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 (5) | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker 2 (6) | none | Baker now has four of the Rays' last five saves and six of the team's last eight. It's probably appropriate to view him more as a true closer than a committee leader at this point, though he'll still appear occasionally prior to the ninth inning. Griffin Jax pitched 2.1 innings as an |
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 (5) | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker 2 (6) | none | Baker now has four of the Rays' last five saves and six of the team's last eight. It's probably appropriate to view him more as a true closer than a committee leader at this point, though he'll still appear occasionally prior to the ninth inning. Griffin Jax pitched 2.1 innings as an opener Sunday, his longest appearance since 2022. If he has a path back to relevance this season, it might come by continuing to stretch out and becoming a true starter rather than moving back into a high-leverage relief role. |
| Toronto | Louis Varland 2 (3) | none | Varland loaded the bases and allowed one run to score Saturday in the first save chance after Jeff Hoffman was demoted from the closer role but eventually shut the door for the save. Varland was given another save chance Saturday after Hoffman pitched a scoreless eighth. Varland got the job done with less fuss this time, allowing just one hit. |
*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 West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | Jack Perkins (2) | none | See "Bullpen Deep Dives" below. |
| Houston | none | none | Enyel De Los Santos got the ball in the ninth inning with a six-run lead Sunday. He gave up three runs to raise his ERA to 6.10 but eventually shut the door. |
| Los Angeles | none | Drew Pomeranz (1), Joey Lucchesi (1) | Jordan Romano was designated for assignment Sunday. For an in-depth look at what comes next, see "Bullpen Deep Dives" below. |
| Seattle | Andres Munoz 2 (5), Jose Ferrer (1) | none | After a shaky start to the season, Munoz now has an 8:1 K:BB with just one run and two hits allowed over his last five appearances. Ferrer's save Sunday came with Munoz and Matt Brash both unavailable, having pitched on back-to-back days. |
| Texas | Jacob Latz (1) | none | See "Bullpen Deep Dives" below. |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Robert Suarez (3) | none | |
| Miami | none | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Philadelphia | none | none | The Phillies still haven't generated a save chance since Jhoan Duran hit the IL with an oblique strain nine days ago. Brad Keller recorded the last out of the eighth and all three outs of the ninth with the score tied Saturday and will probably get the next save chance when one eventually arrives. |
| Washington | Paxton Schultz (1) | none | Schultz's save came in the 10th inning Sunday. Gus Varland had already pitched in the eighth, though other higher-leverage options like PJ Poulin and Brad Lord were likely available. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Corbin Martin (1) | none | |
| Cincinnati | none | none | |
| Milwaukee | none | none | |
| Pittsburgh | Yohan Ramirez (1) | none | Ramirez's save Saturday came in the 10th inning after Dennis Santana pitched the eighth and Gregory Soto pitched the ninth. |
| St. Louis | none | Riley O'Brien (2) | O'Brien's blown save came in what would have been a five-out save Saturday. He allowed an inherited run in the eighth to tie the game and another two in the ninth to lose it. |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | none | none | |
| Colorado | Antonio Senzatela (2), Victor Vodnik (4), Zach Agnos (2) | none | Senzatela recorded the final five outs Friday to record the save. Vodnik may have been unavailable, having thrown 22 pitches the day before. Vodnik was also unavailable for Agnos' save chance, as it came in the nightcap of a doubleheader after Vodnik had recorded a save earlier in the day. |
| Los Angeles | none | none | Alex Vesia pitched in the seventh inning Friday, giving up two runs. Blake Treinen allowed a run in the eighth inning that day, technically picking up a blown save, while Tanner Scott gave up two runs after entering the ninth in a tie game to take the loss. |
| San Diego | Mason Miller (10) | none | |
| San Francisco | Erik Miller (2) | none | Miller recorded the final four outs Sunday to pick up the save. He faced two lefties and a switch hitter (Xavier Edwards) who's fared much better against righties than lefties in his career. Ryan Walker was presumably available but did not pitch in that game. |
Closers I'm Worried About
Nobody in a traditional closer role did anything to make me all that worried over the weekend other than Jordan Romano, but he was designated for assignment Sunday and no longer fits this section. (More on the Angels' bullpen in a minute.) As such, I'm going to skip this section today rather than shoehorn in some players who don't fit the topic, and I'll give you two bonus Bullpen Deep Dives instead.
