious but otherwise looked effective, striking out two. Giles’ velocity (96.4 mph) was in line with last season and I would expect him and Gregerson to comprise a darn effective end of game tandem moving forward.

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• It seemed like a safe guess that Ken Giles would be closing games in Houston after the Astros gave up some real talent (Mark Appel, Vincent Velasquez and others) for him this offseason but A.J. Hinch announced that Luke Gregerson will be the closer to start the year. Baseball wise this might be a solid decision, especially if Giles can be used more freely in the seventh or eighth innings in higher leverage situations.  Gregerson is no slouch though, having saved 31 games in 36 tries last year with a 3.10/2.86/2.71 ERA/FIP/xFIP line. For what it’s worth, Hinch said that Gregerson will be the “primary closer”, which doesn’t suggest a committee but Giles could see save opportunities as well.

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• Well it didn’t take long for us to have our first closer controversy in 2016 as John Gibbons announced that Roberto Osuna will be their closer on Opening Day. After trading Ben Revere for Drew Storen this offseason, it was assumed that Storen would be in the driver’s seat for the closing gig in Toronto but 2015 rookie sensation Roberto Osuna should take the job and run with it again. Adding insult to injury, after learning about his demotion from the closer’s chair, Storen allowed two runs in one inning of work yesterday. For those of you who had their drafts already, I’m sorry for your loss and you should try to convince the commissioner to hold the draft closer to Opening Day. For those of you who have not had their draft, please bump up Osuna’s value. While there is very stiff competition at the top of the relief rankings (these are a bit outdated and we hope to have an update soon), Osuna was darn impressive as a 20-year old and I could see him touching the top ten by the end of 2016.

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When your leaguemates start paying too much for closers, there’s only one thing to do – queue up your closer sleepers. The following is quick analysis of my favorite closers-in-waiting. You can use these guys as elite sources for holds or handcuffs to unstable closers. Yesterday’s post covered the NL, today we move to the AL.

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When your leaguemates start paying too much for closers, there’s only one thing to do – queue up your closer sleepers. The following is quick analysis of my favorite closers-in-waiting. You can use these guys as elite sources for holds or handcuffs to unstable closers. We’ll do the NL today and the AL tomorrow.

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I am a huge San Francisco Giants fan. However, if you have followed my work prior to joining Rotographs, you know I hate Gregor Blanco. I will explain further. Read the rest of this entry »