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NBC Sports
3 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Fantasy Baseball Closer Report: State of saves at the All-Star break
In this week's Closer Report, we review the first half in saves across the closer landscape and take a look at which late-inning situations are worth monitoring with two weeks left until the trade deadline. Josh Hader - Houston Astros Hader gave up another home run in his last outing before the break, blowing a save against the Rangers. Six of the eight home runs he's allowed have come over the last month. With four runs allowed over his previous two outings, it pushed his ERA from 1.80 to 2.53. Still, those numbers show he had some room for regression, and he remains the top closer for fantasy purposes. Andrés Muñoz - Seattle Mariners Edwin Díaz - New York Mets Aroldis Chapman - Boston Red Sox Jhoan Duran - Minnesota Twins Emmanuel Clase - Cleveland Guardians Robert Suarez - San Diego Padres Muñoz gave up two runs to blow a save against the Yankees last Thursday, then bounced back with a clean inning in a non-save situation against the Tigers on Sunday before the break. Muñoz recorded just one save in June before locking down four saves in six days to start July. The 26-year-old right-hander enters the second half with 21 saves and a 1.50 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and a 46/14 K/BB ratio across 36 innings. Díaz, in his last outing before the break, converted a two-inning save against the Royals on Saturday, striking out one batter for his 19th save of the season to go with a 1.66 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a 55/13 K/BB ratio across 38 innings. The 31-year-old right-hander is back dominating on the mound after missing the 2023 season and a disappointing 2024 in his first year back from injury. Chapman has actually been the best closer in baseball over the last month, leading all relievers by a wide margin with a 49% K-BB ratio since the start of June. He added two saves against the Rays before the All-Star break, striking out five batters over two scoreless innings, extending his scoreless outing streak to 18 games. Duran worked two outings against the Pirates before the break. He picked up a save on Friday, striking out two in a scoreless inning. He then took the loss on Sunday, giving up a run on three hits. The 27-year-old right-hander will take a 1.66 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a 49/16 K/BB ratio with 15 saves over 43 1/3 innings into the second half. Both Duran and setup man Griffin Jax are expected to draw major interest at the trade deadline. Jax would make a capable closer should he land in a favorable situation or if the Twins decide to move Duran. Both relievers still carry three seasons of team control, so the team would likely need to come away with a significant trade package to make a move. Clase worked a scoreless inning to convert a save against the White Sox on Friday, then pitched two innings to come away with a win against Chicago on Sunday. The 27-year-old right-hander has converted 20 saves with a 2.91 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 42/10 K/BB ratio across 43 1/3 innings. And in San Diego, Suarez worked a clean inning with one strikeout for a save against the Phillies last Thursday, then worked another perfect frame with a strikeout for his 28th save before the All-Star break. Mason Miller - Athletics Devin Williams - New York Yankees Trevor Megill - Milwaukee Brewers Félix Bautista - Baltimore Orioles Tanner Scott - Los Angeles Dodgers Will Vest - Detroit Tigers Emilio Pagán - Cincinnati Reds David Bednar - Pittsburgh Pirates Daniel Palencia - Chicago Cubs Camilo Doval - San Francisco Giants Ryan Helsley - St. Louis Cardinals Carlos Estévez - Kansas City Royals Jeff Hoffman - Toronto Blue Jays Pete Fairbanks - Tampa Bay Rays Kyle Finnegan - Washington Nationals Kenley Jansen - Los Angeles Angels Miller made three scoreless appearances in the days leading up to the break, including back-to-back saves against the Blue Jays. He appears to be getting back on track with eight consecutive scoreless outings. The 26-year-old right-hander now has 19 saves with a 4.04 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and a 57/17 K/BB ratio across 35 2/3 innings. After giving up two runs against the Blue Jays on July 2, Williams went into the All-Star break with four straight perfect outings. He fell in line for a win last Thursday against the Mariners, then struck out two in a clean frame against the Cubs. Meanwhile, Megill did not make an appearance since the last column and remains at 21 saves with a 2.41 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and a 43/15 K/BB ratio across 33 2/3 innings. Bautista pitched a clean inning against the Mets last Thursday for his 18th save. The 30-year-old right-hander has made an impressive return from Tommy John surgery, posting a 2.41 