Following the trade of Yimi García to the Astros, Anthony Bender became a popular waiver wire target, and for good reason. He’s having an amazing rookie season and is establishing himself as one of the better relievers in the game. Of course, that meant the club was going to turn to veteran Dylan Floro as their new closer despite not being the best option. After blowing a save on Saturday, Floro did bounce back Sunday to pick up his fifth save of the season. Over the past two weeks, Bender and Floro each have two saves apiece, however, Bender has a 3.38 ERA and 0.94 WHIP compared to Floro’s 8.31 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. It still feels like only a matter of time before Bender takes over full time in Miami, but Floro is still hanging on to the job for now, so perhaps it’s too early to give up on him completely in deeper leagues.

 

Notes

 

• It looks as if Aroldis Chapman will not need a rehab stint and could return to the Yankees bullpen later this week. Despite having a rocky July, the team desperately needs a healthy Chapman, as interim closer Zack Britton has had issues of his own and is not the same pitcher he once was.
• I’ve talked about Mychal Givens quite often lately, so I’ll keep this short. Givens has converted the team’s last three save opportunities while allowing just two hits over his first 8.1 innings pitched in a Reds uniform. The job should remain his unless he implodes in the coming weeks.

 

• It’s not that Scott Barlow has pitched poorly, it’s just that he hasn’t seen any save chances lately with just two after the All-Star break (except for the one he blew last night). The save opportunities aren’t exactly being spread out though, as the Royals just haven’t been able to manufacture chances. Now with Greg Holland out of the picture, it may give Barlow a tighter grasp on the closer role, but as we’ve seen with Mike Matheny all year, there really isn’t a designated closer in this bullpen.
• Joe Barlow, on the other hand, is coming off a week where he converted his first and second career saves, and it appears he has passed Spencer Patton in the pecking order. The move comes as a bit of a surprise as Patton, the veteran, has pitched well this season, but you can’t argue against giving Barlow the role after he’s allowed just one run over 14.2 innings of work.

 

• The Pirates relievers have only accounted for one save over the past month, and that was literally a month ago when Richard Rodríguez was still around. That said, based on recent usage it looks like David Bednar will get the first crack when a save chance eventually presents itself, as he’s been following Chris Stratton in games lately. Bednar presents the much better choice than Stratton, who has been a bit of a mess lately and could be good for a couple of saves down the stretch.
• In Seattle, it seems that Drew Steckenrider may be the new ninth-inning option with Diego Castillo being his primary setup man and Paul Sewald presumably working the seventh inning of games. Obviously, nothing is set in stone but based on usage the past two weeks, this appears to be the plan at present. In the last three games Castillo and Steckenrider have pitched in together (8/6, 8/11, 8/13), Castillo has worked the eighth, and Steckenrider the ninth. Steckenrider also picked up a save on the eighth of August, working the final two innings following Sewald.

 

Rank	Pitcher	Change
1	Josh HaderT1	-
2	Liam Hendriks	-
3	Ryan Pressly	-
4	Raisel Iglesias	-
5	Edwin Díaz	+2
6	Aroldis Chapman T2	+UR
7	Matt Barnes	-2
8	Will Smith	-2
9	Jake McGee	-1
10	Kenley Jansen	-1
11	Alex Reyes	-1
12	Mark Melancon	-1
13	Emmanuel Clase	-1
14	Jordan Romano T3	-1
15	Lou Trivino	+1
16	Ian Kennedy	+1
17	Mychal Givens	+4
18	Gregory Soto	+1
19	Joe Barlow	+UR
20	Scott Barlow	-5
21	David Bednar	+UR
22	Drew Steckenrider T4	+UR
23	Daniel Bard	-5
24	Alex Colomé	-2
25	Kyle Finnegan	-5
26	Tyler Clippard	-1
27	Dylan Floro	-3
28	Rowan Wick	+UR
29	JT Chargois	+UR
30	Cole Sulser T5	-1

 

 

Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)