Stop me if you’ve heard this before: plenty of bullpens arms are hurt or performing poorly. That’s always kind of the case but the baseball gods seem intent on cramming in the usual amount of reliever chaos in the shortened season. It was a good year to invest lightly in saves. They are there for the taking on your wire.
- With the Cardinals set to play a breakneck schedule, there will be all kinds of creativity going on in the bullpen usage. Add in that they have no defined closer and saves will be very cheap. Giovanny Gallegos will get some, sure. Andrew Miller already earned one with the right match-ups due up. John Gant is also a name being whispered as part of the committee. He’s absolutely an arm they trust and should see save chances on busy days.
- Poor Kirby Yates was cursed with the burden of being one of the top closers drafted this year. That obviously meant he would have things go very wrong and burn drafters. We aren’t allowed to have nice closers. Those are the rules. Drew Pomeranz was picking up some saves and already owned many places. I’m also adding Emilio Pagan as the right-handed complement who should also see save opps.
- Raise your hand if your ERA got got by Trevor Gott. Cinderella always turns into a pumpkin at midnight. That’s how the saying goes, right? Tony Watson and Tyler Rogers may be asked to handle things for a while. At least until Gott has a scoreless appearance in a lower leverage spot.
- In a rare bright spot, Aroldis Chapman looks set to return from his COVID stint. We may see one tune-up inning but he needs less to get ready than most relievers. Zach Britton may still get the call over a back to back ask of Chapman for some time.
- Remember when everyone pushed up Washington’s Trea Turner and Victor Robles because you had to get steals locked in this year? They’ve given you zero. It’s worrisome they’ve only stole 4 as a team. It’s not like they haven’t faced the Mets yet. We’ll see if this is just randomness or a more problematic organizational philosophy shift.
- It’s a good thing Max Stassi is hitting home runs. He’s allowed 20 steals to only 3 caught stealing this year. That’s kind of bonkers. If you’re rabbits are getting LAA anytime soon (SFG, OAK) get em in the lineup.