Bullpen Deep Dives
Los Angeles Angels
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drew Pomeranz (L) | 0 | 7.84 | 1.65 | 5.49 | 14.6% | 10.4% | 4.2% | 106 | 102 | 1.66 |
| Chase Silseth | 0 | 2.61 | 1.65 | 5.04 | 20.8% | 16.7% | 4.2% | 97 | 95 | 1.39 |
| Sam Bachman | 0 | 3.68 | 1.36 | 4.54 | 24.6% | 16.4% | 8.2% | 98 | 84 | 1.31 |
| Ryan Zeferjahn | 0 | 5.65 | 1.26 | 3.68 | 27.4% | 12.9% | 14.5% | 113 | 93 | 1.03 |
| Brent Suter (L) | 0 | 3.00 | 1.28 | 3.70 | 23.9% | 11.3% | 12.7% | 100 | 99 | 0.92 |
| Kirby Yates (2025 stats) | 3 | 5.23 | 1.33 | 3.33 | 29.2% | 9.6% | 19.7% | 97 | 98 | 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.
Jordan Romano began the year with a surprising amount of success, recording four saves in his first six appearances without giving up a run or even a hit. Things could hardly have unraveled more quickly, however, as he proceeded to give up nine runs on 11 hits and four walks over his next five outings, failing to save a single game. That sent his ERA all the way up to 10.13, worse even than the 8.23 mark he had last season.
The Angels decided they'd seen enough and designated him for assignment prior to Sunday's game. Nobody else on the team has a save yet, leaving fantasy players with a wide open situation to speculate for saves going forward. As you can tell from the table above, though, it's not pretty.
Drew Pomeranz was a pitcher I had interest in back in draft season, as his excellent 2025 season with the Cubs (2.17 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 28.1 K%, 7.4 BB%) seemingly made him a good candidate to open the year with the Angels' closer job. While he has the highest leverage index of the Angels' remaining relievers, his performance so far suggests he belongs nowhere near the ninth inning. His Stuff+ and Location+ are at least both above-average, however, and he got the first save chance after Romano was DFA'd, so he's a decent bet to get the next one. He blew that chance, though, and he's a decent bet to blow the next chance as well based on his performance thus far, so it's hard to consider him a priority add.
Chase Silseth and Sam Bachman are next up in terms of leverage index, but neither of them looks like a priority pickup, either. Both pitchers have significant walk issues, and neither of them is missing a ton of bats. Bachman has the edge in terms of K-BB%, but Silseth's Location+ is at least closer to average, suggesting he has a better chance to improve his walk rate in the future.
Ryan Zeferjahn and Brent Suter haven't been used in as high-leverage spots as Silseth and Bachman but have been a bit better — not in terms of ERA in Zeferjahn's case, but at least in terms of the underlying numbers. Zeferjahn has the highest strikeout rate, highest K-BB% and highest Stuff+ among the closer candidates in the Angels' bullpen and could eventually emerge with the closer job as a result, though it's hard to see a pitcher with a 5.65 ERA who hasn't been used in high-leverage spots up to this point immediately jump into the ninth inning.
All of this could be setting up for Kirby Yates to step in and claim the role as soon as he's ready to make his season debut. His ERA with the Dodgers last season was poor, but his strikeout and walk rates would make him easily the best option in this bullpen if he were able to repeat them. He hasn't looked good on his rehab assignment as he makes his way back from knee inflammation, however. In three appearances, he's allowed six runs on seven hits, though he does at least have five strikeouts to go with just one walk. It's reasonable to expect him to get an opportunity to close games given the lack of alternatives in the Angels' bullpen, but it's hard to be confident in him keeping the job.
