Archive for Shawn Kelley

The Rangers have not had a save opportunity since June 27, including in Sunday’s loss to the Astros. Yet Shawn Kelley, who had not pitched in a game in nine days, was warming up to enter the game with a three-run deficit in the eighth inning with two outs. Kelley felt soreness in his right biceps while throwing his warmup pitches and exited the game before throwing an official pitch. He is now expected to undergo an MRI.

Given that the Rangers have gone close to a month without a save opportunity, it’s hard to get a handle on what Chris Woodward’s preferences might be for handling save situations if Kelley has to miss time. Also, with the Rangers having lost seven games in a row and falling in the wild card standings, we can’t count on any particular reliever still being with the team on the other side of the July 31 trade deadline. However, it is highly unlikely they would trade Jose Leclerc, who signed a four-year, $14.75 million contract back in March, and it is also hard to see them dealing Chris Martin, who won’t be arbitration eligible until 2021.
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Unfortunately, the second half picked up where the tumultuous first half ended in terms of performances in high leverage. Both Josh Hader and Will Smith suffered blown saves in outings against their respective teams last night. Hader entered in the eighth inning serving up a lead-off home run to Tyler Austin. He settled in striking out Brandon Belt, getting Buster Posey to ground out and then a foul tip strikeout of Evan Longoria. Read the rest of this entry »

Alex Cora tabbed Matt Barnes as his highest leverage reliever in the preseason. This did not translate necessarily to usage exclusively like a traditional closer. Barnes faced the heart of the order in the seventh or eighth innings as necessitated trying to preserve wins for Boston. Last night, Barnes received a save chance but left after 17 pitches to some boos from the home crowd. Barnes induced a pop out on a bunt attempt by Delino DeShields but then yielded a single to Danny Santana, a double to Elvis Andrus and a two RBI single to Nomar Mazara blowing the win for Sale and resulting in Barnes fourth blown save of the season. Barnes bounced back to strikeout Hunter Pence and then walked Asdrubal Cabrera intentionally before departing. Read the rest of this entry »

The ground ball has been Luke Jackson’s best friend this season, and on Tuesday night it was his worst enemy. Jackson is one of only two qualified relievers to have a ground ball rate above 70 percent (Zack Britton is the other), and that had helped him to compile a 2.31 ERA with six saves heading into the Braves’ series in San Francisco. He was called on to protect a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday night, and he began predictably enough by getting Evan Longoria to hit into a groundout. Then Brandon Crawford stung a line drive for a single, but Jackson struck out Steven Duggar to get on the cusp of his seventh save.

That’s when the parade of ground ball singles began. Kevin Pillar and Pablo Sandoval both got base hits on grounders that had xBAs of .250 and .090, respectively. Pillar’s single scored Crawford, and then both Pillar and pinch-runner Mac Williamson scored on a Joe Panik grounder that just eluded the outstretched glove of Ozzie Albies, giving the Giants a walk-off win.
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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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Earlier this offseason, it appeared as if Jose Leclerc might get traded rather than be a part of a rebuilding Rangers squad. Then new manager Chris Woodward was reportedly thinking of using his incumbent closer in a variety of relief roles. Now we know that Leclerc isn’t going anywhere — not to another team and not to another role — as Woodward named him as the team’s closer.

If the Rangers fall out of contention as expected, teams will certainly be calling about Leclerc. Also, while Leclerc was one of the best relievers in the majors last season, he is only two years removed from an astronomical 20.0 percent walk rate. As great as Leclerc was in 2018, it is still worth our while to venture out further into the bullpen to see who might have value in 2019.
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Things are tense in the Baltimore-Washington corridor these days.

The Nationals’ closer carousel keeps turning, as they placed Shawn Kelley on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a lower back strain. As it was, we hadn’t seen Kelley in a game since April 29 due to being sick, and just as he was healthy enough to return, he started feeling tightness in his back Friday afternoon.

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On Wednesday, I wrote in this space that if there were one member of the Nationals’ closing tandem to speculate on, it should be Koda Glover. Two days later, Dusty Baker proved me wrong. As reported by the Washington Post, the Nationals’ manager told Kelley he was the team’s closer, though he will still give way to Glover on occasion in order to preserve his elbow. While Baker told reporters later that both Kelley and Glover would close games, he indicated that Kelley would get the larger share of chances.

That was made apparent when Baker brought Kelley in to preserve a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Mets, just one night after he got the save in the series finale against the Braves. It was also Kelley’s third save in four days. He threw a perfect inning and has now held the opposition scoreless in his last six appearances, covering five innings.

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You have seen some Tout and LABR reviews for the past few weeks here on the site. We all can’t be so lucky to participate in such glorious leagues. On the other hand, we can all take part in NFBC leagues.

NFBC’s $150 NFBC Draft Champions leagues are a perfect format for me:

a) I have impending time constraints including my first child in June!

b) I didn’t have to ask my wife for permission to use our mutual bank account.

c) I was able to dwell on each pick if/when needed (8 hours to make a pick) and

d) There are no trades or free agent pick-ups once the draft is complete. This feature is my wife’s favorite, and I appreciate the preventative collusion measures. I am also much more interested in draft strategy and player projections/rankings/draft position than I am jumping on small sample sizes in-season.

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This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen) and will continue to break them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.

The San Diego Padres’ bullpen lacks name brand appeal, but it’s glorious. Friars’ relievers ranked just 14th in WAR (3.4), but boasted exceptional ranks in other categories ranking tied for third in SIERA (3.07), third in WHIP (1.14), and second in K-BB% (16.4%) and FIP (3.09). Those numbers are partly inflated by the brilliant 33 innings thrown by former closer Huston Street, who was dealt in July, but even in his absence this is a fantastic group. Read the rest of this entry »