Archive for Closers

Sean Doolittle was named to his first National League All-Star team on Sunday (he was also an American League All-Star with Oakland in 2014), and he’s clearly been worthy of the distinction in both the real and fantasy worlds. He has compiled a 1.45 ERA, 0.54 WHIP, 22 saves and 49 strikeouts to date and ranks as the top reliever in terms of Roto value in the NL (per ESPN’s Player Rater).

Not all of the news for Doolittle was positive on Sunday. Earlier in the day, reports surfaced of Doolittle having a strained toe. By multiple accounts, the injury is minor, and he may even have been able to pitch in the series finale against the Marlins. It was a moot point, as the Marlins won in a 10-2 laugher.
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The last two weeks of June did not go smoothly for Brad Hand, but the Padres’ closer got his July off to a good start. Making his first appearance in five days, Hand preserved a 6-3 lead against the Diamondbacks for his 24th save of the season. After giving up a soft ground ball single to Daniel Descalso to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, Hand struck out the next three Diamondbacks in succession.

Over his final six appearances in June, Hand had no problem missing bats, posting a 17.9 percent swinging strike rate, but when he did allow contact, it tended to be airborne (36.8 percent ground ball rate) and not gentle (10.5 percent soft contact rate). That contributed to him allowing at least one run in four of those appearances for a total of seven runs over five innings. It’s a little too soon to determine if Hand is past his difficulties, but Thursday’s outing was a step in the right direction.
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On a day where there were far more developments regarding setup relievers, Sergio Romo further consolidated his status as the Rays’ primary closer. He did allow the second of Evan Gattis‘ two home runs in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Astros, but a walk to Tyler White was the only other blemish on Romo’s ninth inning. He recorded his eighth save of the season and has been the recipient of seven of the Rays’ last eight saves.

The lone exception came on Friday, when Jose Alvarado retired Marwin Gonzalez for a one-out save. Even then, it was Romo who started off the ninth inning with a one-run lead. Alvardo was summoned only when Romo yielded a two-out Gattis single, and Kevin Cash opted to turn Gonzalez around to bat right-handed. Entering Friday’s game, Gonzalez’s .285 wOBA against lefties was 25 points lower than his mark against righties. While Alvarado could take an occasional save away from Romo when matchups dictate, it looks safe to assume that the former Giant and Dodger will be receiving the vast majority of save chances.
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It looks as if we have a full-blown committee situation in San Francisco.

That’s because Sam Dyson, who was annointed as the primary closer 10 days ago after Hunter Strickland broke his hand punching a door, has allowed six runs (five earned) in seven innings since said annointment. On Thursday, Dyson blew a save and took the loss against the Rockies, having given the visitors the lead by allowing DJ LeMahieu’s two-run homer.
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Jeurys Familia has had his ups and downs this season, but he hit a new low on Wednesday when he did not retire any of the four batters he faced in the Mets’ 5-3 loss to the Pirates. He began the top of the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead, and he allowed three straight singles. Familia stayed in to face Jordy Mercer with the bases loaded, but a four-pitch walk cut the lead to a run and ended his night. He was relieved by Anthony Swarzak, who did him no favors by allowing David Freese‘s two-RBI single and Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly.

While this most recent outing was particularly bad for Familia, he had been struggling on and off for a month and a half. Over a span of 15.2 inning entering Wednesday’s game, Famila had compiled a 3.45 ERA and 1.72 WHIP, and a .408 BABIP rate was key to the bloating of his ratios. Going back to May 13, Familia has allowed hard contact at a 34.0 percent rate, but that slightly-elevated rate hardly seems to be cause for an astronomical BABIP. According to Baseball Savant, there is reason to be skeptical — and hopeful — about Familia’s recent trend. While he has allowed batters to hit .353 against him over his last 15 appearances, his opponents’ collective xBA is just .277 over that period.
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Entering the Giants’ Tuesday night game against the Rockies, it had been one week since Sam Dyson had recorded his one-and-only save since Hunter Strickland was placed on the DL. Given that he had a couple of shaky outings in the interim and that Bruce Bochy called on Will Smith to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie game with the Padres on Sunday, one had to wonder if Dyson was still the Giants’ primary closer.

Whatever worries Dyson — or his fantasy owners — may have had were somewhat assuaged in Tuesday’s 3-2 win. Dyson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his third save of the season, though there were some nail-biting moments. He gave up a leadoff double to Tom Murphy and issued a one-out walk to pinch hitter Chris Iannetta. Dyson appeared to get out of the inning on a DJ LeMahieu double play ball, but the Rockies challenged the call, which was ultimately upheld.
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Life is coming at the Giants’ bullpen fast. On Monday, Hunter Strickland blew a save against the Marlins and punched out a door. On Tuesday, Strickland had surgery and Sam Dyson was named the new closer. That night, Dyson notched a save, and then on Wednesday afternoon, he came perilously close to blowing a save.

The Giants gave Dyson a three-run cushion in their series finale with Miami, but the Marlins shaved a run off the lead when Starlin Castro brought Miguel Rojas home with a one-out sacrifice fly. Dyson was one strike away from recording his second save in two days, but then Brian Anderson smacked an 0-2 two-seamer into right field for an RBI single. After J.T. Realmuto singled on Dyson’s very next pitch, Bruce Bochy called for Reyes Moronta to get out of the jam. In striking out J.B. Shuck on four pitches, Moronta got credit for his first career save.
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Among yesterday’s developments, I was pretty certain nothing was going to top the Cubs losing their closer due to an injury sustained while taking his pants off. I was wrong.

After blowing a save against the Marlins on Monday night, Hunter Strickland then lost a fight with a door. The Giants’ closer punched said door and broke his right hand. He underwent surgery on his right pinky finger on Tuesday and is expected to be out for six-to-eight weeks. Bruce Bochy wasted little time in anointing Sam Dyson as his new primary closer, and promptly used him to nail down a save against the Marlins on Tuesday night. With Tony Watson apparently off after pitching on consecutive days, Will Smith pitched the eighth inning and stayed in to begin the ninth with lefties J.B. Shuck and Derek Dietrich due up, but after walking pinch hitter Yadiel Rivera and striking out Dietrich, he gave way to Dyson. The sinkerballer, who happens to have a 64.8 percent ground ball rate, got Brian Anderson to hit into a game-ending double play.
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Wade Davis has been among the wildest relievers of 2018, but for the first two months of the season, it scarcely seemed to matter. He rolled into June having blown only two of his 20 save opportunities, and he sported a 2.35 ERA. Even at Coors Field, Davis had overcome his wildness, holding opponents to a .276 wOBA with only two extra-base hits (one homer and one double) allowed over 9.2 innings.

The Rockies’ closer has been largely successful, despite a 33.6 percent Zone% that is the second-lowest among qualified relievers, because he has been extremely stingy with hard contact over most of the season. Through May 31, Davis was allowing an average exit velocity of just 88.4 mph on flyballs and line drives (per Baseball Savant). Since then, that average is sitting at 94.4 mph.
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In the nine days since Jeurys Familia was shelved with a sore right shoulder, the Mets have had just one save situation. They did not have one on Saturday against the Diamondbacks, but in holding a 5-1 lead over the final three innings, they were close to having one. Mickey Callaway went with the same late-inning combination that he used in the save situation against the Yankees on June 1o: Robert Gsellman providing the bridge from the starter in the seventh and eighth innings to Anthony Swarzak in the ninth.

Both pitchers performed admirably in Familia’s absence, but they are now expected to return to their prior roles, as the Mets are planning on activating their closer on Sunday. Familia is expected to move immediately back into the closer’s role.
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