Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: Edwin Diaz, David Bednar searching for velocity; Rangers have new closer
Meanwhile, the Rays and Pirates closer pictures are coming into focus
The season is only a few weeks old, but already, we've seen some closer turnover.
Or maybe closer clarification would be the better way to phrase it. We didn't know who would be closing for the Diamondbacks coming into the season, but we quickly learned it was Paul Sewald, unequivocally. Meanwhile, Carlos Estevez turned out to be damaged goods, as we suspected he might, but Lucas Erceg has proven capable in his absence. Pretty straightforward.
But some closer situations are still up in the air, including several that seemed as secure as could be coming in. Here are the 10 most deserving of our attention right now.
Note: "Pecking order" refers to rosterability in Fantasy and not necessarily who's first in line for saves (though it's usually one and the same).
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The Dodgers were talking like they might give Edwin Diaz a little bit of a break coming off his first blown save Friday, hoping to get to the bottom of why his velocity is down more than a mile per hour from a year ago, but then manager Dave Roberts declared him available for the start of the Mets series that begins Monday. He's not injured and is feeling "great," to use his own word, so we press on. It's worth noting Diaz had registered four saves without incident prior to Friday's blown save. Still, enough has been made of the blip that any little misstep is sure to be magnified now. Alex Vesia got a one-out save in Diaz's absence Saturday, but Tanner Scott has more closing experience and registered 23 saves last year. He has yet to walk anyone in his eight appearances this year and would likely be the fallback plan should Diaz's situation deteriorate.
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Another locked-in closer whose velocity has been down so far, David Bednar has technically blown just one save for the Yankees, but he's allowed at least one earned run in four of his past five appearances. His WHIP stands at a sparkling 2.25. The Yankees seem unconcerned, at least outwardly. Bednar has called the velocity dip "nothing to panic about," citing cold weather as the primary reason for it. He also had to throw a combined 73 pitches in consecutive appearances at the start of April, which is when this whole mess began. Helping Bednar's cause is that Camilo Doval, the likeliest closing alternative, hasn't been lights-out either, with his velocity suffering about the same amount. Still, given Bednar's history of intermittent struggles -- which even led to a stint in the minors early last season, when he was still with the Pirates -- this bumpy start is cause for concern.
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Josh Hader's season-opening IL stint for biceps tendinitis was supposed to be no big deal as long as you also drafted Bryan Abreu, who has filled in capably in the past and is, frankly, just as dominant. In fact, given the nature of Hader's injury, you may have even thought that the Astros might just install Abreu permanently. Well, so much for all that. Abreu is yet another ace reliever whose velocity has been down early -- in his case, a full 2 mph -- and the results have been ghastly. He finally had a scoreless appearance Monday, his first of the year, but his ERA sits at 16.20. It's not even clear he'll hold onto the role until Hader returns, which is still likely a couple weeks away. Left-hander Bryan King seems like the only viable alternative, though. Bennett Sousa, another capable lefty, is working his way back from his own IL stint (strained oblique).
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Few managers are as comfortable operating without a true closer as Kevin Cash, and so I may be reading too much into things by coming up with any sort of pecking order here. But I can't help but notice that Bryan Baker has worked the ninth inning in five of his six appearances, including three times to close out a win and twice for a save. The right-hander split last year between the Orioles and Rays, and while his ERA ballooned to 4.06 with the latter, he also had a 1.11 WHIP and 10.9 K/9 on the year, which are numbers befitting of a closer.
Kevin Kelly also has two saves, but both were under unusual circumstances. My exclusion of him here was intentional. Griffin Jax, who was the favorite for saves coming in, has yet to work the ninth inning and has only twice worked as late as the eighth. Edwin Uceta, who has been the Rays' most overpowering reliever the past two years, is on a rehab assignment (shoulder impingement) and could prove to be Baker's greatest threat.
