diff --git a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerPerformanceTest.java b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerPerformanceTest.java
index 63b154763..31bc87931 100755
--- a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerPerformanceTest.java
+++ b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerPerformanceTest.java
@@ -21,11 +21,8 @@ public class IndelRealignerPerformanceTest extends WalkerTest {
                         " -targetIntervals " + evaluationDataLocation + "NA12878.GAII.chr1.50MB.realigner.intervals",
                  0,
                 new ArrayList<String>(0));
-        try {
-            executeTest("testIndelRealignerWholeGenome", spec1);
-        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-            // using /dev/null as an output source causes samtools to fail when it closes the stream, we shouldn't sweat it         
-        }
+        executeTest("testIndelRealignerWholeGenome", spec1);
+
         WalkerTestSpec spec2 = new WalkerTestSpec(
                 "-R " + seqLocation + "references/Homo_sapiens_assembly18/v0/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta" +
                         " -T IndelRealigner" +
@@ -38,10 +35,6 @@ public class IndelRealignerPerformanceTest extends WalkerTest {
                         " -targetIntervals " + evaluationDataLocation + "NA12878.ESP.WEx.chr1.realigner.intervals",
                  0,
                 new ArrayList<String>(0));
-        try {
-            executeTest("testIndelRealignerWholeExome", spec2);
-        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-            // using /dev/null as an output source causes samtools to fail when it closes the stream, we shouldn't sweat it
-        }
+        executeTest("testIndelRealignerWholeExome", spec2);
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/recalibration/RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest.java b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/recalibration/RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest.java
index 9cf24a5aa..086bd6512 100755
--- a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/recalibration/RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest.java
+++ b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/recalibration/RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 
+
 public class RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest extends WalkerTest {
 
     @Test
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ public class RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest extends WalkerTest {
         try {
             executeTest("testTableRecalibratorWholeGenome", spec);
         } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            System.out.println("TODO: this is actually an acceptable/expected exception (trying to close dev/null/), so let's get on Picard to fix it...");
             // using /dev/null as an output source causes samtools to fail when it closes the stream, we shouldn't sweat it
         }
     }
@@ -71,6 +73,7 @@ public class RecalibrationWalkersPerformanceTest extends WalkerTest {
         try {
             executeTest("testTableRecalibratorWholeExome", spec);
         } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            System.out.println("TODO: this is actually an acceptable/expected exception (trying to close dev/null/), so let's get on Picard to fix it...");
             // using /dev/null as an output source causes samtools to fail when it closes the stream, we shouldn't sweat it
         }
     }