Archive for Closers

Roberto Osuna was arrested in Toronto on Tuesday morning and charged with assault, and shortly thereafter, the Commissioner’s Office placed him on administrative leave. Osuna is scheduled for a June 18 court date, and meanwhile, Major League Baseball will be conducting its own investigation under the joint MLB-MLBPA Domestic Violence Policy.

With James Paxton tossing a no-hitter against the Blue Jays on Tuesday night, Toronto had no need for a closer. John Gibbons put the team’s closer situation in its proper perspective, given the seriousness of the charges against Osuna; he has yet to indicate who might fill the ninth-inning role. General manager Ross Atkins stated that Osuna could be out longer or shorter than the default seven-day leave period for an investigation, depending on how the investigation progresses. During that time, Ryan Tepera and/or Seung Hwan Oh would presumably be called upon in save situations.
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If you took the weekend off from baseball to enjoy the beautiful spring weather (or for any other reason), you can rest assured that the Angels’ closer situation remains as confusing as ever.

Based on recent usage patterns, it looks like Jim Johnson may be the Angels’ closer, or at the very least, at the head of their closer committee. When the Angels grabbed a 7-6 lead in the top of the 10th inning in Saturday’s game against the Mariners, Johnson was brought in for the save. Perhaps even more to the point, Mike Scioscia had already used Cam Bedrosian in the sixth inning and Justin Anderson in the eighth inning — both in situations where the Angels held a two-run lead — so it appeared the manager was saving Johnson for the save. The night before, Scioscia had Anderson set up for an apparent save, having him get the final out of the seventh inning and all three outs in the eighth inning. Even though the Angels expanded their lead to five runs in the ninth inning, Johnson came in to pitch a scoreless bottom of the frame.
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The last time we saw Ken Giles on the mound for the Astros, a Gary Sanchez three-run homer and Aaron Hicks single knocked him out of the game, and then he punched himself in the face. On Thursday night, it was Gleyber Torres who dealt the finishing blow to an Astro reliever’s save hopes.

With the Astros up on the Yankees, 5-3, heading into the top of the ninth inning, A.J. Hinch passed on giving Giles a chance at the save, even though his primary closer was available. Instead, he opted to go with Will Harris, who kicked off the inning by walking Neil Walker and then loaded the bases by allowing back-to-back singles. Brad Peacock was summoned to bail Harris out and get the save, but on his second pitch, Torres stroked a game-tying single into left field. Two batters later, Hicks scored on an Aaron Judge ground out.
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When the Cardinals seemingly have one of the majors’ more stable closer situations, you know it’s been a strange night of baseball.

On Tuesday, prior to the Cardinals’ series opener against the White Sox, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak clarified what many suspected — that Bud Norris was back to being the team’s closer, and that Greg Holland would not “be used in the ninth inning at this time.” Given the way the Cardinals’ bullpen situation has played out so far in 2018, it would not have been surprising if Norris then went out and promptly blew a save against the White Sox. Instead, he was called upon to pitch the top of the ninth inning with a one-run deficit, and he tossed a perfect frame that turned into his first win of the season.
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This past week has been one steady drumbeat towards the inevitable anointing of Greg Holland as the Cardinals’ closer. He had pitched the ninth inning with a large lead or a tie in three games since Sunday, and he aced all three tests. On Friday night, Holland put those rehearsals behind him and pitched in an actual save situation against the Pirates.

It did not go well. He began by allowing a first-pitch double to Corey Dickerson, and four pitches later, a Francisco Cervelli single put runners on the corners. Then Colin Moran’s well-struck grounder got past Jose Martinez, allowing Dickerson to score. Clinging to a two-run lead, Holland fed Jordy Mercer a full-count slider that he drove off the center field wall for a game-tying double. Holland’s night ended without him retiring a single batter.
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For the third time in the last four games, Greg Holland pitched the ninth inning for the Cardinals. The last two times, it was in a tie game with the Cardinals as the home team. When Holland was brought in to face the Mets on Tuesday, incumbent closer Bud Norris was unavailable, but that was not the case in the series finale on Thursday afternoon. Norris pitched the eighth inning, and curiously enough, he did it with the Cardinals trailing by a run. Tommy Pham tied the game up with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, and then it was Holland’s turn to keep the Mets off the board in the top of the ninth. All he yielded was a leadoff single by Michael Conforto.
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Has the switch been flipped in St. Louis?

On Sunday, Mike Matheny brought Bud Norris in for the eighth inning with a 6-2 lead against the Reds. Greg Holland pitched the ninth, but by that point, the Cardinals had expanded their lead to seven runs. On Tuesday night, Matheny sent a clearer signal that he may be close to re-installing Holland as his closer. He called on Holland to pitch the top of the ninth inning in 5-5 game with the Mets, and he responded with a perfect inning.
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Brandon Morrow is now a perfect 4 for 4 in save chances, but his most recent save was far from perfect. In Sunday’s series finale against the Rockies, Morrow allowed a pair of singles to Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story and then loaded the bases with a two-out walk to David Dahl. With Ian Desmond at the plate, Morrow uncorked a wild pitch that initially appeared to allow the Rockies to slice the Cubs’ two-run lead in half. Arenado had been called safe on a close play at the plate, but he was called out on review.
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With managers relying more on relievers and less on starters last season, and with the emergence of fantasy-relevant non-closers like Chris Devenski, Chad Green and Archie Bradley, fantasy owners have been taking more interest in relievers who aren’t in line to get steady saves. Andrew Miller has long been on the fantasy radar, and he is currently owned in more than 60 percent of ESPN and CBS leagues. However, Bradley and Adam Ottavino are about as popular as some lower-end closers, as both are owned in more than one-third of the leagues on ESPN and CBS. Devenski, Green and Dellin Betances aren’t far behind in popularity.

On Thursday, the season reached its three-week mark, so we are not quite one-eighth through the schedule. In 2017, only five relievers exceeded 80 innings, but so far this season, there are already 43 relievers who have pitched at least 10 innings. Not everyone in this group will keep up this pace, and it’s not hard to imagine that some who stay on this pace will wear down and may even need some DL time.
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Heading into Monday’s schedule, the Braves were the only team in the majors to not have recorded a save, but Arodys Vizcaino put an end to that shutout. In limiting the Phillies to a Nick Williams single in the top of the ninth inning, Vizcaino protected a 2-1 lead and gave himself his first save of 2018.

Much of Vizcaino’s save drought can be tied to the Braves having played in several lopsided contests early in the season. When he was finally presented with a save opportunity last Wednesday against the Nationals, he let a one-run lead evaporate by giving up a solo home run to Matt Adams. Even if Vizcaino had some save chances earlier on, he may not have fared well. He walked six batters over his first four appearances, which covered 3.2 innings, and he threw a paltry 52.4 percent of his pitches for strikes.
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