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 Weekend?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
| Baltimore | none | none | |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman (2) | none | |
| New York | David Bednar (4) | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Kevin Kelly (2) | none | Kelly got the save in the 10th inning Sunday after Griffin Jax pitched the seventh and eighth and Bryan Baker pitched the ninth. Baker picked up the save Monday afternoon against the Cubs, which will be covered in Friday's article. He appears to be the leader of the closer committee at |
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 Weekend?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
| Baltimore | none | none | |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman (2) | none | |
| New York | David Bednar (4) | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Kevin Kelly (2) | none | Kelly got the save in the 10th inning Sunday after Griffin Jax pitched the seventh and eighth and Bryan Baker pitched the ninth. Baker picked up the save Monday afternoon against the Cubs, which will be covered in Friday's article. He appears to be the leader of the closer committee at the moment. |
| Toronto | none | Jeff Hoffman (2) | Hoffman blew the save in the 10th inning Friday by allowing a pair of unearned runs. |
*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 (1), Chris Murphy (1) | none | Murphy's save came with Dominguez unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. |
| Cleveland | Cade Smith 2 (3), Eli Morgan (1) | none | Morgan's save was a three-inning save. |
| Detroit | none | none | |
| Kansas City | none | none | |
| Minnesota | none | none |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
| Athletics | none | Mark Leiter (1) | Leiter blew the save in the eighth inning Sunday by allowing a pair of runners inherited from Scott Barlow to score. |
| Houston | none | none | |
| Los Angeles | Jordan Romano (3) | Sam Bachman (1) | Bachman pitched a clean eighth inning Sunday but was asked to pitch the ninth as well (Romano, Drew Pomeranz and Chase Silseth had all pitched on back-to-back days) and blew the save in his second frame. |
| Seattle | Gabe Speier (1) | Matt Brash (1) | Speier picked up the save in the 10th inning Friday after Andres Munoz was used in a tie game in the ninth. Brash's blown save came in the 10th inning Sunday. |
| Texas | none | none |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
| Atlanta | Raisel Iglesias (1) | none | |
| Miami | Anthony Bender (1) | none | Bender got a save chance because Pete Fairbanks was used as an opener, which only happened because he had to leave Sunday's game early since his wife was due to give birth. |
| New York | Devin Williams (2) | none | |
| Philadelphia | Jhoan Duran (3) | none | |
| Washington | none | Clayton Beeter (1) | Beeter's blown save game in the eighth inning Sunday when he allowed a pair of inherited runners to score. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
| Chicago | Daniel Palencia (1) | none | |
| Cincinnati | Emilio Pagan 2 (3), Brock Burke (1) | none | Burke's save came with Pagan, Tony Santillan and Graham Ashcraft all unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. Connor Phillips pitched the eighth in that game. |
| Milwaukee | Trevor Megill 2 (3) | none | |
| Pittsburgh | Gregory Soto (1) | none | See "Bullpen Deep Dive" below |
| St. Louis | Riley O'Brien (2) | none | O'Brien now has the Cardinals' last two saves. Ryne Stanek pitched in the eighth inning prior to O'Brien's save Sunday. |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
| Arizona | Paul Sewald (3) | Jonathan Loaisiga (1) | Loaisiga got a save chance Sunday after Sewald had pitched on back-to-back days but allowed three consecutive singles to start the ninth inning to blow the save. |
| Colorado | Victor Vodnik (1) | none | |
| Los Angeles | Edwin Diaz (3) | none | |
| San Diego | Mason Miller 2 (4) | none | |
| San Francisco | none | Erik Miller (1) | Miller blew the save in the eighth inning Sunday, allowing two of Keaton Winn's inherited runners to score as well as two more of his own. |
Closers I'm Worried About
Bryan Abreu, Astros: Abreu is back up to a 4 out of 5 on the worry-o-meter after getting knocked around yet again in his latest outing. This one wasn't a save chance, as he was called on to keep the game tied with two outs in the ninth after Bryan King allowed a pair of baserunners. He gave up an infield single but was bailed out by Jose Altuve, who threw Jeff McNeil out at home. He then stuck around for the 10th inning and promptly allowed a walk and a three-run homer to the only two batters he faced, picking up the loss. He's now allowed at least one run in all four of his appearances this season.
The one positive for Abreu here is that his velocity, which was down to 93.2 mph in his second outing of the year, has been back up at 96.1 and 96.3 mph in his last two appearances. That's still below his 97.2 mph mark from last season, though, and that reduced velocity is a real problem when combined with an inability to throw strikes.
Abreu has never had great command, with a career 11.0 percent walk rate, but he's all the way up to 31.3 percent in that category. His control looks just as bad on a per-pitch basis, as just 48.6 percent of his pitches have been strikes this season, well below his career average of 61.7 and the MLB average of 62.9 percent. It's going to be tough for the Astros to keep giving save chances to a player whose stuff, command and results are all down by such a large amount so far this season.
