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 | Ryan Helsley (8) | none | |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman (16) | Aroldis Chapman (2) | |
| New York | none | Fernando Cruz (2) | Cruz's blown save Sunday came in the 10th inning after David Bednar pitched the eighth and ninth. |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (21) | none | |
| 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.
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 | Ryan Helsley (8) | none | |
| Boston | Aroldis Chapman (16) | Aroldis Chapman (2) | |
| New York | none | Fernando Cruz (2) | Cruz's blown save Sunday came in the 10th inning after David Bednar pitched the eighth and ninth. |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (21) | none | |
| 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 | none | none | |
| Cleveland | Cade Smith 2 (26) | none | |
| Detroit | none | none | |
| Kansas City | Alex Lange (7) | none | |
| Minnesota | Yoendrys Gomez (8) | Anthony Banda (2) | Gomez was likely available for Banda's save chance Friday but did not pitch. |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | none | none | |
| Houston | Josh Hader (7) | none | |
| Los Angeles | Kirby Yates (2), Samy Natera Jr. (1) | none | Sam Bachman pitched the eighth inning prior to Yates' save Saturday. Ryan Zeferjahn pitched the seventh. Yates was unavailable for Natera's save Sunday, having pitched on back-to-back days. Bachman may have been unavailable as well after throwing 26 pitches Saturday. Zeferjahn was available but pitched in the eighth inning. |
| Seattle | Andres Munoz (15) | none | |
| Texas | Jacob Latz (16), Tyler Alexander 2 (4) | none | Latz and Jakob Junis were unavailable for Alexander's save Saturday, having pitched on back-to-back days. Latz and Junis may have been unavailable for Alexander's next save Sunday for the same reason. |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Raisel Iglesias (15) | none | |
| Miami | none | none | |
| New York | none | none | |
| Philadelphia | Jhoan Duran 2 (21) | none | |
| Washington | Justin Lawrence (1), PJ Poulin (3) | none | Lawrence's save Saturday came in the 10th inning. Poulin's save Sunday required him to get the last six outs of the game. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Jordan Wicks (1) | none | Wicks' save Sunday came in the 10th inning. |
| Cincinnati | Caleb Ferguson (1), Chase Petty (1) | none | Emilio Pagan (hamstring) will return from the injured list Tuesday and is expected to immediately reclaim his closer role. |
| Milwaukee | none | none | |
| Pittsburgh | none | Gregory Soto (4) | |
| St. Louis | Riley O'Brien (20) | none |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | none | none | |
| Colorado | Jimmy Herget (3) | Antonio Senzatela (4) | |
| Los Angeles | Edgardo Henriquez (1) | none | Tanner Scott pitched in the seventh and eighth innings prior to Henriquez's save Sunday. Alex Vesia pitched in the sixth. |
| San Diego | none | none | |
| San Francisco | Caleb Kilian (6) | none |
Closers I'm Worried About
Gregory Soto, Pirates: Soto entered the year looking like he was going to be Dennis Santana's setup man, but some strong early performances saw him move into a committee leader role and eventually turn into a true closer. Through May 10, Soto had a 1.33 ERA, a 0.64 WHIP and a 35.1 percent strikeout rate.
Soto hasn't been at that same level over the last month and a half, however. Since May 12, he owns a 7.71 ERA and 1.71 WHIP, with his strikeout rate plummeting to 21.2 percent. That means he now owns a 3.93 ERA on the year, not far from his 4.18 ERA last season and hardly a classic closer number.
Things have been particularly bad for Soto in his last seven appearances, a stretch in which he's allowed at least one run four times, giving up 10 runs in six innings overall. If Soto had entered the season with a firm grip on the closer role, I'd feel pretty good about him riding out his current slump and holding onto his job. But considering that the Pirates have been comfortable using a committee and that Soto didn't enter the season as the team's top reliever, don't be surprised if other relievers start seeing save chances again sometime soon.
Worry-o-meter: 3 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Probably Dennis Santana or Mason Montgomery. Santana's overall numbers this season are unimpressive, as he owns a 4.72 ERA and 1.43 WHIP backed by a 19.7 percent strikeout rate and 12.5 percent walk rate. He proved he could handle the ninth inning last year, though, saving 16 games, and he's been on a roll lately, giving up just four hits across his last nine appearances while allowing a run in just one of those outings. Montgomery, on the other hand, has just one career save, but he's been the Pirates' highest-leverage reliever in June according to leverage index. His 4.83 ERA and 1.42 WHIP are both poor, but they come with a 3.00 SIERA, and his 31.7 percent strikeout rate should be high enough to offset a 10.8 percent walk rate going forward.
Ryan Helsley, Orioles: Helsley features in this second for the second series in a row, though the worry level has been slightly reduced. After allowing five runs in his first two appearances back from a nearly seven-week absence due to below inflammation, he settled in with a pair of scoreless outings, but he then took the loss Saturday against the Nationals, failing to prevent the zombie runner from scoring in the 10th inning.
Helsley has now allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits in 4.2 innings since returning to work. The positives are that his 6:2 K:BB over that stretch is still good, and he hasn't lost anything in terms of velocity or Stuff+. The negative is that his ERA and WHIP now stand at an uninspiring 4.11 and 1.43, respectively, and while his 30.9 percent strikeout rate is quite good, his 13.2 percent walk rate is not.