Texas Rangers
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jakob Junis | 3 | 2.03 | 0.83 | 4.89 | 11.5% | 7.7% | 3.8% | 90 | 113 | 1.51 |
| Tyler Alexander (L) | 2 | 0.63 | 1.19 | 3.43 | 20.3% | 5.1% | 15.3% | 96 | 106 | 1.06 |
| Cole Winn | 1 | 4.50 | 1.25 | 3.50 | 26.9% | 9.6% | 17.3% | 98 | 95 | 1.56 |
| Jacob Latz (L) | 1 | 1.23 | 0.48 | 3.34 | 25.0% | 5.8% | 19.2% | 104 | 105 | 1.51 |
Robert Garcia and Chris Martin were the preseason favorites to lead the Rangers in saves, but both struggled to start the year and have since been placed on the injured list, with Garcia out with shoulder inflammation and Martin out with a biceps injury. Neither has resumed throwing.
Jakob Junis seemed to be stepping into something close to a true closer role in the first half of April, recording three of the team's four saves from April 6 to April 12 (and he was unavailable for the one save that went elsewhere). It's now been over two weeks since he's recorded a save, however, and he hasn't struck out a single batter in that time period, either. Judging by the numbers on the table above, he's still the same decent middle reliever he's been for the last several seasons, and he doesn't have the bat-missing ability a team looks for in the ninth inning. A pitch-to-contact reliever can get some saves in a wide-open committee when he's running hot, but he never had the stuff to hold down the job.
Tyler Alexander had the team's first two saves, but both of them came while the team's higher-leverage options were unavailable. While he has a better strikeout rate and a better Stuff+ than Junis, he doesn't have closer stuff, either, so he's unlikely to grab more than a handful of saves the rest of the year.
That leaves Cole Winn and Jacob Latz as perhaps the likeliest candidates to record the Rangers' next save. Both of them at least have above-average strikeout rates, and both have been used in high-leverage situations so far. The fact that Winn is a righty theoretically gives him an advantage, but Latz has a clear edge in both Stuff+ and Location+ and is in fact the only member of this bullpen to be above-average in both categories. He recorded the Rangers' move recent save Saturday and is probably the most interesting Rangers reliever to roster right now, though he's unlikely to step into a true closer role any time soon given the way this team has managed its bullpen.
Athletics
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Perkins | 2 | 3.18 | 1.15 | 2.45 | 31.3% | 6.3% | 25.0% | 104 | 113 | 1.81 |
| Hogan Harris (L) | 1 | 2.20 | 1.41 | 5.09 | 21.9% | 17.8% | 4.1% | 103 | 95 | 1.68 |
| Joel Kuhnel | 4 | 2.16 | 1.08 | 3.95 | 12.1% | 3.0% | 9.1% | 94 | 103 | 1.64 |
| Scott Barlow | 0 | 3.75 | 1.17 | 4.54 | 21.6% | 13.7% | 7.8% | 89 | 87 | 1.48 |
| Justin Sterner | 0 | 3.07 | 1.50 | 2.77 | 27.3% | 7.6% | 19.7% | 99 | 109 | 1.44 |
| Mark Leiter Jr. | 2 | 6.94 | 1.89 | 3.72 | 21.1% | 7.0% | 14.0% | 90 | 103 | 1.40 |
The Athletics bullpen has been a struggle to figure out all season. Not a single A's reliever was drafted in all 60 NFBC Main Event leagues, with Hogan Harris (56) and Justin Sterner (49) leading the way and Mark Leiter Jr. (27), Scott Barlow (six), Elvis Alvarado (two) and Jack Perkins (one) also earning a bit of attention. Not a single drafter selected the team's current saves leader, Joel Kuhnel, and that's no surprise, as he was in camp as a non-roster invitee at the time after spending all of 2025 in the minors and didn't make his season debut until April 7.
Kuhnel quickly found himself pitching in the ninth inning, with four saves in his first seven appearances, but it's clear from the above chart that he doesn't have closer stuff. He doesn't walk many batters, but he's a sinkerballer who doesn't miss many bats, and he hasn't actually kept the ball on the ground that well, either, with a league-average 42.9 percent groundball rate on the season. He was always unlikely to grab a true closer job and keep hold of it all season, and he already may have lost his grip on the top spot of the team's closer committee.