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and a 48/20 K/BB ratio across 33 2/3 innings. In Los Angeles, Scott struck out two in a clean inning on Saturday for his 19th save, then blew an opportunity Sunday, giving up two runs against the Giants. The 30-year-old left-hander allowed five runs over his last four outings. Blake Treinen appears ready to be activated from the injured list out of the All-Star break and could figure into some save chances based on matchups. Vest blew a save in his only appearance this last week, uncharacteristically walking three batters against the Mariners on Sunday. Still, he's had a stellar first half, emerging as Detroit's primary closer with 15 saves, a 2.30 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and a 48/15 K/BB ratio across 43 innings. Pagán made back-to-back scoreless outings against the Rockies last week, picking up a win on Saturday before locking down his 20th win on Sunday. The 34-year-old right-hander has had an excellent season in Cincinnati, posting a 2.93 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and a 50/13 K/BB ratio across 40 innings. Bednar also pitched both days over the weekend, converting his 13th save Sunday against the Twins. Meanwhile, Palencia grabbed two more saves Saturday and Sunday with two scoreless outings against the Yankees. The 25-year-old right-hander has been a breakout in the first half, recording a 1.57 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a 39/11 K/BB ratio over 34 1/3 innings. In San Francisco, Doval worked around a hit and a walk to convert a save against the Dodgers on Friday, then tossed a scoreless inning in a non-save situation on Sunday. Doval's walk issues and lower strikeout rate this season continue to make him a volatile closer. Still, he's generally gotten the job done since taking back the ninth-inning role. Helsley took a loss on Saturday, giving up a run on two hits against the Braves. He bounced back on Sunday with a scoreless inning for his 19th save of the season to go with a 3.27 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, and a 36/14 K/BB ratio over 33 innings. Estévez struck out two in a scoreless inning in a non-save situation against the Mets on Friday, then fell in line for a win despite giving up two runs on Sunday. Meanwhile, Hoffman broke a nine-game scoreless streak with three runs allowed against the Athletics on Friday to give him a 5.03 ERA over 39 1/3 innings at the break. In his only appearance this week, Fairbanks blew a save and took the loss with two runs allowed against the Red Sox on Friday. The 31-year-old right-hander has a 2.75 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a 31/15 K/BB ratio across 36 innings. Finnegan also blew a save and took a loss, giving up three runs against the Brewers on Saturday. And in Anaheim, Jansen picked up a win with a scoreless inning of work against the Diamondbacks on Friday. Matt Strahm/Orion Kerkering - Philadelphia Phillies Kevin Ginkel - Arizona Diamondbacks Robert Garcia - Texas Rangers Strahm picked up a save for the Phillies on Sunday against the Padres, his sixth of the season. No saves out of Arizona over the weekend. Ginkel, Kendall Graveman, and Kyle Backhus could all figure into the saves mix. And the Rangers went without a save to close out the first half. Garcia did take a loss with a run allowed against the Astros on Saturday. Calvin Faucher/Ronny Henriquez - Miami Marlins Grant Taylor - Chicago White Sox Seth Halvorsen/Victor Vodnik - Colorado Rockies Last week's column touched on the trade speculation surrounding Minnesota relievers Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran. While it would be a surprise to see both relievers traded by the deadline, it may not hurt to take a look at who could step up in their place. Louis Varland has been the next reliever down in the high-leverage order. The 27-year-old right-hander has made the transition from starter to reliever this year and has been incredibly effective, posting a 1.81 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and a 43/11 K/BB ratio across 44 2/3 innings. And when healthy, Brock Stewart has flashed some strikeout upside over the last three seasons. The 33-year-old veteran right-hander's 29 1/3 innings so far are the most he's pitched since 2017. He's posted a solid 2.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a 38/10 K/BB ratio. The Angels remain in the Wild Card mix at four games behind at the All-Star break. But if they fall further behind over the next couple of weeks, we could see veteran closer Kenley Jansen on the move. His departure could open the door for Reid Detmers to step into the closer role. Despite the speculation that he could move back into a starting role, he'll reportedly continue to work out of the bullpen, where he's been most effective. The 26-year-old left-hander had a rough stretch in early May but has posted a 1.24 ERA with 38 strikeouts over 29 innings since May 9.