Worry-o-meter: 4 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Bryan King. While he got into the jam that Abreu just barely got out of Sunday, that was his second inning of work and came after he pitched a clean eighth. He also cleaned up Abreu's mess for a save in the opening series and has a couple of appearances in the eighth inning. He's also allowed just one run on four hits in 5.1 innings of work this season, striking out eight while walking just two. The likeliest outcome may still be that the Astros go with a committee until Josh Hader is healthy, but if they demote Abreu from high-leverage and want to use a dedicated closer, King looks like the best bet, even though he's a lefty. He's actually held righties to a lower wOBA (.260) than lefties (.315) throughout his career.
Lucas Erceg, Royals: Erceg has been used as a true closer in the absence of Carlos Estevez (foot), and there's a real chance he keeps the job even after Estevez returns due to Estevez's massive velocity drop this spring. That assumes Erceg can pitch well enough to keep the role, however. There's been no indication yet that the Royals are about to make a change, but as with Abreu above, Erceg's job is theoretically only a temporary one, which could lead to his team having a quicker trigger than normal.
Erceg's four appearances thus far have been a setup appearance in the eighth while Estevez was still healthy, a pair of traditional save chances and then an appearance in the ninth inning with his team down a run Sunday. That latest outing did not go well, as he gave up a pair of runs on three hits and a walk to stretch the deficit to three.
One bad outing won't be enough to dislodge Erceg, but it's hard to argue his numbers so far look like a closer's. Through four outings, he has a 1.91 WHIP, and his strikeout rate is the same as his walk rate (13.3 percent, an awful mark in both categories). His strike percentage is just 57.4 percent, down from 64.4 percent over the last two seasons. This all comes after his strikeout rate fell all the way from 28.5 percent in 2024 to 19.3 percent in 2025. Erceg simply doesn't look like a closer, and he could be only one or two more bad outings away from moving back into a setup role.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Probably Matt Strahm. John Schreiber has a save this year while Strahm does not, but that save came after Erceg and Strahm had both pitched on back-to-back days. Strahm has the highest leverage index among Royals relievers (outside of Estevez in his lone appearance) and has a solid 4:1 K:BB in 3.2 innings of work. He's also a lefty, but he has quite neutral splits for his career (.292 wOBA allowed vs. lefties, .280 vs righties), and he has a bit of experience in the ninth inning, with 15 saves over the last four years.
The actual answer of who to "stash" here might be Estevez, though, as a mediocre showing from Erceg would make it easier to give Estevez another chance. Still, it would be very hard to trust Estevez given his precipitous velocity drop, so even if he does get another chance once he returns from the injured list, he could pitch his way out of the role quickly.
Jeff Hoffman, Blue Jays: Hoffman returns to this section after blowing a save in his most recent outing. He's now 1-for-3 in save chances this season. Considering the widespread rumors that the Blue Jays were looking to replace him in the ninth inning over the winter, it's hard not to be at least a little worried that he's only one or two more bad outings from losing the role.
That said, it's also hard to argue that he's actually pitched poorly this season. His latest blown save came in the 10th inning Friday against the White Sox after his teammates failed to score the zombie runner in the top half of the frame. He got the first two hitters out, then allowed a bunt single to tie the game (a play which could have easily been ruled an error) followed by one more single to lose it.
On the whole this season, Hoffman has faced 20 batters and has struck out 11 of them (good for a 55 percent strikeout rate) while walking none. He allowed a solo home run in his first appearance, a bad sign after he allowed 15 homers last season, easily the most among all closers, but he's yet to give up another and has only allowed two balls classified as "hard hit" by Statcast all season — just a 22.2 percent hard hit rate. This doesn't look like a pitcher who should be removed from the closer role, but he can only blow so many more saves before Toronto starts thinking about making a change.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Tyler Rogers. He got the ninth inning of a tie game before Hoffman's latest blown save Friday and pitched the eighth prior to Hoffman's first blown save in the opening series. He's clearly Toronto's top setup man at the moment, as you'd expect after the team gave him a three-year, $37 million deal this offseason. He's also yet to allow a run in five innings of work. He'd be an unconventional closer, relying on elite control (2.5 percent walk rate since 2024) and a high groundball rate (58.6 percent since 2024) to make up for a lack of strikeouts (16.7 percent over that same stretch), and if the Blue Jays do make a change, they might prefer to wait until they can pick up a more traditional fireballer at the deadline. If their hand is forced before then, though, Rogers would be the guy.
Bullpen Deep Dive
Pittsburgh Pirates
| 2025 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Santana | 16 | 2.18 | 0.87 | 3.68 | 22.2% | 6.3% | 15.9% | 93 | 102 | 1.48 |
| Gregory Soto (L) | 1 | 4.18 | 1.43 | 3.49 | 25.1% | 8.6% | 16.5% | 114 | 92 | 1.35** |
| Mason Montgomery (L) | 1 | 5.67 | 1.65 | 3.55 | 30.1% | 12.9% | 17.2% | 123 | 91 | 1.08** |
| Justin Lawrence*** | 0 | 0.51 | 0.96 | 3.06 | 33.3% | 11.6% | 21.7% | 103 | 97 | 1.16 |
| Isaac Mattson | 0 | 2.45 | 1.13 | 4.27 | 22.7% | 9.6% | 13.1% | 97 | 98 | 1.40 |
*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.