If this current downturn for Helsley is nothing more than a bout of inconsistency from a pitcher with below-average control, there should be minimal worry about him losing his job — though anyone with Helsley on their roster should be prepared for the possibility that he gets traded to a contender and spends the last two months in a setup role. But the recent injury creates reason to fear that it might be something worse than that. I suspect we'll either hear that his elbow is still bothering him within the next couple weeks, or he'll string together a few more scoreless outings and we'll forget this blip ever happened.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Yennier Cano or Rico Garcia. Garcia sits second on the team in saves with four, and his 2.62 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 29.2 percent strikeout rate certainly wouldn't look out of place in the ninth inning. He's been slumping lately, though, with a 9.00 ERA and 1.63 WHIP across his last nine appearances. Cano, meanwhile, has a 2.03 ERA and 0.86 WHIP on the year, and his 25.7 percent strikeout rate comes with a strong 6.7 percent walk rate and an elite 60.0 percent groundball rate. If Helsley gets traded at the deadline, Cano or Garcia could take over the closer role, though both could be traded themselves if the Orioles elect to sell.
Bullpen Deep Dive
Colorado Rockies
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
| Jimmy Herget | 3 | 4.05 | 1.35 | 3.40 | 26.7% | 7.0% | 19.8% | 101 | 96 | 1.35 |
| Antonio Senzatela | 3 | 2.28 | 1.06 | 3.80 | 21.1% | 7.6% | 13.5% | 102 | 108 | 1.78 |
| Juan Mejia | 3 | 6.38 | 1.69 | 4.11 | 22.4% | 11.8% | 10.6% | 101 | 98 | 1.44 |
| Victor Vodnik | 4 | 6.65 | 1.87 | 5.38 | 15.6% | 15.6% | 0.0% | 99 | 88 | 1.42 |
| Zach Agnos | 2 | 7.71 | 1.71 | 4.97 | 14.8% | 9.6% | 5.2% | 91 | 100 | 0.62 |
*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.
You'd have to be pretty desperate to turn to a Rockies reliever for saves, particularly in a year in which six different pitchers have saved multiple games for the team — the five players listed above, plus Jaden Hill, who's currently out with shoulder tendinitis. But with Jimmy Herget recording the team's last two saves and no other currently healthy reliever recording a traditional save since May 18, it's time to ask the question: could Herget be a true closer in Colorado?
Judging by the numbers on the table above, it's fair to say he deserves a shot. He easily has the best K-BB% and SIERA among the Rockies' high-leverage options, and only Antonio Senzatela has the best Stuff+. While Herget is hardly a big-name reliever, he's been effective in the past, producing a 2.48 ERA for the Rockies last season and the same 2.48 ERA for the Angels back in 2022, a year in which he saved nine games. While it's too early to say he definitely has the closer job in Colorado, he's earned the chance to make the role his own.
Senzatela looks like Herget's only serious competition. He's made the transition from starter to reliever quite well, posting a career-high strikeout rate, though he still comes in at a below-average 21.1 percent in that category. His ERA estimators suggest that his 2.28 ERA overstates his effectiveness, and he's struggled to a 5.56 ERA over his last nine outings.
The rest of the Rockies relievers with multiple saves thus far don't look like they deserve many more save chances. Juan Mejia is the best of the bunch, but he, Victor Vodnik and Zach Agnos all have ERAs north of 6.00. Their best odds of recording a meaningful number of saves in the second half would be for the Rockies to trade away both Herget and Senzatela at the deadline — something which has a reasonable chance of happening, as both have pitched well enough to be of interest to contenders.
Injury Round-Up
Ben Joyce, Angels: Joyce underwent shoulder surgery back in May of last year but still has a long way to go in his recovery. He suffered a setback while on his rehab assignment in early May, and while he resumed mound work in mid-June, he remains limited to throwing nothing but fastballs in his bullpen sessions. Given his lengthy injury history, the Angels will likely continue to proceed very cautiously. Once he eventually returns, he could push Kirby Yates and Sam Bachman for save chances.
Daniel Palencia, Cubs: Palencia has been out with a flexor strain since mid-June, and while he's making progress in his recovery and is expected to resume throwing soon, he won't be back until after the All-Star break. Jacob Webb may be the top option for saves in his absence, though the last two saves (both in extra innings) have gone to Trent Thornton and Jordan Wicks.
Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: Diaz has been out since late April after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. He resumed throwing in late May and threw his first bullpen session 10 days ago, but while he appears to be making steady progress, he isn't expected back until after the All-Star break. Tanner Scott is the Dodgers' top closing option in his absence.
Emilio Pagan, Reds: Pagan has been out since early May with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain but is set to return from the injured list Tuesday and is expected to step right back into the closer role. He didn't strike out a batter in either of his two rehab appearances but also didn't walk anyone, allowing zero runs on one hit.
Carlos Estevez, Royals: Estevez suffered a setback in a bullpen session Saturday, the severity of which will become clear after a further evaluation. He's been out almost all season, first due to a bruised foot and then due to a rotator cuff strain. Alex Lange has taken over as 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 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.
