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 (13) | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Tampa Bay | none | none | |
| Toronto | Louis Varland 2 (11) | 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
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 (13) | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Tampa Bay | none | none | |
| Toronto | Louis Varland 2 (11) | 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 | Grant Taylor (2) | none | See "Closers I'm Worried About" below. |
| Cleveland | none | none | |
| Detroit | none | none | |
| Kansas City | Alex Lange (3), Lucas Erceg (12) | none | Lange was likely unavailable for Erceg's save Sunday, having pitched on three of the previous four days. |
| Minnesota | Travis Adams (2) | Eric Orze (3) |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | none | none | |
| Houston | none | none | |
| Los Angeles | none | none | |
| Seattle | none | Andres Munoz (5) | See "Closers I'm Worried About" below. |
| Texas | Jacob Latz (9) | none |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Raisel Iglesias 2 (13), Didier Fuentes (1) | none | Iglesias was unavailable for Fuentes' first career save Sunday, having pitched on back-to-back days. Robert Suarez may have been available, as he hadn't pitched Saturday, though he did pitch on three of four days before that. |
| Miami | Tyler Zuber (1), Anthony Bender (2) | none | Zuber recorded one out to pick up the save Saturday after Peter Fairbanks ran into trouble, allowing a pair of runs while recording just two outs. Zuber struck out Junior Caminero to seal the win. Fairbanks may have been unavailable for Bender's save Sunday, as he threw 39 pitches the day before. |
| New York | none | none | |
| Philadelphia | Jhoan Duran (15) | none | |
| Washington | Brad Lord (1) | none | Lord pitched a scoreless eighth inning Saturday with a three-run lead and then stuck around to pitch the ninth for what was technically still a save even though the lead was now five runs. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | none | none | |
| Cincinnati | none | none | |
| Milwaukee | none | Trevor Megill (2) | |
| Pittsburgh | none | none | |
| St. Louis | Riley O'Brien 2 (17) | none |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | none | none | |
| Colorado | none | none | |
| Los Angeles | none | none | |
| San Diego | Mason Miller (18) | none | |
| San Francisco | Dylan Smith (1) | none | Smith's save Sunday came in the 10th inning after Caleb Kilian, Erik Miller and Keaton Winn pitched the seventh, eighth and nine respectively with the score tied. |
Closers I'm Worried About
Seranthony Dominguez, White Sox: Dominguez leads the White Sox in saves by a wide margin, with his 11 saves on the season coming in nine ahead of Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson in second. He hasn't pitched poorly, as his 3.91 ERA comes with a 3.39 SIERA and a 1.17 WHIP, with a strong 29.3 percent strikeout rate offsetting a 12.1 percent walk rate. While he's hardly one of the league's most dominant closers, a veteran with past closer experience who was quickly named the closer after signing a two-year deal over the winter shouldn't have much to worry about.
Yet when a save situation arrived Saturday against the Phillies, it was Taylor, not Dominguez, who got the call. Dominguez hadn't given up a run in his last five appearances and had a 3.00 ERA over his last 13 outings, so there was seemingly no performance-related reason to avoid looking his way. He also should almost certainly have been available for the game; he threw just 11 pitches the night prior, which was his first outing in six days.
The problem for Dominguez might be that the White Sox have won too many games this year. The team entered the season with a clear plan to use Dominguez in the ninth while using Taylor in a multi-inning role, aiming to gradually ramp up his workload in anticipation of returning him to the rotation next season. That sort of long-term plan makes sense for a rebuilding squad, especially given the possibility of flipping Dominguez at the deadline to further juice the rebuild. But considering that it's nearly mid-June and the White Sox are sitting in the second Wild Card spot in a wide-open American League, maximizing wins in 2026 by using the team's best reliever in the ninth inning suddenly looks far more attractive.
Worry-o-meter: 4 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Grant Taylor. He's been one of the best relievers in all of baseball this season and would already have settled into the closer role for the White Sox if not for the plan to keep him stretched out for next season. In 32.2 innings, Taylor owns a 1.93 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, with his 37.9 percent strikeout rate and 6.8 percent walk rate leading to a 1.97 SIERA, a mark that trails only Jhoan Duran, Mason Miller and Cade Smith among qualified relievers. The White Sox haven't officially announced a change in their closer hierarchy, so it would be premature to declare Taylor the top option for saves based purely on Saturday's box score, but the odds of him taking over as the closer will only continue to increase the longer the White Sox remain in the playoff race.
Andres Munoz, Mariners: Munoz's blown save Sunday against the Tigers was his fifth of the season, the second-most in the league behind Lucas Erceg's six. Erceg was recently removed from the closer role in Kansas City — could the same thing happen to Munoz in Seattle?
Munoz has two clear advantages over Erceg which keeps him relatively low on the worry-o-meter despite their similar blown saves totals. The first is that he's been among the league's best relievers for years. Among the 87 relievers who have thrown at least 200 innings since the start of the 2022 season, Munoz ranks sixth in ERA (2.57), third in xFIP (2.75) and third in K-BB% (24.6 percent). The second is that Munoz has been quite good this season by several metrics, even though he has a 5.40 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. He's struck out 33.7 percent of opposing batters while walking 8.7 percent, helping him to a 2.63 xFIP and 2.50 SIERA.