**Soto pitched for the Orioles and Mets last year while Montgomery pitched for the Rays, so these numbers do not represent their usage by the Pirates.
***Lawrence threw just 17.2 major-league innings last season.
Fantasy drafters thought Santana had this job locked down after he took over from David Bednar following last year's trade deadline, as Santana had a 135 ADP in Draft Champions Leagues, well ahead of Soto (588) in second place. Manager Don Kelly indicated shortly before the season began that things could be different this season, however, suggesting that Santana might be used in high-leverage situations earlier in games. Soto was mentioned as the top alternate for save chances in games where that happened, but Kelly indicated a willingness to use multiple different arms in the ninth inning as needed.
Thus far, that's more or less how it's played out. Soto has the team's lone traditional save — Jose Urquidy also has one, but that came in the 10th inning with the other high-leverage alternatives unavailable — while Santana has clearly the highest leverage index:
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Santana | 0 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 3.80 | 21.1% | 10.5% | 10.5% | 90 | 97 | 1.72 |
| Gregory Soto (L) | 1 | 1.69 | 0.75 | 1.03 | 52.4% | 9.5% | 42.9% | 117 | 105 | 0.99 |
| Mason Montgomery (L) | 0 | 9.64 | 2.36 | 2.84 | 40.0% | 16.0% | 24.0% | 111 | 102 | 1.29 |
| Justin Lawrence | 0 | 4.91 | 1.09 | 2.44 | 40.0% | 13.3% | 26.7% | 105 | 98 | 1.06 |
| Isaac Mattson | 0 | 3.60 | 1.80 | 5.11 | 21.7% | 17.4% | 4.3% | 96 | 92 | 0.93 |
Given that this usage matches the manager's stated intentions, it seems fairly safe to say that the pattern will continue for at least a few more weeks. That would leave both Santana and Soto startable in most deep leagues, as well as Montgomery and Lawrence in particularly deep formats, as they're being used in fairly high-leverage spots and missing tons of bats and could pick up at least a handful of saves. At the moment, it's not clear any of these relievers is useful in shallower formats.
That could change quickly, however, as Soto could force his manager's hand if he continues with his incredible start to the season. It's hard to strike out over half the batters you face and not eventually move into a closer role. Soto is difficult to trust long-term, as he last posted an ERA below 4.00 back in 2022, but Santana has never missed nearly enough bats to look at home in the ninth inning, so Soto could at the very least become his manager's most trusted arm very quickly, with the potential of a true closer's job a possibility as well.
Injury Round-Up
Kirby Yates, Angels: Yates is scheduled to face hitters Tuesday as he works his way back from left knee inflammation. He was considered one of the favorites to win a wide-open closer competition for the Angels this spring, but with Jordan Romano pitching well to start the year, Yates will likely have to settle for a setup role upon his return.
Josh Hader, Astros: Hader continues to work his way back from biceps inflammation, and there have been no reported setbacks with either that injury or the shoulder strain which cut his 2025 campaign short in August. He's been throwing bullpens but has yet to face hitters, so his return is presumably still at least a few weeks away. Bryan Abreu (discussed above) is doing his best to pitch his way out of the temporary closer job in Hader's absence.
Garrett Cleavinger and Edwin Uceta, Rays: Cleavinger and Uceta were expected to be key members of the Rays' closer committee this season, but both are currently on the shelf. Uceta has been out since the start of the season after dealing with shoulder inflammation since mid-February, though he's been throwing live batting practice since late March, so his return likely isn't too far away. Cleavinger struggled to a 3:4 K:BB, 7.71 ERA and 3.00 WHIP in his first three appearances of the season and hit the injured list with calf tightness Friday. Assuming he's merely dealing with tightness and not a strain, he could be back when first eligible (April 15). Bryan Baker appears to have moved into the top spot in the Rays' at the moment due to Griffin Jax's struggles (11.25 ERA, 2.50 WHIP, 1:3 K:BB in five outings).
Carlos Estevez, Royals: There have been no reports that Estevez has resumed throwing after being placed on the injured list with a foot contusion after he was hit by a line drive in his first and only outing of the season. That suggests the Royals aren't going to bring him back after the minimum 15 days and will instead give him more time to rediscover his lost velocity, which was a problem well before the foot injury. Lucas Erceg (see above) hasn't looked convincing as the closer in his absence but still appears to have the role.
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 Friday's grid:
- Cleveland downgraded from Very High to High security
- Pittsburgh downgraded from Medium to Low security, with Gregory Soto now listed ahead of Dennis Santana
- Angels upgraded from Very Low to Low security, with Jordan Romano now listed as a closer rather than committee leader
- Bryan Baker now listed ahead of Griffin Jax in the Rays' closer committee
Here's how the whole thing looks as of Monday morning:
*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.