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Jake Junis, who's known as Jakob on most other platforms, seems to have secured manager Skip Schumaker's trust, notching three of the Rangers' past four saves while having yet to give up an earned run this season. The one other save during that time went to Cole Winn -- who might actually be the Rangers' best reliever, judging from his 1.51 ERA last year -- but he only got that chance because Junis had worked two days in a row. Junis went right back to closing Sunday after a couple days off, with Winn preceding him in the contest. A former starting pitcher for the Royals and Giants, Junis makes for an unconventional closer, given that he's not much of a bat-misser, but he does have a 2.67 ERA since the start of 2024. He's the choice for now and could remain so, but you'll want to keep Winn close in case Schumaker has a change of heart.
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Manager Don Kelly said toward the end of spring training that he might prefer to use Dennis Santana in the highest-leverage spot, regardless of inning, and cited left-hander Gregory Soto as another reliever with closing experience. Soto had already closed out three wins, including one for a save, before Santana got his first chance to do so, but the pendulum has swung back the other direction over the past week. Soto's past three appearances have been for a hold rather than a save, and the pitcher to follow him in two of those instances was Santana, once for a save and once for a blown save.
Could the blown save make Kelly rethink things again? Probably not. Santana has allowed only two hits all year and did a fine job closing last year. But the only firm takeaway here is that neither Santana nor Soto is the set closer yet. The safer choice to become it is Santana, and I'd bet on him getting the majority of the saves even if the timeshare continues.
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This might be the most confusing closer situation so far, in large part because the Giants have had too few save opportunities to reveal anything about first-year manager Tony Vitello's tendencies. All we can say for sure is that he likes to make Ryan Walker the first reliever out of the bullpen whenever Robbie Ray starts because of their opposing handedness and arm angles. Weird, right? Vitello is coming out of the college game, remember, and may not adhere to standard convention.
Walker was the heavy favorite to close coming into the year, but if he's tied to Ray in that way, it could severely limit his save chances, presuming his own performance doesn't already. Keaton Winn has been impressive early on, but he hasn't always been used in high-leverage spots either. The wild card here is Joel Peguero, who had a 2.42 ERA in 17 appearances as a rookie last season and is soon to return from a hamstring injury.
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Though he flopped as a closer each of the previous two years, Jordan Romano has gotten a chance to do it again with Kirby Yates sidelined by knee inflammation, and seemed to have stuck the landing with six hitless appearances to open the year. Moreover, his 17 percent swinging-strike rate was an order of magnitude better than his 12 percent rate the previous two years and reminiscent of the bat-missing ability he showed as a two-time All-Star closer for the Blue Jays. But then came a stinker of an outing Monday in which he allowed three runs on three hits and two walks without recording an out. It's probably not enough on its own for manager Kurt Suzuki to consider removing him from the role, but Romano's leash is about to get much shorter now with Yates out on a rehab assignment.
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We spent the offseason wondering whether Trevor Megill or Abner Uribe would be the choice to close after the latter successfully filled in for the former down the stretch last year, and we seemed to have an answer when Megill handed three save chances to Uribe's none through the first couple weeks. But Megill's latest outing -- in which he allowed four earned runs without recording an out to blow a tie and take the loss -- may have thrown the situation into doubt again. The line was much worse than the pitching, though. A couple of bunts and Megill's own poor fielding plays (neither of which was scored an error) fueled the implosion. Two days later, Abner Uribe entered in the seventh inning of a game (and didn't pitch well himself), so it doesn't seem like manager Pat Murphy is mulling a change.
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Oliver Marmol isn't the type of manager who would declare anyone to be his closer, but actions speak louder than words and point clearly to Riley O'Brien having the role. He has recorded each of the Cardinals' past four saves, and five of his last six appearances have been to close out a win. The only one that wasn't came in the ninth inning of a tie game, which is still a spot when a closer would normally be used.
O'Brien also notched four of the Cardinals' final five saves to finish out 2025. He would have been the obvious favorite to close if he hadn't missed the early weeks of spring training with a calf strain. Matt Svanson began to get some buzz at that point and may well have been the favorite coming in, but he's been such a disaster with a 15.58 ERA so far that he's clearly out of the running now. Other than left-hander JoJo Romero stealing the occasional save when the matchups are right, I don't see any competition for O'Brien.