NBC Sports
11-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh: All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz tipping pitches against Yankees
NEW YORK — Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh thinks All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz was tipping pitches when he squandered a two-run lead in the ninth inning Thursday night against the New York Yankees. Muñoz was handed his sixth blown save in 27 opportunities this season after starter Bryan Woo held the Yankees hitless into the eighth. With the Mariners holding a 5-3 lead, Muñoz entered in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single to Trent Grisham and a one-out single to Cody Bellinger before Ben Rice came back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk that loaded the bases with two outs. Standing at second base while Austin Wells batted, Bellinger waved his arms when Muñoz threw his slider. Wells took a changeup perhaps just below the strike zone for ball three, and on the next pitch he lined a full-count fastball into right field for a two-run single that tied it. 'He was tipping every time (with a runner) on second base,' Raleigh said of Muñoz. 'Obviously, they weren't making it very discreet, but it is part of the game. We have to know about that better going into series, and that made it really hard there at the end. 'You try to do the most you can without trying to distract him from what is happening at the plate. So that's something that'll we'll have to figure out the next couple of days, for sure.' Seattle manager Dan Wilson, however, said he didn't think Muñoz was giving away pitch selection. 'I don't think that's the case,' Wilson said. 'Just, I think we got ourselves into some tough counts and they took advantage of it.' Wells was the sixth hitter in the inning and by that point Muñoz had thrown 23 pitches. 'I had five great at-bats before me to let me get up there and those guys kind of gave me a lot of confidence to trust I was going to get a pitch to hit,' Wells said. New York capped its improbable comeback from a 5-0 deficit when Anthony Volpe scored the winning run in the 10th with an acrobatic slide on Aaron Judge's shallow sacrifice fly. 'We couldn't get much going against Woo, but this team has a lot of fight,' Judge said. 'I'm glad Volpe's fast.' Helped by Giancarlo Stanton's first career pinch-hit homer off Matt Brash in the eighth, the Yankees became the first team to win after being no-hit and trailing by five runs through seven innings since the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos on June 24, 1977. 'It was a lot of fun,' Wells said.
Fox Sports
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh: All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz was tipping pitches against Yankees
Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh thinks All-Star closer Andres Munoz was tipping pitches when he squandered a two-run lead in the ninth inning Thursday night against the New York Yankees. Muñoz was handed his sixth blown save in 27 opportunities this season after starter Bryan Woo held the Yankees hitless into the eighth. With the Mariners holding a 5-3 lead, Muñoz entered in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single to Trent Grisham and a one-out single to Cody Bellinger before Ben Rice came back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk that loaded the bases with two outs. Standing at second base while Austin Wells batted, Bellinger waved his arms when Muñoz threw his slider. Wells took a changeup perhaps just below the strike zone for ball three, and on the next pitch he lined a full-count fastball into right field for a two-run single that tied it. 'He was tipping every time (with a runner) on second base,' Raleigh said of Muñoz. 'Obviously, they weren't making it very discreet, but it is part of the game. We have to know about that better going into series, and that made it really hard there at the end. 'You try to do the most you can without trying to distract him from what is happening at the plate. So that's something that'll we'll have to figure out the next couple of days, for sure.' Seattle manager Dan Wilson, however, said he didn't think Muñoz was giving away pitch selection. 'I don't think that's the case,' Wilson said. 'Just, I think we got ourselves into some tough counts and they took advantage of it.' Wells was the sixth hitter in the inning and by that point Muñoz had thrown 23 pitches. 'I had five great at-bats before me to let me get up there and those guys kind of gave me a lot of confidence to trust I was going to get a pitch to hit,' Wells said. New York capped its improbable comeback from a 5-0 deficit when Anthony Volpe scored the winning run in the 10th with an acrobatic slide on Aaron Judge's shallow sacrifice fly. 'We couldn't get much going against Woo, but this team has a lot of fight,' Judge said. 'I'm glad Volpe's fast.' Helped by Giancarlo Stanton's first career pinch-hit homer off Matt Brash in the eighth, the Yankees became the first team to win after being no-hit and trailing by five runs through seven innings since the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos on June 24, 1977. 'It was a lot of fun,' Wells said. ___ AP MLB: recommended Item 1 of 3
