San Diego Padres reliever Kirby Yates should inherit the closing role with the departure of reliever Brad Hand, who was traded to the Cleveland Indians on July 19. Yates should immediately slide into the driver's seat for saves in the second half. The 31-year-old is enjoying the best season of his career and had done a spectacular job as the Friars setup man with a 1.43 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 11.5 K/9 in 39 appearances. He had accumulated 16 holds and two saves without recording a blown save. [...]