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.
I'll be on vacation next week, so instead of Monday's Closer Carousel article, there will be a Closer Encounters article by Ryan Rufe.
Who Earned Saves This Week?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Anthony Nunez (2) | none | Rico Garcia faced Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger in the eighth inning Monday before handing the ball over to Nunez for the save in the ninth. |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman (9) | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (11), Garrett |
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.
I'll be on vacation next week, so instead of Monday's Closer Carousel article, there will be a Closer Encounters article by Ryan Rufe.
Who Earned Saves This Week?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Anthony Nunez (2) | none | Rico Garcia faced Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger in the eighth inning Monday before handing the ball over to Nunez for the save in the ninth. |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman (9) | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (11), Garrett Cleavinger (1) | Aaron Brooks (1) | Cleavinger's save came in the 10th inning Tuesday. Brooks' blown save came in the 10th inning Wednesday. Baker had already pitched, picking up what was technically a blown save in the eighth inning (though it's unlikely he was being used with the intention of picking up a six-out save). Cleavinger, Cole Sulser, Kevin Kelly and Hunter Bigge also pitched earlier in that game, while Ian Seymour was unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. |
| Toronto | none | none |
*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 | Bryan Hudson (2), Seranthony Dominguez (10), Sean Newcomb (1) | none | Dominguez pitched the eighth inning Tuesday prior to Hudson's save. Hudson faced a tougher part of the lineup (2/3/4 instead of 8/9/1), though the game was still tied when Dominguez made his appearance, so perhaps the White Sox weren't prioritizing saving him for a save situation. Newcomb recorded a two-inning save Thursday with Dominguez unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. |
| Cleveland | Cade Smith 2 (13) | none | |
| Detroit | none | none | |
| Kansas City | none | none | |
| Minnesota | none | none |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | none | Jack Perkins (2) | |
| Houston | none | Bryan King (2) | |
| Los Angeles | none | none | |
| Seattle | Andres Munoz (8) | none | |
| Texas | Jacob Latz (5) | Jacob Latz (2) | Latz has the Rangers' last five saves. No other Ranger has saved a game since April 12. |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Raisel Iglesias 2 (8) | none | |
| Miami | none | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Philadelphia | Jhoan Duran 2 (7) | none | |
| Washington | PJ Poulin (2) | none | Poulin's save came in the 10th inning Wednesday. Gus Varland pitched a scoreless ninth with the game tied to pick up the win. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Daniel Palencia (3) | none | |
| Cincinnati | none | none | |
| Milwaukee | Abner Uribe (4) | Abner Uribe (2) | |
| Pittsburgh | Gregory Soto (4) | none | Soto now has the Pirates' last three saves. Dennis Santana's last save came a full month ago on April 15. |
| St. Louis | Riley O'Brien 2 (13) | none |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Paul Sewald (9) | Paul Sewald (1) | |
| Colorado | none | none | |
| Los Angeles | Tanner Scott (4) | none | Scott now has all four Dodgers' saves since Edwin Diaz hit the injured list. |
| San Diego | Mason Miller (13) | none | |
| San Francisco | Caleb Kilian (2) | none |
Closers I'm Worried About
Jack Perkins, Athletics: I wrote up Perkins in this spot earlier this week on the theory that he could lose his spot atop the A's closer committee, and my worry level remains medium after this week's series against the Cardinals. Perkins did pitch a scoreless ninth inning with a four-run lead Wednesday, but he blew the save Thursday, giving up two runs on three hits while recording just two outs.
Perkins has now allowed seven runs (five earned) on seven hits across his last four outings. He had a 2.70 ERA and 1.05 WHIP prior to that stretch; he now owns a 4.76 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. Perkins' underlying numbers are still quite good — a 28.2 percent strikeout rate and 6.4 percent walk rate lead to a 2.76 SIERA — but for a bullpen which has cycled several options through the ninth inning throughout the year, recent results matter.
Considering that most of Perkins' success this year came in a multi-inning relief role, the A's might give up on their apparent efforts to turn him into a single-inning closer. Don't be surprised if we see Perkins pitching the sixth and seventh or seventh and eighth innings his next time out, with any of a number of different mediocre relievers getting the save chance after he exits.
Worry-o-meter: 3 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Hogan Harris has the A's second-highest leverage index over the last two weeks, followed by Justin Sterner. Harris is the A's top lefty and has a pair of saves already. He should continue seeing save chances as long as the team uses some sort of committee, though his 2.57 ERA comes with a much worse 4.72 SIERA, and his 17.2 percent walk rate is quite poor. Sterner received some preseason hype as a potential closer, and while he has zero saves and a mediocre 4.22 ERA, he has a much better 3.18 SIERA. His 24.7 percent strikeout rate is second among A's relievers behind Perkins, and he's combined it with a 7.5 percent walk rate.
Abner Uribe, Brewers: Those who drafted Uribe this season have to be happy about how quickly he took the closer job from Trevor Megill, but taking the job and keeping it all season are two different things. Uribe took over as the closer on April 15 after Megill allowed a total of seven runs across back-to-back appearances, and he's picked up four saves since then, including one Tuesday against the Padres. But after Uribe blew the save the next day, allowing a three-run homer to Gavin Sheets, it's fair to wonder just how firm his grip on the job might be.
