Saves and Steals: Guess Who's Back?
The big news is the return of Wade Davis to Kansas City. With the Royals on the periphery of playoff contention, every asset counts. Their success over the last two years wouldn’t have been possible without their elite bullpen. Getting Davis back makes the entire unit that much stronger. In other news, the Braves are now without Arodys Vizcaino, and the Red Sox have probably lost Koji Uehara for an unspecified amount of time.
Jeurys Familia has retained his lead in the saves category. He’s closed out 33 games. A.J. Ramos (31 saves) and Zach Britton (29 saves) round out the top three. Ramos led the way over the last seven days with four saves. Ryan Madson notched three.
On the stolen base front, Billy Hamilton is charging toward the league lead. Last week, he swiped five bags in six attempts. Marcus Semien was the only other guy to steal more than two bases since we last convened. He took four bags. Jonathan Villar still has the league lead with 33 steals. Starling Marte has 32 thefts. Hamilton (27) surpassed Jose Altuve (25).
Tier 1: Elite (4)
Aroldis Chapman, New York Yankees
Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Dodgers
Zach Britton, Baltimore Orioles
Wade Davis, Kansas City Royals
As Chapman trade rumors heat up, he recorded his fastest fastball of the season at over 105 mph. He pitched three innings this week with two saves, two walks, two strikeouts, and no hits allowed.
Jansen blew a save on Saturday which eventually led to a Dodgers loss. Jansen’s job is utterly safe unless the Dodgers happen to acquire Chapman. They’re not rumored to be among the top suitors, although they are looking for bullpen help.
Britton hasn’t allowed a run since the end of April. He pitched twice this week, recording four strikeouts en route to a pair of saves.
Look who’s back! Davis has faced a total of four hitters since returning from the disabled list. He’s retired them all. He nabbed a one-out save last night. Look for the Royals to ease him back into regular duty with Kelvin Herrera getting occasional save opportunities.
Tier 2: Nearly Elite (4)
Roberto Osuna, Toronto Blue Jays
Jeurys Familia, New York Mets
Hector Rondon, Chicago Cubs
Mark Melancon, Pittsburgh Pirates
Osuna was called upon three time although he only recorded one save. His only base runner over three innings came via walk.
Familia continued to rack up saves with his 32nd and 33rd of the season. He squeaked through his outing last night against the Cubs. They managed a hit and a pair of walks with no outs but failed to score. A force out at home plate followed by a Kris Bryant double play resulted in a 2-1 Mets win.
Rondon was on the losing end of last night’s Mets-Cubs game. Tasked with protecting a 1-1 tie, Rondon allowed a run on three hits. The Cubs are among the rumored suitors for Chapman and Andrew Miller. As such, Rondon is at risk of losing his job. Performances like last night won’t help things despite excellent numbers overall.
Melancon blew a 1-0 lead back on Sunday against the Nationals. An entire nine innings later, the Pirates finally scored a second run for the win. Melancon also blew a one-run lead last night. Luckily, he received the vulture win via Josh Harrison‘s little league home run (triple with an error).
Tier 3: Good Veterans (6)
Alex Colome, Tampa Bay Rays
A.J. Ramos, Miami Marlins
David Robertson, Chicago White Sox
Sam Dyson, Texas Rangers
Cody Allen, Cleveland Indians
Francisco Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers
Colome pitched once. He struck out the side while earning his 20th save of the season. Dyson’s week was nearly identical – he also struck out the side in his lone appearance for save number 19. The only difference? Colome allowed a hit, Dyson did not.
The Marlins keep feeding Ramos saves. There’s always risk involved because his fastball is so unimpressive. Instead, he gets by on excellent offspeed stuff. He tallied four saves in four scoreless innings. He also racked up seven strikeouts.
Talk about ugly outings. Robertson was tasked with protecting a three run lead on Monday. Instead, he was tagged for a walk-off grand slam by Adam Lind. Robertson’s had a few clunkers this year with 13 of his 17 runs allowed spread across just three appearances. I opted to demote him only because his walk rate has spiked so high (5.11 BB/9).
Allen and K-Rod were called upon three times apiece. Allen saved one in three scoreless frames with five strikeouts. Rodriguez netted two saves, a win, and three strikeouts.