Both of the A's last two saves have gone to Perkins, though neither of them was a conventional save opportunity, as he pitched the final two innings of the game on both occasions. Only once this year has he thrown just one inning, and he's recorded at least six outs in four of his six appearances. The Athletics may find his multi-inning ability to be too useful to shoehorn him into a traditional closer role. He's worth a pickup nonetheless, however, as he clearly looks the most closerlike of all the team's relievers on the above chart. He has the highest Stuff+ in the group, the highest Location+, the highest strikeout rate and the lowest walk rate.
The lack of compelling alternatives could lead the A's to move Perkins into a traditional ninth-inning role, sacrificing his ability to offer length in the process. Harris may have a good ERA and a decent Stuff+, but he barely has more strikeouts than walks this season, so his ERA will likely balloon soon. Barlow has past closer experience and a decent ERA, but his fastball has averaged just 89.5 mph this season. Sterner still has an outside shot at claiming the job and has good strikeout and walk numbers, but a 99 Stuff+ doesn't make for a great closer candidate. Meanwhile, Leiter saved a pair of games early in the season but has been poor both by his ERA and WHIP and by his 90 Stuff+.
Injury Round-Up
Kirby Yates, Angels: Covered above. Yates hasn't looked good through three rehab appearances while working his way back from left knee inflammation, but the lack of alternatives in the Angels' bullpen could see him get a chance to close nonetheless.
Josh Hader, Astros: Hader has been throwing live batting practice for almost two weeks as he works his way back from biceps tendinitis, but there's been no word on when he might begin a rehab assignment. He's been placed on the 60-day injured list and won't be eligible to return until May 24. Enyel De Los Santos has been the top option for saves in recent weeks but has a 6.10 ERA on the season, so the next save could go to lefty Bryan King, or perhaps Bryan Abreu and his 12.96 ERA could get another look.
Raisel Iglesias, Braves: Iglesias hit the injured list with right shoulder inflammation six days ago. Reports emerged soon after that he could return after a minimum-length stay, though there have been no subsequent reports that he's begun throwing, nor a timeline for a potential rehab assignment, so making it back by May 5 could prove tricky. Robert Suarez has been closing games in his absence and has a 0.71 ERA and 0.87 WHIP through 13 appearances this year.
Daniel Palencia, Cubs: Palencia went down with what was originally called an oblique strain back on April 17, with the diagnosis eventually changing to a lat strain. He has yet to resume throwing. With Phil Maton (knee) and Hunter Harvey (triceps) also sidelined, Caleb Thielbar stepped into the ninth inning, but he's since gone down with a hamstring injury of his own. Corbin Martin has the Cubs' last save, though Maton was reinstated from the injured list Monday and could get the opportunity to close.
Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: Diaz underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow Wednesday and will be out until sometime in the second half. Tanner Scott has the Dodgers' lone save in his absence, though Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen could also be in the mix.
Jhoan Duran, Phillies: Duran hit the injured list with a left oblique strain nine days ago. The Phillies have won just one game since then and have yet to generate a save chance, though Brad Keller looks like the top option to be the temporary closer until Duran returns.
Carlos Estevez, Royals: Estevez has been sidelined with a bruised foot since getting hit by a line drive in his season debut. It's now been 13 days since Royals president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo said that Estevez would hopefully begin a rehab assignment within the next five days. He's finally showing signs of life, though, and is expected to face hitters Tuesday, with a rehab assignment presumably following not long after that. His velocity will be important to monitor in his minor-league outings, as it was down significantly in spring training and in his season debut. If he gets some of his velocity back, he'll probably get the chance to reclaim his closer job from Lucas Erceg, whose six saves this season come with a poor 4.76 ERA, 1.59 WHIP and 9:9 K:BB.
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 notable changes from Friday's grid:
- Orioles upgraded from Very Low to Medium after Ryan Helsley returned from the bereavement list.
- Ben Brown moved to the front of the Cubs' closer committee after Caleb Thielbar hit the injured list with a hamstring strain.
- Drew Pomeranz in as the leader of a committee for the Angels after Jordan Romano was designated for assignment.
Here's how the whole thing looks as of Monday 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.
