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 Week?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Yennier Cano (2), Andrew Kittredge (5) | none | Kittredge pitched the eighth inning prior to Cano's save Tuesday, while Cano pitched the eighth prior to Kittredge's save Wednesday. Rico Garcia pitched the seventh inning both times. |
| Boston | Brayan Bello (1) | none | Bello's save Tuesday was of the three-inning variety. |
| New York | David Bednar (25) | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (32) | none | |
| Toronto | Tyler Rogers (3), Chase Lee (1) | Louis Varland (1) | Varland |
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 Week?
| American League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Yennier Cano (2), Andrew Kittredge (5) | none | Kittredge pitched the eighth inning prior to Cano's save Tuesday, while Cano pitched the eighth prior to Kittredge's save Wednesday. Rico Garcia pitched the seventh inning both times. |
| Boston | Brayan Bello (1) | none | Bello's save Tuesday was of the three-inning variety. |
| New York | David Bednar (25) | none | |
| Tampa Bay | Bryan Baker (32) | none | |
| Toronto | Tyler Rogers (3), Chase Lee (1) | Louis Varland (1) | Varland was presumably unavailable for Rogers' save Monday, having thrown 31 pitches in Sunday's game. Jeff Hoffman previously would have been his top deputy but was shipped to Minnesota at the deadline, leaving Rogers to fill that role. Lee's save came in the 10th inning Wednesday after Varland pitched a scoreless ninth to keep the game tied. Rogers was unavailable for the save chance as he'd already pitched in the eighth inning. |
*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 | Huascar Brazoban (4), Trevor Richards (2) | Brazoban blew a four-out save Thursday after Grant Taylor recorded six outs across the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Richards then blew the save again in extra innings. |
| Cleveland | none | Cade Smith (5) | |
| Detroit | none | none | |
| Kansas City | Steven Cruz (3) | none | Cruz now has three of the Royals' last four saves, and he may have been unavailable for the one save which went to Alex Lange over that stretch, as he'd pitched on two of the previous three days. |
| Minnesota | Yoendrys Gomez (15) | none | New Twins reliever Jeff Hoffman was presumably available Thursday, having thrown just 11 pitches Wednesday after getting three days off, but he didn't make an appearance as Gomez got the save. |
| American League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | none | none | |
| Houston | none | none | |
| Los Angeles | Samy Natera Jr. (2) | none | See "Bullpen Deep Dive" below. |
| Seattle | Andres Munoz (20) | none | |
| Texas | none | Jacob Latz (3) |
| National League East | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Didier Fuentes (2) | none | See "Closers I'm Worried About" below. |
| Miami | none | none | |
| New York | Daniel Duarte (1) | none | See "Closers I'm Worried About" below. |
| Philadelphia | Jhoan Duran (25) | none | |
| Washington | none | Clayton Beeter (6) | Beeter's blown save Wednesday came in the 10th inning, and it's a bit unfair to call it a blown save, as the only run who scored was the zombie runner — on a stolen base and a sac fly, no less. |
| National League Central | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Jacob Webb (6) | none | Trade deadline acquisition Ryan Zeferjahn pitched in the eighth inning prior to Webb's save Wednesday. |
| Cincinnati | Emilio Pagan 2 (13), Brock Burke (2) | none | Pagan was unavailable for Burke's save Thursday, having pitched on back-to-back days. |
| Milwaukee | Trevor Megill 2 (20), Chad Patrick (5) | none | Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and new acquisition Antonio Senzatela were all unavailable for Patrick's save Thursday after pitching on back-to-back days. |
| Pittsburgh | Mason Montgomery (3) | none | Deadline day acquisition Luke Weaver was not yet on the Pirates' roster when Montgomery picked up his save Monday. Gregory Soto pitched in the sixth and seventh innings in that game. |
| St. Louis | Riley O'Brien (27) | none |
| National League West | Saves | "True" Blown Saves | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | none | none | |
| Colorado | none | Jordan Romano (3) | |
| Los Angeles | none | none | |
| San Diego | none | none | |
| San Francisco | none | none |
Closers I'm Worried About
Devin Williams, Mets: Daniel Duarte got the save Wednesday against the Guardians, even though Williams hadn't pitched in three days. It was later reported that Williams was dealing with arm fatigue, which he's since gotten over, so any assumption that Williams had suddenly lost his closer role was inaccurate.
