Welcome to a new series here at RotoWire. Every Monday* and Friday, I'll take a look back at the previous series and wrap up everything you need to know about the rapidly changing closer market.
These articles will contain five parts:
Who Earned Saves This Week/Weekend? A division-by-division look at who picked up saves in the previous series, as well as "true" blown saves and a few quick notes.
Closers I'm Worried About: A breakdown of a handful of closers whose jobs seem the most tenuous, as well as a look at the setup men who could be about to step up.
Bullpen Deep Dive: A closer look at a bullpen where everything is even more up in the air than usual, focusing on key stats and usage trends.
Injury Round-Up: A quick look at any currently injured closers and their progress toward a return to action.
Closer Grid: A snapshot of the RotoWire Closer Grid, which can also be found here.
*This is the usual Monday article, delayed until Tuesday due to Memorial Day.
Who Earned Saves This Weekend?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Anthony Nunez (3) | none | Rico Garcia pitched in the sixth inning prior to Nunez's save Friday. |
| Boston | none | none | |
| New York | David Bednar (12) | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (14) | Jesse Scholtens (1) | Scholtens' blown save came in the 13th inning Monday. |
| Toronto | Louis Varland (7), Jeff Hoffman (5) | none | Varland threw 31 pitches over two innings |
Welcome to a new series here at RotoWire. Every Monday* and Friday, I'll take a look back at the previous series and wrap up everything you need to know about the rapidly changing closer market.
These articles will contain five parts:
Who Earned Saves This Week/Weekend? A division-by-division look at who picked up saves in the previous series, as well as "true" blown saves and a few quick notes.
Closers I'm Worried About: A breakdown of a handful of closers whose jobs seem the most tenuous, as well as a look at the setup men who could be about to step up.
Bullpen Deep Dive: A closer look at a bullpen where everything is even more up in the air than usual, focusing on key stats and usage trends.
Injury Round-Up: A quick look at any currently injured closers and their progress toward a return to action.
Closer Grid: A snapshot of the RotoWire Closer Grid, which can also be found here.
*This is the usual Monday article, delayed until Tuesday due to Memorial Day.
Who Earned Saves This Weekend?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Anthony Nunez (3) | none | Rico Garcia pitched in the sixth inning prior to Nunez's save Friday. |
| Boston | none | none | |
| New York | David Bednar (12) | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (14) | Jesse Scholtens (1) | Scholtens' blown save came in the 13th inning Monday. |
| Toronto | Louis Varland (7), Jeff Hoffman (5) | none | Varland threw 31 pitches over two innings to record the save Friday, so he likely wasn't available for Hoffman's save chance Saturday. |
*A pitcher can earn a blown save if he enters in what is technically a save situation prior to the ninth inning and blows the lead. For fantasy purposes, we don't really care about blown saves where a reliever was clearly being used as a setup man and coughed up the lead. What matters to us is when a reliever was genuinely being given a chance to save the game but blew it. Therefore, for the purposes of this article, I'm only going to report blown saves of that variety.
| American League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Seranthony Dominguez (11) | none | |
| Cleveland | Cade Smith 2 (18) | none | |
| Detroit | Drew Anderson (12) | Kenley Jansen (4) | Anderson pitched the final two innings to record the save in the second half of Sunday's doubleheader. Jansen, Kyle Finnegan and Will Vest had all pitched in the first game of the day and were presumably unavailable. |
| Kansas City | none | Lucas Erceg (4) | See "Closers I'm Worried About" below. |
| Minnesota | Anthony Banda (1), Taylor Rogers (2), Travis Adams (1) | none | The Twins now have 14 saves as a team, spread among 11 different relieves. No Twins reliever has more than two saves. |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | Scott Barlow (1) | none | Barlow recorded the final two outs of the game for the save Sunday after Hogan Harris began the frame by walking two of three batters. Jack Perkins was likely available but did not pitch in Sunday's game. He hasn't saved a game since April 30, with the A's last five saves going to other relievers. |
| Houston | Bryan King 2 (6), Nate Pearson (1) | none | King was likely unavailable for Pearson's save chance Sunday, having pitched on back-to-back days. Bryan Abreu was available but pitched in the eighth inning, as he did Friday prior to King's save. |
| Los Angeles | Kirby Yates (1) | none | Yates tied Ryan Zeferjahn for the lead among active Angels relievers with his first save of the year Saturday. Zeferjahn pitched the sixth inning in that game. |
| Seattle | Andres Munoz (9) | none | |
| Texas | none | none |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | none | none | |
| Miami | Pete Fairbanks (6) | none | |
| New York | none | none | See "Closers I'm Worried About" below. |
| Philadelphia | Jhoan Duran 2 (10) | none | |
| Washington | Richard Lovelady (4), Orlando Ribalta (2) | Orlando Ribalta (1) | Ribalta's blown save came in the 10th inning Friday. Clayton Beeter pitched the eighth and Gus Varland pitched the ninth, both with the score tied. Ribalta then got the final two outs for the save Sunday after Varland and Lovelady got just one out between them to open the frame. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | none | none | |
| Cincinnati | none | Tony Santillan (3) | |
| Milwaukee | Chad Patrick (2) | none | See "Bullpen Deep Dives" below. |
| Pittsburgh | Gregory Soto 2 (6) | none | |
| St. Louis | none | none |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Paul Sewald (12) | none | |
| Colorado | none | none | |
| Los Angeles | Blake Treinen (1) | none | Tanner Scott was unavailable for Treinen's save Monday, having pitched on both of the previous two days. Alex Vesia got the first two outs of the ninth inning while allowing one single but was pulled for Treinen for the final out with a righty at the plate. |
| San Diego | Mason Miller (16) | none | |
| San Francisco | Caleb Kilian (3) | none | Erik Miller pitched the eighth inning prior to Kilina's save Sunday. |
Closers I'm Worried About
Lucas Erceg, Royals: Erceg's job isn't under threat due to the possibility of Carlos Estevez's return, as Estevez is yet to resume throwing since being diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain in early May. But it might be under threat due to his own underperformance, as his blown save Monday against the Yankees was the latest in a run of poor performances from the righty.
