Closer Carousel: Who Earned Saves This Week?

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.

Who Earned Saves This Week?

*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.

Closers I'm Worried About

Bryan Abreu, Astros: I was quite worried about Abreu after the opening series, as he showed diminished velocity (particularly in his second appearance) while allowing four runs with a 4:3 K:BB across his first two outings. He remains one of the closers (if we can even call him that) I'm most worried about, but he gets a downgrade on the worry-o-meter here after picking up his first save of the year Tuesday against the Red Sox. He did allow a leadoff homer to Roman Anthony, which means he's now given up at least one run in all three of his appearances so far, but he then struck out the next three batters to close out the game.

It's likely that the Astros want Abreu to be their primary closer until Josh Hader returns from biceps tendinitis, but given that the job is a temporary one (provided Hader avoids setbacks), it wouldn't be hard for them to go with a committee instead. The fact that the Astros went right back to Abreu for their next save chance despite his struggles in his first two outings is an encouraging sign that they still see him as their top option at the moment, though whether he's best described as a temporary closer or committee leader is unclear. Either way, his grip on that role will remain tenuous until he can string some scoreless outings together, but it's encouraging to see that his velocity was back up to 96.1 mph in his latest outing after he sat 93.2 mph in his previous trip to the mound.

Worry-o-meter: 3 out of 5.

Setup man to stash: Bryan King or AJ Blubaugh. King, a lefty, cleaned up Abreu's mess in the opening series to pick up the save and has a 7:1 K:BB in 3.2 innings. If this is really just a committee, expect King to pick up some saves when lefties are due up in the ninth inning. Blubaugh has been the team's top righty outside of Abreu and actually leads the team in leverage index, but his first two appearances were for multiple innings and his third came in the sixth inning. Still, his 6:1 K:BB in 5.1 innings suggests he'd do a fine job in the ninth if the Astros were to change his role.

Ryan Walker, Giants: Walker was seen by fantasy drafters as a relatively safe closer, albeit not a particularly exciting one. He was the 15th closer by Main Event ADP, sandwiched between Emilio Pagan and Kenley Jansen. That followed a season in which he opened the year as the Giants' closer, lost the role mid-season, and regained it late in the year after Camilo Doval was traded and Randy Rodriguez underwent elbow surgery. His 4.11 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 22.6 percent strikeout rate were very much not closer numbers, but he had experience in the role, and the Giants had no obvious alternatives.

Walker's usage so far makes it hard to say that he's definitively still the closer in San Francisco. He made a pair of appearances with his team trailing in the opening series against the Yankees, then picked up a conventional save Monday against the Padres, though he gave up a two-run homer to Jackson Merrill to cut the lead to just one before shutting the door. Thursday against the Mets, however, he appeared in the sixth inning, recording the final two outs of the frame after Robbie Ray left the game. 

After the game, it was revealed that manager Tony Vitello had planned to use Walker directly after Ray due to the fact that they throw from very different arm angles and from opposite sides of the plate. That's a reasonable explanation, but it would be very rare for a pitcher who's seen as a genuine closer to be used in that way. And if it happened once already, who's to say it won't keep happening? The Giants likely weren't too attached to using Walker in the ninth inning to begin with, and while he's still probably the team's top option for saves, don't be surprised if he frequently appears in high-leverage spots earlier in the game.

Worry-o-meter: 3 out of 5

Setup man to stash: Probably Keaton Winn. Winn got the eighth inning Monday prior to Walker's lone save, with Matt Gage getting the seventh. In three innings so far this season, Winn has yet to allow a run or a hit, striking out six of the 10 batters he's faced while walking just one. Gage has also yet to allow a hit or a run in his three appearance but has just one strikeout. Joel Peguero, who had a 2.42 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in his 22.1-inning debut last year, could also be an option once he returns from a hamstring strain. He's advanced to live batting practice but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. 

Emilio Pagan, Reds: Pagan doesn't show up here due to Connor Phillips' save on Monday, as that came with Pagan unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. I have no doubt that Pagan is the closer for now. Instead, he shows up here because I do have doubts about whether or not he'll pitch well enough to keep the job. Pagan certainly pitched like a closer last year, with a 2.88 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 30.0 percent strikeout rate, but he's been notoriously inconsistent throughout his career. Pagan posted ERAs beginning with a two in 2019, 2023 and 2025 but had ERAs beginning with a four in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

Early signs indicate that the bad version of Pagan could be returning. He's made three appearances this year and has given up runs in two of them, allowing five runs in 3.1 frames in total. He blew a save on Saturday, then bounced back with a save on Sunday despite allowing a pair of baserunners. Then, on Wednesday, he pitched the ninth with a one-run deficit and allowed four more runners to score. Reds manager Terry Francona does love to pick a veteran with closer experience and stick with him, but Pagan's year-to-year inconsistency could make that difficult to do.

Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5

Setup man to stash: Tony Santillan. Phillips did pick up the save Monday with Pagan unavailable, but Santillan was also unavailable in that game, as he'd also pitched on back-to-back days. Santillan pitched the eighth in front of Pagan in both of those contests, a pretty clear sign that he's Francona's next most trusted reliever. He hasn't allowed a run in three innings of work and has six strikeouts, though he's also walked four batters. 

Trevor Megill, Brewers: The Brewers offered little clarity over the offseason about whether their closer would be Megill, who held the role for most of last year, or Abner Uribe, who stepped into the ninth inning when Megill suffered a late-season elbow strain and held onto the role in the playoffs even with Megill back in action. So far this season, Megill does have the Brewers' only save, but it's worth staying alert to any signs that he could be about to lose the job.