Ever since Megill and Uribe swapped roles, it's Megill who's been the better pitcher. He owns a 1.80 ERA and 0.80 WHIP since the change, striking out 36.8 percent of opposing batters while walking just 5.3 percent. Meanwhile, Uribe owns a 4.50 ERA, with a decent 25.0 percent strikeout rate and a poor 12.5 percent walk rate. He does still have a 1.00 WHIP over those 11 outings, but a .130 BABIP has helped out in a big way there.
Uribe's Stuff+ is down this season from 115 to 109, and he's been less dominant as a result. While he had a 30.2 percent strikeout rate and 53.2 percent groundball rate last year, he has just a 25.0 percent strikeout rate and 40.0 percent groundball rate this season. While there's been no indication that he's about to lose the job, this isn't the Uribe we're used to, so if Megill continues to pitch well, don't be surprised if the two trade jobs again.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Trevor Megill. He has plenty of experience in the ninth inning, saving 21 games in 2024 and 30 games in 2025, and, as discussed above, he's pitched very well over the last month. His velocity remains down, however, with his fastball averaging 87.4 mph after it came in at 99.2 mph last season, and the elbow strain he suffered last September remains worrisome, but he seems healthy at the moment. A few more bad outings by Uribe and the Brewers could go back to their tried and tested option.
Bullpen Deep Dive
Cincinnati Reds
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Santillan | 1 | 5.82 | 1.53 | 4.22 | 23.0% | 12.2% | 10.8% | 93 | 96 | 1.72 |
| Graham Ashcraft | 1 | 1.66 | 1.20 | 3.67 | 29.4% | 15.3% | 14.1% | 112 | 102 | 1.29 |
| Connor Phillips | 1 | 5.16 | 1.68 | 5.67 | 21.5% | 20.6% | 0.9% | 115 | 85 | 1.19 |
| Pierce Johnson | 1 | 3.71
| 1.29 | 4.06 | 20.8% | 8.3% | 12.5% | 99 | 99 | 0.81 |
| Tejay Antone** | 0 | 3.50 | 0.60 | 1.29 | 33.3% | 0.0% | 33.3% | 97 | 106 | 0.51 |
| Luis Mey** | 0 | 3.38 | 1.25 | 2.83 | 36.1% | 13.9% | 22.2% | 101 | 96 | 0.35 |
*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.
**Antone's numbers come in just four appearances. Mey's come in just five.
When I covered the Reds bullpen right after Emilio Pagan went down with a hamstring strain, an injury which could keep him out for up to two months, I managed to miss the reliever who wound up getting the team's first (and so far only) save in Pagan's absence. So let's try this again, this time including Pierce Johnson.
Tony Santillan has been the Reds' second-highest leverage reliever after Pagan this season, so he ought to be the one who stepped up to claim the closer job, but he's been particularly poor recently. He's given up runs in each of his last five appearances, striking out just two batters over that stretch. That meant Graham Ashcraft got the first save chance in Johnson's absence, but he blew it. He's been struggling with control over the last month, with a 19.6 percent walk rate over that stretch. Connor Phillips has struggled with control all year, so he's probably not close to pitching in the ninth inning regularly despite the fact that he has one save already and the best Stuff+ in this bullpen.
Johnson's save came somewhat out of nowhere given how low he ranks in leverage index, but he's one of the few pitchers in this pen who's shown decent control this year, so there's a realistic chance he could establish himself as Terry Francona's most trusted reliever. He's been far from dominant, with his strikeout rate falling to below-average this season, but he should be somewhat comfortable in the ninth inning thanks to his 17 career saves.
I've also included a couple of long shots in the above table in Tejay Antone and Luis Mey. Neither is getting high-leverage opportunities yet, but both have posted promising small-sample numbers. Antone was a widely-hyped arm several years ago but has seen his career sidetracked by injuries. He recently returned from his third career Tommy John surgery, and while it would be a victory just for him to stay on the field, a move toward the ninth inning can't be ruled out if he keeps pitching well.
Meanwhile, Mey has missed a ton of bats since being recalled in late April. He's also generated a 62.5 percent groundball rate thanks to his 98.7 mph sinker. He looks like a potential future closer but might be too inexperienced to earn Francona's trust for now.
Injury Round-Up
Ben Joyce, Angels: Joyce is working his way back from shoulder surgery, a procedure he underwent last May. He recently paused his rehab assignment, though his MRI came back clean Friday, so he could get going again. Given the setback, however, he's likely still several weeks away from returning. Ryan Zeferjahn is the only Angel on the active roster with a save this season.
Josh Hader, Astros: Hader has made three rehab appearances as he works his way back from biceps tendinitis. He's allowed no runs on two hits while striking out four and walking just one. He'll be eligible to return May 24 and should reclaim his closer job from Bryan King once he's ready to go.
Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: Diaz underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow in late April and will be back sometime in the second half. Tanner Scott has all four of the Dodgers' saves in his absence.
Ryan Helsley, Orioles: Helsley hit the injured list with elbow inflammation at the start of May. He resumed playing catch Friday but will need some time to build back up before he's ready to return. Rico Garcia is the top option for saves in his absence, but Anthony Nunez has also picked up a save after Garcia was used against a tough part of the Yankees' order in the eighth inning.
Emilio Pagan, Reds: Covered above. Pagan will miss four-to-eight weeks after suffering a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in early May. Pierce Johnson has the Reds' only save in his absence.
Carlos Estevez, Royals: Estevez was diagnosed with a right rotator cuff strain last week and can safely be dropped. Lucas Erceg remains the closer in his absence.
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.
Here's how the whole thing looks as of Friday 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.