Still, it would be wrong to assume Williams is completely out of the woods, as his reported arm fatigue has created two possible threats against his job. The first is that the arm fatigue could merely be the first sign of an injury which is in fact quite serious. Pitching through an injury which has gradually gotten worse could possibly explain his 4.30 ERA on the season or his 4.82 ERA since the start of July.
The second potential problem is that even if Williams isn't particularly hurt, the Mets' decision to sit him for a day due to arm fatigue could be a hint at how they're going to use him going forward. It's a lost season for the Mets, who sit 11 games out of the final wild-card spot, and if Williams is anything less than 100 percent healthy, they may simply elect to stay away from him as often as possible in order to not waste any of his bullets in what have essentially become meaningless games. It would hardly be a surprise to see Williams hit the injured list with a vaguely described injury such as fatigue, and if that happens, the Mets will be in no rush to bring him back.
Worry-o-meter: 3 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Based on his usage Wednesday, probably Daniel Duarte. The Mets traded away most of their high-leverage arms at the deadline, with Luke Weaver, Huascar Brazoban, A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley all finding new homes. Among the players still on the active roster, Duarte's one save puts him all alone in second place behind Williams. He's only made 10 appearances, but he's pitched well, with a 1.226 ERA and 0.77 WHIP. It's taken a .171 BABIP to get him there, and his 3.57 SIERA hardly paints him as an elite reliever, but a mid-3.00s ERA may be all he needs to get the closer job if Williams winds up getting shut down.
Raisel Iglesias, Braves: When the Braves had a save chance Wednesday against the Marlins, it was Didier Fuentes, not Iglesias, who got the ball. Iglesias may simply have not been available, as he'd pitched on two of the previous three days, including 21 pitches Tuesday. However, it's worth wondering whether Atlanta might be showing some extra caution with him due to some worrying trends in his recent game log.
Iglesias' last eight games show some potentially worrying trends. He's allowed at least one run in half of those outings and has an unimpressive 7:4 K:BB, including a 1:3 K:BB if you zoom into just his last three outings. Over those eight starts, his fastball has dipped to 94.0 mph and has a 95 Stuff+; prior to that point, it had a 108 Stuff+ and averaged 94.6 mph. His Location+ across his entire repertoire has dropped similarly, falling from 109 in his first 32 outings to 98 in his last eight.
A simultaneous downturn in stuff and control might be nothing more than a slump, but it could also be a sign that something's not right with Iglesias physically. He did have a brief stay on the injured list in late April and early May due to shoulder inflammation, though he pitched quite well for an extended period after his return. There haven't been any reports yet that Iglesias' shoulder troubles have returned, and his season-long numbers remain strong, so the worry level here isn't too high yet, but it's a situation to monitor until Iglesias turns things around.
Worry-o-meter: 2 out of 5
Setup man to stash: Didier Fuentes or Robert Suarez. If Iglesias were to hit the IL (or simply be demoted to a setup role) in the next couple weeks, Fuentes' recent usage suggests he'd be the next man up. With a 2.42 ERA and 30.8 percent strikeout rate, he certainly wouldn't look out of place in the ninth inning. He's also a righty, which would give him the advantage over Dylan Lee, who has even better numbers (2.06 ERA, 33.2 percent strikeout rate) but has yet to record a save.
If Iglesias keeps hold of the job for a few more weeks but continues to disappoint, Suarez could have a chance to claim the job down the stretch. Atlanta signed him to a three-year, $45 million contract back in December, presumably with the intention of having him step in for Iglesias should the latter struggle or get injured. Suarez has pitched quite well when available this season, with a 0.56 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in 32 innings, but he's been out since late June with elbow inflammation. He resumed playing catch in mid-June but does not appear to be close to a rehab assignment, so it might be a stretch for him to make it back for the end of August.