Erceg has now allowed runs in four of his last five appearances, giving up 12 hits in five innings over that stretch. He now owns a 5.06 ERA and 1.69 WHIP on the season, and that ERA doesn't look all that out of place next to his 4.45 SIERA. It certainly looks out of place in the ninth inning, as do his 19.4 percent strikeout rate and 14.0 percent walk rate.
Erceg's 52.5 percent groundball rate is good, and it's helped him allow zero home runs on the season, but that's not enough to make a high-leverage reliever all by itself. Erceg also didn't pitch like a high-leverage reliever last season, escaping with a 2.64 ERA despite a 3.78 SIERA and just a 19.3 percent strikeout rate. While there haven't been suggestions from the team that a change is imminent, it wouldn't be a big surprise if Erceg moves to a lower-leverage role sometime soon.
Worry-o-meter: 3 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Daniel Lynch IV. Matt Strahm entered the year as one of the team's two top setup men alongside Erceg, but he's been merely decent (3.86 ERA, 3.78 SIERA, 23.9 percent strikeout rate) and is currently sidelined with a knee injury. Meanwhile, Lynch has been excellent, with a 1.59 ERA and 0.88 WHIP backed by a 29.7 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate. His groundball rate (52.7 percent) even matches Erceg's, and he's given up just one home run all season. He's clearly the Royals' best reliever at the moment, and if the Royals are looking to shake things up, they should move him into the ninth inning as soon as possible. The fact that he's a lefty could give them pause, but the former starter has a broad pitch arsenal and has held righties to a .286 wOBA this season, so he should be able to handle himself against any part of the lineup.
Devin Williams, Mets: Devin Williams entered a tie game in the bottom of the ninth Sunday against the Marlins and gave up a walk-off grand slam to take the loss. Those four runs were the only runs he's given up in the last month, so I don't want to overstate the worry level by including him here, but he has both some poor season-long numbers and some worrying recent trends, so he deserves a mention nonetheless.
On the season as a whole, Williams owns a 6.35 ERA and 1.65 WHIP, and while his 32.5 percent strikeout rate would be good for most pitchers, it's his worst mark since his 13.2-inning debut back in 2019. His 13.0 percent walk rate is a career high, while his 40.0 percent groundball rate is a career low. Even if his ERA estimators (3.20 xFIP and 3.09 SIERA) suggest he's been the victim of a lot of bad luck (as does his .400 BABIP), the 31-year-old no longer appears to be quite the pitcher he was at his peak.
Over his last five outings, Williams has just four strikeouts to go with four walks. He's also had a Stuff+ on his famous "airbender" changeup below 100 in three of those five outings. Losing feel for his dominant changeup seems to be the main driver of his struggles this season. In the nine outings where his changeup has recorded a Stuff+ of 100 or better, he hasn't allowed a single run. In the 11 outings where his changeup Stuff+ came in below par, he's allowed a total of 12 runs. His Stuff+ on the pitch overall has dropped from 124 to 88 this season.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Luke Weaver. He's been the Mets' highest-leverage reliever this season according to leverage index, higher even than Williams. Weaver had a rough patch early on but is riding a streak of nine straight scoreless appearances, striking out 15 batters over that stretch while walking four and allowing just six hits in 10.1 innings of work. He now owns a 3.22 ERA and 1.07 WHIP on the season, and his strikeout rate has crept up to 25.3 percent, not far from his 27.5 percent mark from last season. He also has a bit of experience in the ninth inning, saving 12 games over his previous two campaigns with the Yankees. While no change appears to be imminent, if the Mets do shake things up, Weaver will be the one to move into the ninth inning.