Megill picked up the save against the White Sox on Sunday, but the next day, he pitched the ninth inning of a tie game against the Rays and picked up the loss, giving up an RBI double to Nick Fortes. One bad outing won't put him on this list, however. What has me more concerned is his fastball velocity. He averaged 99.2 mph prior to his injury last season, then averaged 98.5 mph in his first outing this year, but he dropped to 97.2 mph in his second. 

That could easily be explained by the fact that it's still March — especially since he had some outings in a similar range early last season — but any time a pitcher has an elbow or forearm strain that he returns from after mere rest and not a surgical procedure, you have to wonder whether the issue may still be present. Don't panic about Megill yet, but if the velocity continues to trend in the wrong direction, an IL move or at least a swap in roles with Uribe could be coming.

Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5

Setup man to stash: Abner Uribe. He saved seven games while Megill was unavailable last season, plus one more in the playoffs. He finished last year with a 1.67 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 30.2 percent strikeout rate, numbers that would make him the closer for most teams around the league. He's also thrown a pair of scoreless innings so far this season. He's good enough that he's probably worth picking up in most leagues where he's still available even if Megill never winds up leaving the closer role. 

Bullpen Deep Dive

Texas Rangers

*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.

**Alexander pitched for the Brewers and White Sox last year. The rest of these pitchers all pitched for the Brewers.

Early in draft season, Robert Garcia was seen as the Rangers' presumed closer, with none of the team's other pitchers generating much interest. In Draft Champions Leagues through the end of January, Garcia had an ADP of 319, while Martin's sat at 646, Winn's sat at 734 and Alexander was undrafted. At the start of camp, though, manager Skip Schumaker indicated that Garcia and Martin were expected to share closer duties, but drafters still preferred Garcia. For the NFBC Main Event, Garcia had a 220 ADP while Martin came in at 387 and the others went undrafted.

Very few would have predicted that the team's first two saves would go to Tyler Alexander of all people. Here's how the above stats look after one week's worth of games this season:

Looking more closely at how Alexander came to record his two saves casts doubt on the idea that he's going to earn many more this season, however. For his first save Saturday against the Phillies, Garcia got the ball to start the ninth inning against lefties Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. He retired them both but then allowed righties Alec Bohm and Edmundo Sosa to reach base and was replaced by Martin. Martin would have got the save if not for Jake Burger dropping a foul ball. He then allowed a pair of hits to blow the save and tie the game. 

Alexander got the ball for the 10th inning (Winn had already pitched in the fifth) and earned the save despite allowing a pair of baserunners. Winn, Martin and Garcia all pitched again Sunday in a game the Rangers would win by five runs, so they were unavailable when another save chance arrived Monday against Baltimore. Jakob Junis pitched the seventh in that game with Jalen Beeks in the eighth before Alexander picked up the save in the ninth.

That means that while Alexander does have the team's first two saves, he's yet to be used ahead of Garcia or Martin in a high-leverage situation, and even Winn may well be ahead of him on the closer depth chart. I'd still view this bullpen much the same way it was viewed prior to the season, with Garcia and Martin likely to split most of the save chances, though perhaps it's more of a three- or four-man committee than the two-man split Schumaker originally implied. 

Injury Round-Up

Kirby Yates, Angels: Yates looked like one of the favorites to win the Angels' closer competition this spring, but he opened the year on the injured list due to left knee inflammation. Jordan Romano has done a good job in the ninth inning so far this season, but Yates won't be out long, as he advanced to throwing a bullpen session Wednesday. It's unclear if he'll be given the chance to displace Romano once he returns or if he'll be stuck in a setup role. 

Josh Hader, Astros: Hader continues to throw bullpen sessions as he works his way back from biceps tendinitis, an issue which popped up in early February as he attempted to work his way back from the shoulder strain which cut his 2025 campaign short in August. Things are reportedly going well so far, as he's been without pain or discomfort, and he's expected to face hitters in mid-April. That puts his likely return date somewhere near the start of May. Bryan Abreu (see above) has been the top option in his absence but hasn't gotten off to a good start this season. 

Garrett Cleavinger, Rays: Cleavinger is expected to be one of the top names in the Rays' closer committee this season, but he's allowed a pair of runs in 2.1 innings to start the year, striking out three while walking four. He hit the injured list Friday morning with right calf tightness, taking him out of the picture for at least the next 15 days, though the issue doesn't appear to be too serious. Kevin Kelly has the Rays' only save so far, with expected top bullpen arm Griffin Jax typically pitching in high-leverage situations earlier in the game. 

Carlos Estevez, Royals: The Royals got a convenient excuse to take Estevez out of the firing line when he was struck in the ankle by a line drive in his season debut Saturday. X-rays were negative, so Estevez likely doesn't need a lengthy absence, but the Royals may keep him out for a while to give him time to regain his lost velocity, which was down as much as six or seven miles per hour throughout spring training. Lucas Erceg has stepped into the ninth inning in his absence and could keep the job long-term if Estevez is unable to recover his previous velocity and effectiveness.

Closer Grid

This article will be published every Monday and Friday this season, taking a look back at the previous series' top closer news. For more closer updates, check out the RotoWire Closer Grid, which changes daily.  

A few changes from Monday' grid:

• Baltimore upgraded from "Medium" to "High" security.
• Houston downgraded from "Medium" to "Very Low" security.
• Cincinnati downgraded from "Medium" to "Low" security.
• Tampa Bay downgraded from "Medium" to "Very Low" security.
• Arizona upgraded from "Very Low" to "Low" security.
• Riley O'Brien moved ahead of Ryne Stanek in the Cardinals' closer committee.
• Scott Barlow moved ahead of Hogan Harris in the Athletics' closer committee.

Here's how the whole thing looks as of Friday afternoon:

*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.