Axios
10-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
ICE crackdowns hit Charlotte's immigrant businesses hard
The threat of ICE enforcement is weighing on Charlotte's immigrant community. Why it matters: A surge in arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents isfueling fear, racial tension and economic hardship in Charlotte, local business owners tell Axios. The big picture: President Trump's team has been demanding that agents arrest 3,000 immigrants a day — an unprecedented pace ICE is still trying to reach, Axios' Brittany Gibson reports. Context: We spoke to three immigrant entrepreneurs in Charlotte, who say they're seeing a trickle-down effect across several industries due to the immigration crackdown. What they're saying: Fear is spreading, regardless of immigration status. "No matter what their status is, they're afraid to go out, to drive, to speak up," said Astrid Muñoz, who co-owns SQS Catering, Mr. Pollo, SQS Junk Removal Service and SQS Janitorial with her husband Carlos Bergman. Muñoz describes customers and staff alike growing anxious about public interaction. Racist language, tense encounters with clients and fear of separation from family are all part of the emotional toll. "There's anguish. But I can't focus on that — I have to lead with peace of mind, or fear takes everything off course." Muñoz's biggest fear: That rising resentment and anxiety will spiral into violence. But she says she has faith that things will get better. Zoom in: Manolo Betancur, humanitarian and owner of Manolo's Bakery, Higher Grounds Café and Artisen Vegelato, says ICE's presence weighs on his businesses. Whenever there are rumors of ICE's presence, "nobody goes to the bakery," he told Axios subscribers at a recent Small Business Spotlight event. By the numbers: Orders for large cakes — usually in high demand in May for Mother's Day and quinceañeras — dropped to zero, Betancur says. Revenue is down 20%. In an interview with WFAE, Betancur said he had to lay off three employees and reduce the hours of others. "We are not criminals. We're survivors. Now the hardest thing for an immigrant is to survive in America," Betancur said. Natalia Silva, local entrepreneur and organizer of Festival Colombiano, said she refuses to let fear win. "We are business owners, professionals, entrepreneurs…and we deserve respect." Silva says events like Festival Colombiano Cultural are acts of resilience — a way to assert dignity and presence in a time of heightened scrutiny. Zoom out: North Carolina is an immigration enforcement hot spot, according to an Axios analysis. Local law enforcement agencies in nearby Gaston, Union and Cabarrus counties have been some of the most cooperative in rounding up immigrants through deals known as 287 (g) agreements, according to the analysis. Between the lines: Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden ended the county's 287(g) program agreement with ICE in 2018. Last year, lawmakers enacted House Bill 10, mandating that all state sheriffs honor ICE detainers by holding suspects for up to 48 additional hours to facilitate federal pickup, WFAE reported. But keeping those detainees is expensive, according to McFadden, who has expressed communication concerns with ICE in the past. The other side: Differences in opinion are emerging on how aggressively ICE should deport workers, longtime residents, and some people who've sought refuge from brutal regimes, Axios reports. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle detailed concerns to Axios, ranging from prioritizing the removal of criminals over peaceful residents to economic disruptions and humanitarian risks. But the differences are far from a GOP rebuke of Trump, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.
Miami Herald
19-06-2025
- Miami Herald
California school district faces sex abuse lawsuit. Did LA's $4-billion payout open floodgates?
