2K17: Closer and Bullpen

[virgonomic]

I missed Benoit being confirmed as closer. Got a link?

https://twitter.com/ToddZolecki/stat...28568131784707

[chancellor]

https://twitter.com/ToddZolecki/stat...28568131784707

Merci beaucoup.

[Hornsby]

I had Benoit queued up last night but couldn't pick him up because games had started.

Today I went to work like a normal person. When I got the closermonkey email and went to the league site, another owner had beaten me by 7 mins.

There's your problem, you tried to act like a normal person...

[Erik]

Don't forget the Phillies also have Benoit. I could see him being option 2 if Gomez falters so that Neris doesn't get an inflated price come arbitration time. Teams that aren't going to contend sometimes factor that into their thinking.

As I was saying.

This also allows them to use Neris like the Indians use Andrew Miller.

[Judge Jude]

still good with getting Neris for a buck.
Benoit did not, upon further review, play with Old Hoss Radbourn.

but he and Andres Galarraga - who played with 1970s Expos SP Steve Rogers, who was born in the 1940s - both did play for the 2001 Texas Rangers.

[bryanbutler]

doolittle with the save for the A's today. casilla pitches a perfect 8th (3 Ks), then doolittle strikes out the side in the 9th, while giving up a hit and walk, for the save.

it's as "closer by committee" as it gets...

[onejayhawk]

Big wave of pickups on Rosenthal today. Is there news or just more evidence of his return to form?

J

[Judge Jude]

Oh has looked TERRIBLE with low MPH and Rosenthal is back and in a slow-starting 'pen (yes, small sample size squared)

I will take Rosy for Buchholz (toast) tomorrow if he's still available in deep NL-only

[Hornsby]

Looks like the situation in Oakland is somewhat clearer...Bob Melvin says that it's going to be either Casilla or Doolittle...

"It's not that complicated, it's gonna be Doolittle or (Santiago) Casilla depending on the matchups,"

Looks like the Madsen owners are out of luck...

[revo]

Dyson nuked again, giving up 3 runs to blow another save. He's become Shawn Tolleson, Part II.

[Msaint]

Dyson nuked again, giving up 3 runs to blow another save. He's become Shawn Tolleson, Part II.

Two diff opinions on TEX situation...

CLOSER MONKEY:

Tony Barnette should get the next save chance in Texas
April 13, 2017

Texas Rangers — Before Texas blew its game open — gifting a save to young Jose Leclerc — the first save chance in the post-Sam Dyson era was slated for Tony Barnette, a 33-year-old with no prior major league saves. In 2015, though, Barnette led the Japan Central League with 41 of them, tied with some guy named Seung-hwan Oh. Jeremy Jeffress pitched the seventh and part of the eighth, but is still in the mix for future opportunities. Behind those two are Matt Bush, whose health is in doubt after a shoulder injection, and Leclerc, who retired Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in a tight spot in the eighth (making Trout look silly in the process), then stuck around for the lower-leverage ninth. Until Bush proves he’s healthy, we’ll move Leclerc past him.

Updated hierarchy: *Barnette | Jeffress | Leclerc.
* = closer-by-committee

FANGRAPHS:
Bullpen Report: April 12, 2017
by Al Melchior - April 13, 2017

With the Rangers heading into the final frame with a 6-3 lead against the Angels on Wednesday night, it looked as if we were going to get our first peek at what the future of the Rangers’ ninth inning will be. Sam Dyson and Matt Bush (shoulder) were unavailable, and with Jose Leclerc throwing the last four pitches of the eighth inning (including a three-pitch strikeout of Mike Trout), he was primed to come out for the ninth. Tony Barnette was an option, too.

The Rangers tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth, so the save chance was gone if a new reliever was brought in. Instead, Leclerc stayed in the game and finished it, yielding only an Andrelton Simmons single, notching two strikeouts and recording the five-out save. Jeff Banister still thinks Dyson could be the team’s closer, but if Leclerc gets some additional save chances in place of Dyson or Bush, it could be hard to take him out of the role.

[TranaGreg]

I read somewhere that Bush should be available on the weekend (they didn't put him on the 10-day DL), so this is a very fluid situation. I'd expect that it could be Bush's by next week.

[Ken]

I read somewhere that Bush should be available on the weekend (they didn't put him on the 10-day DL), so this is a very fluid situation. I'd expect that it could be Bush's by next week.

I'd be very surprised if that were the case. He's going to see a specialist due to shoulder soreness.

Tony Barnette is the play here, even if Bush is back. Banister has said very specifically that he prefers vets in the closer role.

[TranaGreg]

from Evan Grant's column this am ...

The Rangers announced Matt Bush had left the club to return to Dallas for an anti-inflammatory injection in the AC joint on the top of his shoulder. The Rangers aren't putting Bush on the disabled list - yet. They are hopeful he can return to pitch this weekend in Seattle.
...
Some of this could be resolved by the time the Rangers get to Seattle. Bush could be back. The Rangers expect the injection to give him relief in two to four days. He had a similar injection last year, club officials said. The longest he went between outings was five days in mid-August.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to read Bainnister's mind re: who he wants in the 9th ... I just wanted to point that Bush may not be out for that long.

[Ken]

from Evan Grant's column this am ...
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to read Bainnister's mind re: who he wants in the 9th ... I just wanted to point that Bush may not be out for that long.

Understood - I read that in the same way I'd read that someone *could* go see Dr. James Andrews and not end up getting Tommy John. Reads of "we hope". Bush hasn't looked right so far this year and now we know why.

Either way I don't see Bush as a closer for Banister if he has other decent options. He specifically called out the fact that Barnette and Jeffress had closed before in a recent interview, so, unfortunately, that is playing into the decision.