After a couple of weeks of mild movement, the closer carousel has been spinning out of control in the last week. Some due to the trade deadline, but mostly due to ineffective work. This shortened season has been crazier than we even anticipated, and finding saves has been hard, but with situations always changing they are generally out there. Let’s take a look at some of the most newsworthy teams of the week.
Zack Britton , New York Yankees
After missing a couple of weeks with a hamstring strain, Britton returned to the Yankees Tuesday night and pitched a scores inning with a strikeout. It will be interesting to see how Manager Aaron Boone handles this situation as Britton was pitching very well while Aroldis Chapman was out with Covid. With both now back it could muddy the ninth inning. I still think that Chapman gets the majority of the saves, but Britton will sprinkle in as well and could have three or four more saves in the last month of the season.
Archie Bradley , Cincinnati Reds
The Diamondbacks closer was traded to the Cincinnati Reds at the deadline, and while this doesn’t crush his value completely it certainly puts a gigantic dent in it. Reds Manager David Bell has already said that he doesn’t see anything changing in the ninth inning with Raisel Iglesias being the closer. Iglesias sure isn’t pitching great for the second consecutive season, but he is the incumbent in the ninth and will have to implode a few times for Bradley to get any real chance. In the latest appearance, Iglesias came in with two outs in the eighth and secured a win against the Cardinals on Wednesday. For now, it seems that Bradley will only get save chances in cases where Iglesias needs a day off.
Miguel Castro , New York Mets
This one is more speculative than actual news, but the Mets traded for Castro at the deadline. I had thought Castro deserved a shot at the ninth inning in Baltimore but had some bad outings that stopped that from happening. He now ends up in New York where we certainly can’t say that the Mets bullpen has been good. Seth Lugo was solid, but had to be moved to the rotation, and Edwin Díaz has been shaky at best. Will Castro get a shot in Flushing? It is hard to say as I have pointed out several times that GM Brodie VanWagenen traded for Edwin Díaz and wants him to succeed. But Castro has great strikeout stuff (24 Ks in 15.2 innings this year) and has the makings of a closer. Keep an eye on this one.
Trevor Rosenthal , San Diego Padres
He was pitching lights out for the Royals for the most part, and Kansas City did the right thing by shipping Rosenthal out for what they could. He goes to San Diego who already has Drew Pomeranz that has been saving games quite efficiently. What does this mean for the situation? At first glance, I would say that Rosenthal is the closer. Pomeranz doesn’t have much closing experience and has been awesome in the eighth inning. It also makes sense that the Padres traded for Rosentha