LOS ANGELES - Five California women sued a Fresno County school system Wednesday, alleging officials brushed aside claims they were being sexually assaulted by a second-grade teacher who was later convicted of similar abuse. The case against the Clovis Unified School District comes amid a tidal wave of sexual abuse litigation that has left lawmakers scrambling to stop misconduct - and schools struggling to pay settlements owed to victims suing over crimes that stretch back decades. The latest case dates back to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Plaintiff Samantha Muñoz, now a 28-year-old mother of two, is among those alleging she was abused by then-Fancher Creek Elementary School teacher Neng Yang. Muñoz claims in the lawsuit that Yang began molesting her in 2004, when she was his 7-year-old student. By that time, the lawsuit says, girls had been complaining to Clovis Unified School District officials about Yang for years. The teacher was eventually arrested for producing child pornography in 2012, and has spent the past decade in federal prison in San Pedro, where he is serving a 38-year term for sexual exploitation of a minor. "Clovis Unified was protecting this predator," said Muñoz. "They continued to have him teaching at that school knowing he was [assaulting students]." The Times does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, but Muñoz and two of her four co-plaintiffs said they wanted to speak out publicly about what happened. Kelly Avants, a spokeswoman for Clovis Unified, said the district had not yet received notice of the lawsuit. "We have not been served with the suit yet, but will review it when we are served and respond accordingly," Avants said. The public defender's office that represented Yang in his criminal case referred questions to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of California. A spokesperson for that office said they could offer no comment. "When a teacher saw him showing me child pornography on his phone, school officials interrogated me and then encouraged me to say nothing," Muñoz said. "I was left in his classroom and he kept abusing me." The Fresno case follows a landmark $4-billion settlement this spring over sexual abuse in L.A. County's juvenile facilities, group and foster homes - believed to be the largest in U.S. history. On Tuesday, the state's largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, announced it would sell up to $500 million in bonds to help cover its anticipated sexual abuse liability. "There's tremendous cost pressures on school districts," said Michael Fine, head of California's Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which published a report in January estimating state education agencies could be liable for $2 billion to $3 billion for past sexual misconduct. "No matter what, the money's coming out of their current resources." The payouts stem from a series of recent changes to California's statute of limitations for child sexual assault. Beginning with Assembly Bill 218 in 2019, the state opened a brief window for allegations going back as far as 1940. The law permanently extended the deadline for victims to file child sex abuse claims until age 40, or within five years of realizing a new illness or "psychological injury" as a result of abuse. "There are definitely school districts out there that feel the state changed the law so the state should pay," Fine said. Some in the debate argue only abusers - not cash-strapped schools - should be liable for misconduct. For most California school districts, the money is likely to come from a public entity risk pool, a collective pot that multiple agencies pay into to cover liabilities such as health insurance and workers' compensation. Many pools are assessing their members "retroactive premiums" in an attempt to cover sex abuse suits touched off by the change in the law, Fine said. That means even schools that haven't been sued face higher operating costs. "There's impacts to the classroom whether there's a claim or not, because they've got to pay the retroactive premiums somehow," he said. "If they were in the pool, they're on the hook." In its report, the agency recommended alternative ways the state and school districts might cover liabilities stemming from the law - including a modified form of receivership for agencies that can't pay, and a new state victim's compensation fund - as well as concrete steps to stem abuse. The latter have been enthusiastically adopted by California lawmakers, including state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra). But other suggestions have been ignored, Fine said. "There isn't a bill out there that carries the rest of our recommendations," he said. After months spent trying to understand the scale and the magnitude of the liability California institutions are facing, stories like those in the Clovis Unified suit haunt him, Fine said. "It's emotionally overwhelming," he said. Plaintiffs in the Clovis case described nearly identical abuse stretching back to 1998, when Yang was still a student teacher. According to Wednesday's complaint, then-second-grader Tiffany Thrailkill told the Francher Creek principal, vice principal and school counselor that Yang had groped her and forced her to perform oral sex. "In response, [officials] took the position that Tiffany was lying and referred her to psychological treatment," the suit alleged. Despite laws dating back to the 1980s that require abuse to be reported, school officials kept the allegations quiet and never investigated Yang, the suit said. "Instead of reporting Yang and protecting their students, it appears school officials blamed the girls, looked the other way, and enabled Yang to abuse their students for over a decade," said Jason Amala, the plaintiffs' attorney. Ultimately, Yang was caught by the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a partnership between the Clovis Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations. For Muñoz, the teacher's conviction was cold comfort. While she believes speaking out about her experience will inspire other victims to come forward, she now faces the agonizing decision of whether to send her nonverbal 4-year-old for early intervention services at the same elementary school where her suit alleges her nightmare began. "Why would I want to go drop off my son at a place that's nothing but bad memories?" the mother said. "It's like signing my life away to the devil again." "I just need them to be accountable for who they protected," Muñoz said. 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