April 19, 2018

Kansas City Royals — Less than two weeks ago, Justin Grimm had three holds, a 2.08 ERA, and the inside track on the Royals’ setup job. In five appearances since, he has an ERA over 50 (a stratospheric 243.00 over his last two games) and a style aptly described on Twitter as fat guy in a 5K: “walk, walk, run, walk, run, shower.” On Wednesday, he faced seven batters, let six score, and was just a triple away from the reverse cycle. All this to say: he’s not setting up anymore. We’ll bump up rookies Tim Hill and Brad Keller, with the understanding that it could be weeks before the Royals can confirm it by having a lead to protect.

Updated hierarchy: Herrera | Hill | Keller.

Milwaukee Brewers — Keeping Kato Kaelin happy and vulture save hunters honest, Craig Counsell chose Jacob Barnes to close out Wednesday’s game with Josh Hader getting a day of rest.

Hierarchy remains: *Hader | Albers | Barnes.

* = closer-by-committee

San Francisco Giants — Hunter Strickland blew his second save of the season, but Brad Boxberger gave up two runs in the top of the tenth. Bruce Bochy called on Cory Gearrin for the save in the tenth. Although Gearrin gave up two straight doubles, then walked the bases loaded, he escaped with the save.

Hierarchy remains: Strickland | Watson | Dyson.

Oakland A’s — The A’s called on setup guy Santiago Casilla right away in Wednesday’s game, summoning him in the fourth inning with two on, down three. He gave up his first two hits of the season, expanding the lead to five. Burning Casilla so early forced Oakland to use Blake Treinen for the ninth, tenth, and eleventh innings (44 pitches), then rely on rookie Lou Trivino for three impressive innings to earn the win in 14. We don’t expect Casilla to get a lot of play in the fourth going forward; although Ryan Buchter has been used late, Casilla is probably still the handcuff of choice for the A’s.

Hierarchy remains: Treinen | Casilla | Buchter.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH

Today:

1. Blake Parker/Jim Johnson — Keynan Middleton threw 30 pitches last night and Cam Bedrosian has gone in two straight (35 pitches).

Friday:

1. Joe Jimenez — Shane Greene has gone in two straight.

2. Santiago Casilla/Ryan Buchter — A save chance on Friday may give us insight into the Oakland hierarchy, as Blake Treinen is likely to get a second day off after pitching three innings on Wednesday.