Archive for holds

Heading into Tuesday night’s game with the Pirates, Jose Leclerc had not pitched in a high-leverage situation in nine days. His two most recent appearances occurred in blowouts, as he tried to work out the command issues that had plagued him for much of the season. Chris Woodward ended Leclerc’s sabbatical from closing on Tuesday night, deploying him in a save situation, as the Rangers held a 3-0 lead going into the top of the ninth.

Leclerc had actually been highly effective against righties this season, holding them to a .130 Avg prior to Tuesday, but to shut down the Pirates, he had to run the gauntlet of switch-hitting Bryan Reynolds and Cole Tucker and left-handed Adam Frazier. He did not retire any of them, and Frazier’s single scored Reynolds, cutting the Rangers’ lead to two runs. Leclerc was on the verge of getting out of the jam, striking out Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco in succession, but Josh Bell (another switch-hitter) laced a game-tying double into left center. Fortunately for Leclerc, Bell unsuccessfully tried to extend the double into a triple, so he avoided further damage.
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For the first three weeks of the season, the Phillies’ closer situation was as murky as any in the majors. That all seemed to change when, in the span of four days, Hector Neris picked up a pair of saves and also pitched a perfect ninth inning in a tie game at Colorado. Neris’ two performances at Coors Field were especially impressive, as he pitched 2.2 innings without allowing a baserunner and tallied five strikeouts.

Neris was the Phillies’ closer around this time last season, but by late May, he was out of the saves picture. The flyball-prone righty did not lack for whiffs or strikeouts, but too much of the contact he allowed was hard. That propensity hurt Neris again on Thursday night, as he gave up a game-winning home run to Starlin Castro in the 10th inning of the Marlins’ 3-1 victory. To his credit, Neris has been getting more ground balls so far this year, but flyballs and line drives have been hit against him with an average exit velocity of 98.0 mph.
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For the second night in a row, Emilio Pagan notched a save for the Rays against the Royals, tossing a perfect inning in both contests. He is not anywhere near the top of the most-added lists on ESPN and CBS, but he is at the very top of Yahoo’s list. Pagan was called into closer duty on both occasions because the usual candidates — Jose Alvarado and Diego Castillo — were unavailable due to heavy workloads over the weekend.

Because Kevin Cash sent us a strong signal that Pagan is next-in-line for saves after Alvarado and Castillo, he now sits behind the Rays’ two main high-leverage relievers in our closer grid. Even without saves, Pagan is not a bad reliever to own in holds leagues and deeper formats. He gets swings-and-misses (career 14.1 percent SwStr%) and a ton of popups, and he throws strikes, making him a reliable bet to post a low WHIP.
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By now, we have all become aware of the home run explosion that’s occurred in the early weeks and the appearance of a juiced ball. High-leverage relievers have not been immune to the deluge of dingers. Josh Hader, Matt Barnes and Kenley Jansen all allowed home runs on Sunday that led to a loss or a blown save. The three normally-reliable relievers have teamed up to allow seven home runs over their last 8.1 innings combined. Hader has allowed homers in each of his last three appearances, Barnes has allowed one in each of his last two outings, and Jansen has given up two homers over his last three appearances.

Despite the rash of long balls, it’s far too soon to be concerned about any of the three. Hader is still missing bats at a stratospheric rate, sporting a 22.8 percent SwStr%. However, his flyball rate of 72.2 percent is even more otherworldly. It’s nearly double the major league average of 36.7 percent. Not only is Hader letting the ball get lofted, but hitters are making a lot of hard contact on those airborne balls, averaging 97.4 mph in exit velocity (per Baseball Savant). As he accumulates more innings, this could become a real problem barring some serious regression, even with his healthy whiff rate.
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I know it’s early, but I think we can spot a pattern with Mychal Givens.

It’s fair to call Givens the Orioles’ primary closer, but a better (if not catchier) title would be “guy who comes in to clean up a mess in the eighth inning.” On Thursday night, and for the fifth time this season, Givens was called upon with runners on base in the eighth inning. Paul Fry and Evan Phillips had already allowed the Rays to whittle a 5-2 lead down to 5-4, but Givens restored order by getting the final two outs. In coming back out for the ninth inning, Givens had a chance to collect his first save of the season, but a one-out solo shot by Avisail Garcia ruined that.
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Perplexing bullpen situations did not get less perplexing on Sunday.

After the Phillies’ 3-1, 14-inning win over the Marlins, I am leaving their portion of the closer grid untouched, but that hardly means that the saves picture is getting clearer. Brian Anderson‘s home run in the bottom of the sixth inning knotted the game up at 1-1, and it would stay that way for seven-and-a-half innings. Because the Phillies were the visiting team, it’s hard to read too much into Gabe Kapler’s choice to use Pat Neshek in the seventh, Adam Morgan and Hector Neris in the eighth and David Robertson in the ninth and 10th.
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Ken Giles‘ nearly perfect season finally hit a snag on Thursday night. Through his first six appearances, the Blue Jays’ closer had not allowed a run through 5.2 innings, and the only baserunners he put on were by way of two singles, a double and a walk. In appearance number seven, Giles started off the bottom of the ninth inning against the Red Sox by getting Andrew Benintendi to ground out, but that would be the last out he would get. After walking Mookie Betts and giving up a Mitch Moreland RBI double, the Blue Jays’ 6-5 lead had vanished.

Then Giles intentionally walked J.D. Martinez, but it backfired, as he loaded the bases with an unintentional walk to Xander Bogaerts and coughed up Rafael Devers‘ walk-off single. Devers’ chopper had an xBA of .100, but he wouldn’t have been in a position to win the game if Giles hadn’t issued three walks, two of which were unintentional. Walks have generally not been an issue for Giles the last couple of seasons, and he has been good at inducing out-of-zone chases throughout his career. Despite the poor results on Thursday night, there is no reason for Giles’ owners to panic.
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We often begin this column with the grisly details of the latest reliever meltdown. So why not start things off this time with some good news?

A pair of closers who had forgettable 2018 seasons are off to a nice start in 2019. Ken Giles recorded his third save in as many tries on Tuesday, securing the Blue Jays’ 7-5 win over the Red Sox. He has yet to allow a run in 5.2 innings, though this appearance was a little more eventful than his past ones from this season. Giles issued his first walk of the year, which came on the heels of a Dustin Pedroia leadoff single. Then he needed all of three pitches to retire Blake Swihart and Andrew Benintendi, and after going to a full count on Mookie Betts, Giles finished him off by getting him to chase a low slider.
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Having recorded his second save of the season, Ryan Brasier has surged into lead for saves in the Red Sox’s bullpen. However, there will be no such surging into the lead spot in the Red Sox’s portion of the closer grid.

It appears that Alex Cora may trust Matt Barnes to handle the highest leverage situations, and over the long haul, that could translate into more saves for him than for Brasier. On Sunday, as soon as the Red Sox took a 1-0 lead against the Diamondbacks on Mitch Moreland’s homer in the top of the seventh inning, Cora installed Barnes to pitch in the bottom of the inning to face the 4-5-6 portion of the Arizona order. He stayed on to pitch the eighth inning as well and retired all six batters he faced. With the top of the order due, Brasier came in to finish off the Diamondbacks and did so, allowing only a David Peralta double.
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The first weekend of the season is behind us, and incredibly, all of the bullpen situations in the majors are stable and calm.

April Fools!
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