Archive for Edwin Diaz

Wednesday was not a good day for the two best closers of 2018. Edwin Diaz blew his second save of the season after entering the bottom of the ninth with an 8-5 lead against the Dodgers. Coming into the game, the Mets’ closer had allowed little damage when facing lefties, holding them to a collective .071/.133/.214 slash line, but Joc Pederson and Max Muncy defied the trend, hitting back-to-back homers to begin the Dodgers’ half of the inning. Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger followed that up with consecutive doubles, with Bellinger’s erasing the lead. Diaz would face three more batters but would only retire the last one. Unfortunately, the batter was Alex Verdugo, who hit a walk-off sacrifice fly.

Just as he did a year ago, Diaz is missing a lot of bats (17.3 percent SwStr%), but despite that, he has already equaled last season’s total of home runs allowed (five). That may be something of a fluke, as his flyball rate is up only slightly, from 35.3 to 37.0 percent, as is his average exit velocity allowed on flies and liners, from 91.5 to 92.1 mph (per Baseball Savant). It may be a good time to get in touch with a frustrated Diaz owner.
Read the rest of this entry »

It seems the more we think to know about the Red Sox bullpen, perhaps the less we do? Matt Barnes opened the season as the highest leverage reliever, capable of appearing at any point when needed by manager Alex Cora. Last night, this happened, but with Ryan Brasier entering the game in the top of the seventh with runners on second and third base with two outs, taking on the A’s most dangerous hitter, Khris Davis. Brasier retired Davis with a strikeout, then threw a clean eighth getting the win in relief for his efforts. After Boston extended its lead, Hector Velasquez opened the ninth but only recorded one out while loading the bases on a hit and two walks. This pressed Barnes into duty and he responded with his second save. Read the rest of this entry »

As a fantasy community, we liked Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel a lot more than all of the other projected closers on draft day this year. Jansen and Kimbrel lapped the field of relievers in Roto value (per ESPN’s Player Rater) in 2017, and owners typically rewarded them with one of the first 50 overall picks. Aroldis Chapman, Corey Knebel and the most popular of the remaining relievers had to wait a bit longer to get their names called (or clicked on).
Read the rest of this entry »

We are not quite a week into the 2018 season, but as far as surprising stories go, Kenley Jansen being one of the shakiest closers has to be at the top of the list. On Tuesday night, the Dodgers dropped to 2-4, as Zack Godley outdueled Clayton Kershaw, and Jansen got the night off. The Diamondbacks opened up their lead in the seventh inning against Scott Alexander, and with the Dodgers failing to rally, there was no need for Dave Roberts to call on his closer. We will have to wait at least another day for Jansen to reassure his fantasy owners.
Read the rest of this entry »

Nothing all that momentous occurred in bullpens on Wednesday. Mark Melancon got activated two days ahead of schedule, ending the brief but largely successful run of Derek Law. Dellin Betances recorded his first save of the season by getting one out on four pitches. Ben Taylor got his first career save, because the Red Sox had already used their other seven relievers in a 13-inning affair in St. Louis.

But the biggest impact on a closer situation came on Tuesday. Mariners manager Scott Servais announced he was removing Edwin Diaz from the closer’s role, as the 23-year-old’s struggles came to a head on Monday. Diaz walked four straight batters and had to be removed with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning in an eventual 6-5 win over the Athletics. Servais told the Seattle Times he planned on mixing and matching any of four relievers — Steve Cishek, Tony Zych, Nick Vincent and Marc Rzepczynski — in save situations. Read the rest of this entry »

Tumult and turnover has plagued bullpens far earlier than they did last season. Already, just shy of the four-week mark, we’ve seen closers relieved of duties in Washington and Philadelphia due to poor performance, lost to injury in Los Angeles (AL) and Baltimore, and in Texas, we’ve seen volatility due to some combination of the two. Oakland continues to confound us with a bullpen-by-committee and up and down the closer grid, last year’s elite and upper tier closers struggle.

Here in the Chacon Zone, we search for those widely available middle relievers toiling away in waiver wire obscurity, who may prove more productive than less talented pitchers benefiting from ninth inning opportunity. Luckily for save punters and deep leaguers, there are plenty to discuss.

Read the rest of this entry »

Small sample sizes be damned! OK, not really. But today we take a look at two players who, in very limited playing time, have made us (or should make us) look twice and dig just a little deeper.  Read the rest of this entry »