Bullpen Deep Dive
Los Angeles Angels
| 2026 Stats | Saves | ERA | WHIP | SIERA | K% | BB% | K-BB% | Stuff+ | Location+ | gmLI* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Joyce** | 4 | 3.06 | 1.30 | 4.28 | 21.1% | 11.7% | 9.4% | 123 | 89 | 1.61 |
| Samy Natera Jr. (L) | 2 | 2.16 | 0.88 | 2.45 | 39.2% | 10.3% | 28.9% | 110 | 92 | 1.34 |
| Jose Fermin | 0 | 3.13 | 1.23 | 3.50 | 28.0% | 11.8% | 16.1% | 105 | 95 | 0.83 |
*gmLI is the average Leverage Index when a pitcher enters the game. 1.0 is average; closers typically sit north of 1.50.
**Joyce has made just one major-league appearance this season, so the numbers listed here are his career stats, which cover 50 innings across the last four years.
The Angels traded away Ryan Zeferjahn (four saves) and Kirby Yates (three saves) at the deadline, then lost Sam Bachman (one save) to the injured list just one day later, leaving the ninth inning even more wide open than it's been all year. With Brent Suter and Chase Silseth also being dealt, the Angels bullpen was left without many proven big-league relief arms, let alone proven closers.
The Angels did finally get Ben Joyce back from a 15-month absence due to shoulder surgery, but when a save chance arrived Thursday against the Orioles, it went to Samy Natera Jr. instead. It's possible we shouldn't read too much into that, as Joyce may have been unavailable after making his season debut Wednesday, as the Angels may not have wanted him to pitch on back-to-back days immediately after returning from such a lengthy absence.
On the other hand, it's entirely possible that the Angels gave Natera the save chance because they view him as their best bet to close games going forward. He's a rookie, which would usually count against him, but that might matter less in a bullpen that hardly features anyone with any meaningful MLB experience. He's also a lefty, but the Angels have two other lefties in the bullpen in Blake Weiman and Tayler Saucedo, which should free him up to pitch in the ninth inning if that's how the Angels wish to use him.
Judging by Natera's numbers this year, particularly his outstanding 39.2 percent strikeout rate, he certainly wouldn't look out of place in the ninth inning. The same can't be said for Joyce, who's long had a reputation as the closer of the future. He may have elite Stuff+ and top-tier velocity, but that hasn't translated to a closer-like strikeout rate, with his 21.1 percent mark barely better than half as good as Natera's.
The other name to watch here is Jose Fermin. He hasn't been as dominant as Natera, but he's been quite good, and he also has the advantage of being right-handed. He's generally handled lower-leverage innings and may be a long shot to win the job outright, but if the Angels go with a committee down the stretch, he could beat out Joyce to become the top right-hander on the depth chart.
Injury Round-Up
Daniel Palencia, Cubs: Palencia has been out since mid-June due to a flexor strain but began a rehab assignment Wednesday, giving up a run on two walks and a hit while striking out one in two thirds of an inning. If he can prove his health, he should be able to reclaim his closer job from Jacob Webb and the rest of the Cubs' closer committee for the stretch run. There's no guarantee he can do that, though, as this is the third injury he's dealt with in the last year following a lat strain in April and a shoulder strain last September. The Cubs used him earlier in games after he returned from that late-season injury last year, and it's possible the same thing happens again this year once Palencia eventually returns.
Ryan Helsley, Orioles: Helsley has been out since early July with right elbow discomfort but resumed throwing last week. He's on the 60-day injured list and won't be eligible to return until August 29. Whether or not the Orioles manage to stay in the playoff race (they're currently a game out of the last wild-card spot) could affect how quickly Helsley attempts to return, and there's no guarantee he makes it back at all given that he's already had two separate stints on the injured list with elbow troubles this season. Yennier Cano and Andrew Kittredge appear to be the top options for saves in the Baltimore bullpen at the moment after Tyler Wells was traded to the Rays at the deadline.
Carlos Estevez, Royals: Estevez began throwing off a mound Friday as he works his way back from a rotator cuff strain, an injury he was diagnosed with while rehabbing from the bruised foot he suffered in his first outing of the year. He still has time to make it back before the end of the season, but his return is likely still several weeks away at the earliest. Steven Cruz is the latest reliever to take over as the deputy closer in Kansas City after Lucas Erceg and Alex Lange pitched their way out of the job.
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.