The track record and underlying metrics suggest the Mariners ought to stick with Munoz in the ninth inning. But with an elevated ERA on the season and a poor recent stretch in which he's given up runs in three of his last four outings, blowing two saves, it's fair to wonder just how much longer Munoz's leash will prove to be.
It's also worth noting that his recent slump doesn't appear entirely random. His Stuff+ and Location+ over his last four outings come in at 104 and 82, respectively, compared to 115 and 94 over his previous 21 appearances. While you could make the case that Munoz pitched well for most of the season despite his poor results, his recent slump seems to be due to a genuine downturn in performance.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Probably Matt Brash, who's second on the team in leverage index this season, though it could just as easily be Gabe Speier (third), Eduard Bazardo (fourth) or Jose Ferrer (fifth). All four pitchers have strong ERAs but mediocre SIERAs, the inverse of Munoz:
| Pitcher | ERA | SIERA |
|---|---|---|
| Andres Munoz | 5.40 | 2.50 |
| Matt Brash | 0.56 | 3.52 |
| Gabe Speier | 2.16 | 3.52 |
| Jose Ferrer | 1.55 | 3.41 |
| Eduard Bazardo | 2.12 | 3.98 |
Per SIERA, Munoz deserves a better ERA than any of the Mariners' other high-leverage relievers, meaning a shake-up in the ninth inning could be unwise. But actual results tend to be what determines a team's closer, so if Munoz blows another couple saves in the next week or so, don't be surprised if a committee takes over closing responsibilities in Seattle, with Brash as its likely leader.
Bullpen Deep Dive
Kansas City Royals
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas Erceg | 12 | 6.00 | 1.96 | 4.77 | 18.8% | 14.3% | 4.5% | 97 | 105 | 2.00 |
| Alex Lange | 3 | 4.03 | 1.38 | 3.81 | 25.0% | 12.1% | 12.9% | 97 | 99 | 0.78 |
| Daniel Lynch IV (L) | 1 | 1.71 | 0.95 | 3.01 | 27.1% | 7.5% | 19.6% | 109 | 99 | 1.44 |
| Matt Strahm | 0 | 4.19 | 1.19 | 4.16 | 20.7% | 8.5% | 12.2% | 101 | 88 | 1.60 |
*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.
The Royals finally announced that Lucas Erceg would be removed from the closer role Wednesday, only for him to find himself recording his 12th save of the year just four days later. That came with Alex Lange unavailable, having pitched on three of the previous four days, recording three saves. Is Lange now the closer in Kansas City, or is he merely a committee leader?
Recent usage suggests he is indeed a proper closer, with manager Matt Quatraro evidently preferring a lefty in the ninth inning. Judging by the table above, however, Lange perhaps shouldn't get too comfortable. He hasn't been bad, but he's been thoroughly mediocre, whether judging by his ERA, his strikeout and walk numbers, or his Stuff+ and Location+. He does have past experience in the ninth inning, saving 26 games for the Tigers back in 2023, but that shouldn't outweigh his middling numbers on the season.
For now, it looks like he'll keep getting save chances until he starts struggling, but that might take long. Daniel Lynch stands ready to take over if and when that happens. He's been used in high-leverage spots throughout the year and has easily outpitched the rest of the Royals' high-leverage options. The recent return of Matt Strahm from the injured list should further boost his chances, as it means the Royals can match Strahm up against tough lefties in the seventh and eighth and keep Lynch for the ninth. For now, Lynch remains a setup man, but one or two blown saves from Lange could change that very quickly.
Injury Round-Up
Ben Joyce, Angels: Joyce has been out for over a year while recovering from shoulder surgery. He began a rehab assignment in late April but suffered a setback, and while he's resumed throwing, a timeline for him to get back into rehab games has yet to emerge. He could eventually get the chance to close games for the Angels, but at this point, his eventual return still seems far away.
Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: Diaz resumed throwing last week as he works his way back from surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, a procedure he underwent in late April. He's expected back after the All-Star break, though his precise timeline is still unclear. Tanner Scott is the top (but not the only) option for saves in his absence.
Ryan Helsley, Orioles: Helsley threw live batting practice Monday as he works his way back from elbow inflammation, an issue that sidelined him at the start of May. He appears to be close to a rehab assignment and should reclaim closing duties once he's ready to return to the active roster.
Emilio Pagan, Reds: Pagan has been out four weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, an injury which originally carried a four-to-eight week timeline. He was re-assessed Monday, the results of which have yet to be released. He's hoping to be cleared to throw off a mound soon, which would still place him a few steps away from a return to the active roster.
Victor Vodnik, Rockies: Vodnik has been out with ulnar nerve inflammation since late May but has been throwing bullpen sessions for over a week. His return timeline is not yet clear.
Carlos Estevez, Royals: Estevez resumed throwing last week after being diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain in early May. He's been out since late March, originally due to a bruised foot, so he's likely to need a long time to ramp back up. As discussed above, Alex Lange has recently settled into the closer role in Kansas City, but Estevez could take the job back once healthy.
Kenley Jansen, Tigers: Jansen has been out since late May due to pelvic inflammation, but the injury doesn't appear to be too serious. He's scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday, and might only need to pitch in one game before he's cleared to return. While he wasn't great prior to the injury (4.80 ERA, 1.20 WHIP), nobody else in the Tigers bullpen has been particularly convincing, so he should have a good chance to step back into the closer 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.
Here's how the whole thing looks as of Tuesday 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.