Bullpen Deep Dive
Milwaukee Brewers
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
| Abner Uribe | 5 | 4.42 | 1.15 | 3.32 | 25.3% | 9.3% | 16.0% | 110 | 101 | 1.67 |
| Trevor Megill | 5 | 5.29 | 1.18 | 2.73 | 30.1% | 8.2% | 21.9% | 114 | 93 | 1.49 |
| Chad Patrick | 2 | 2.63 | 1.20 | 4.80 | 17.6% | 10.3% | 7.3% | 98 | 95 | 1.17 |
| Aaron Ashby | 0 | 2.45 | 1.33 | 2.77 | 33.6% | 12.1% | 21.4% | 122 | 90 | 1.11 |
*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.
Abner Uribe took over as the Brewers' closer in mid-April after a poor run of appearances from Tervor Megill, but does he still hold that title? He has just one of the Brewers' last four saves, with one going to Megill and one going to Chad Patrick. This looks like a committee at the moment, and perhaps one in which Uribe won't keep the top spot for long.
Patrick's last save was an unusual one. He entered Friday's game with two outs in the eighth inning and two runners on, making it a save situation despite the fact the Brewers had a four-run lead. He got the third out of the eighth and then pitched a clean ninth inning to complete the save. His first save was non-traditional as well, as he pitched the final four innings after Logan Henderson pitched the first five. It's probably not right to consider him a leading member of the committee, therefore, and his underlying numbers suggest he probably won't see many more save chances.
Judging by their SIERAs, strikeout and walk rates, and Stuff+ numbers, Megill deserves to be ahead of Uribe at the moment. Since April 21, he's outpitched Uribe, with a 1.80 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, 35.1 percent strikeout rate and 5.4 percent walk rate. Uribe has a 4.82 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 26.3 percent strikeout rate and 10.5 percent walk rate over that stretch. Given that Megill entered the year as the dedicated closer, it might not be long until he officially reclaims the role, even if he still hasn't regained the two ticks of velocity he lost after suffering a late-season flexor strain last year.
I've included Aaron Ashby on the above table because if this is indeed a committee and remains that way for an extended period, he could see a handful of save chances as the team's top lefty (and arguably the team's top reliever, period). For now, Ashby is frequently being used in a multi-inning role in the middle innings, a spot which has allowed him to pick up a league-leading eight wins. He has the best Stuff+ and the best strikeout rate in the Brewers' bullpen, however, so if the team wanted to use him in the ninth inning, he'd likely do quite a good job.
Injury Round-Up
Ben Joyce, Angels: Joyce made four rehab appearances while working his way back from shoulder surgery, a procedure he underwent last May, but he suffered a setback and hasn't pitched since May 7. He recently resumed throwing, but it will presumably be some time before he's ready to resume his rehab assignment, and said assignment will likely be a lengthy one given his extended absence and long injury history. He could compete for save chances once eventually healthy, but for now, it's Ryan Zeferjahn and Kirby Yates who are the only two Angels on the active roster who have any saves this season.
Josh Hader, Astros: Hader has been out all season with biceps tendinitis but is expected to return in the first week of June. He's pitched well on his rehab assignment, striking out 11 and walking just one while giving up just one run in seven innings of work. Bryan King leads the Astros with five saves but will retreat to a setup role once Hader is healthy.
Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: Diaz underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow in late April and is expected to return sometime in the second half. He's set to resume throwing this week, but the Dodgers haven't set a clear timetable for his return. Tanner Scott has been the primary closer in his absence.
Ryan Helsley, Orioles: Helsley has been out since the start of May with elbow inflammation. While he resumed throwing May 15, there haven't been any updates on his progress since then, so it's unclear when he's expected to embark on a rehab assignment. He had previously said he hoped to be back before the end of May, that seems very unlikely at this point. Rico Garcia and Anthony Nunez have split the save chances in his absence.
Emilio Pagan, Reds: Pagan suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain in early May, an injury which is expected to keep him out for 4-to-8 weeks. He resumed throwing one week ago, but only from his knees in order to keep stress off his hamstring. No Reds reliever has established himself as the closer in Pagan's absence, with Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft, Pierce Johnson and Tejay Antone all seeing save chances.
Victor Vodnik, Rockies: Vodnik hit the injured list with right ulnar nerve inflammation last Wednesday. The Rockies have spread the saves around this season, with Vodnik the primary option but Antonio Senzatela, Juan Mejia and others in the mix as well. No one has a save for the Rockies since Vodnik hit the IL.
Carlos Estevez, Royals: Estevez was diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain in early May while making his first rehab appearance after suffering a bruised foot in his first outing of the regular season. He has yet to resume throwing. Lucas Erceg has been the Royals' closer in his absence, but as discussed above, he hasn't been particularly good.
Closer Grid
This article will be published every Monday and Friday this season (or in this case, Tuesday), taking a look back at the previous series' top closer news. For more closer updates, check out the RotoWire Closer Grid, which changes daily.
Here's how the whole thing looks as of Tuesday evening:
*part of a committee
Questions about any of the closers covered above or any relievers you're considering picking up off the waiver wire? Let me know in the comments below.
