Last week’s column was somewhat of a mixed bag, with a few closer recommendations off to a great start, and a couple of setup men (Brendon Little, yeesh) not so much. Seeing as we’re a week in and Aaron Judge is hitting .125, it’s a good time to remember not to panic. I mean, panic a little; it’s fun to panic! Who doesn’t love panicking? Why do we do any of this if not to panic? Just don’t rage-drop Bryan Abreu before you get a good night’s sleep.
I will rarely fill this column with the same names in back-to-back issues, so feel free to give last week’s Waiver Relief a skim before continuing. Some closers (Paul Sewald, Lucas Erceg, Jordan Romano) remain high-priority adds but have been scooped up enough to no longer qualify here. My job is to highlight new names to put on your radar; use some judgment to see if there are better names still available on your wire in shallower leagues.
(stats updated through Thursday, 4/2)
Saves (%-rostered Yahoo)
The following pitchers are currently closers or at least part of a committee.
Riley O’Brien (STL) (29%)
The Cardinals’ bullpen entered the season as one of the murkiest for predicting save chances. Ryne Stanek, JoJo Romero, and Matt Svanson all accompanied this week’s recommendation Riley O’Brien as members of a particularly crowded closer committee. Thus far, Stanek nabbed a save but hasn’t pitched well, Romero hasn’t seen a single chance, and Svanson has been a disaster. This leaves O’Brien, the best pitcher of the group, as the current frontrunner to stake a claim to the ninth inning. O’Brien is coming off a strong 2025 and is off to an excellent start in 2026, with a win, save, and hold each across four scoreless appearances. Notably, O’Brien got the ninth inning in a 1-1 game against the Mets on Wednesday. Eventually, we should see Stanek and Svanson as mid-high leverage setup men, Romero as the lefty specialist/fireman, and O’Brien in a more traditional closing role. It may take some patience, though.
Gregory Soto (PIT) (9%)
While the heavily-rostered Dennis Santana still has the edge for saves in Pittsburgh, it’s worth keeping an eye on Gregory Soto in the Pirates’ bullpen. Soto saw the ninth inning in back-to-back 8-3 wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Santana entering in the eighth on Tuesday. Manager Don Kelly implied in the offseason that he wouldn’t utilize a set closer, and that seems to be the case thus far. Having a share of Pirate saves doesn’t exactly make for a high-end fantasy RP, but Soto’s a quality reliever off to a strong start (eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings). If Santana falters, the Pittsburgh bullpen is thin enough that Soto should take over the role handily.
Mark Leiter Jr. (ATH) (3%)
Listen, despite the last name, I’m not exactly ‘fired up’ about this one. It is with great trepidation that Mark Leiter Jr. snags a feature here. I’d be lying if I said there was a lot more to this than being an offseason acquisition, the most experienced guy in a shaky bullpen, and picking up the only A’s save thus far. To be fair, Leiter isn’t entirely without upside; the strikeout numbers have always been decent, even elite (33.6% rate) as recently as 2024. There’s always some small hope a guy can regain his peak form. While there are better arms in this bullpen (Justin Sterner, namely), I’m willing to give Leiter a nod here and see if he can cling to the closer role for a while. He’s at worst watchlist material in 12-team leagues.
Honorable Mention: Victor Vodnik (COL), Cole Sands (MIN)
Saves (speculative/deep league)
The following pitchers aren’t currently closers but have potential to take the role.
Keaton Winn (SF) (3%)
First off, let me make one thing clear—we don’t refer to anyone as a “failed starter” around here. Bullpen greatness is the holiest of grails and never let anyone tell you otherwise. So, while Keaton Winn may have had a rough start to his career in 2023-2024, it was merely a prelude to him finding his rightful place in the late innings. Now, in what should be his first full season as a reliever, Winn has burst out of the gate. His three appearances have been good for a 6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He struck out the side against the Padres on Monday night, nabbing his first hold in a beauty of an eighth inning. In this small sample, Winn has flashed great stuff, including a fastball up a tick (~96.5 mph) from 2025. All of this runs counter to current Giants closer Ryan Walker, who already ceded the same role to Camilo Doval and Randy Rodríguez last season and is off to an erratic start this season. If this continues much longer, we’ve got a real shot at seeing Winn closing games for San Francisco by May.
UPDATE: Walker entered in the sixth inning of Thursday night’s game with the Giants up 6-2 and the bases empty. This is a situation to monitor closely, with Winn on the rise more quickly than expected.
Bryan Baker (TB) (2%)
While he got a nod in the same spot here last week, I’m bending my own rules and giving Bryan Baker another run as a deep-league saves target. Baker has only made two appearances, neither in save chances, but he gets a bump due to the tough starts of Griffin Jax and Garrett Cleavinger. There’s a chance the Rays never really settle on a true closer, but we did see Pete Fairbanks assume the role previously. If Baker keeps gaining on his struggling counterparts, he’ll quickly become the top high-leverage arm in the Tampa bullpen.
UPDATE: Cleavinger was placed on the 15-day IL on Friday with calf tightness, thinning the field even further for Baker in the interim.
Graham Ashcraft (CIN) (2%)
Graham Ashcraft, like Winn above, is a starter-turned-setup man for a projected .500-ish team, behind a shaky closer (Emilio Pagán) who’s stumbled out the gate. Ashcraft has made four appearances and struck out half of the 16 batters he’s faced, displaying a dramatically improved fastball up nearly two ticks to ~99 mph. While Tony Santillan is also in the picture, he’s shown questionable command and a fastball velocity trending in the other direction, down 2.5 ticks (~93.8 mph) year-over-year. Ashcraft is my pick to take over as closer in Cincinnati if Pagán can’t get it together.
Honorable Mention: Grant Taylor (CHW), Scott Barlow (ATH)
Holds
Erik Sabrowski (CLE) (12%)
Making the quick leap from watchlist to feature, Erik Sabrowski picks up right where he left off last season as a Waiver Relief favorite. Following a mid-season call-up, Sabrowski excelled to the tune of a 1.84 ERA and 34.7% strikeout rate in 2025. So far this season, his four appearances have been good for four holds across 3.2 hitless innings. Command is the one big question mark here (isn’t it always?) as Sabrowski walked one in six batters he faced last season, and already a couple this year. Still, Sabrowski makes for the best lefty in a fairly stacked Cleveland bullpen, and there’s real breakout potential in his first full major league season.
Bryan King (HOU) (7%)
Entering his second full season in the bigs, Bryan King has quickly established himself as one of the best setup men in baseball. King’s strikeout stuff paired with his elite control has been good for a K-BB% of 21.5 over his first season-and-a-half, and his heavy volume in 2025 netted a combined 34 wins saves and holds. With the start to the season that closer Bryan Abreu has had, there’s an argument that I could’ve put King up as a speculative add for saves, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For holds leagues, King is a certain top-20, even borderline top-10 option, and should be rostered accordingly.
Andrew Nardi (MIA) (<1%)
THE NARD DOG!
(I really wanted to write just that and move on, so I’m putting the rest of this in parentheses. Here’s hoping for a return to greatness for Andrew Nardi, who’s coming off a 2025 season lost to injury. Nardi’s always been an advanced stats darling. In 2024, his 5.07 ERA was belied by a 2.81 xERA and 33.3% strikeout rate. In 2023, he was elite even at surface level, with a 2.67 ERA and 11.46 K/9 running alongside upper-echelon contact metrics (.187 xBA, 27.3% HardHit). Nardi looked fantastic in his first couple of appearances this season, striking out four of the six batters he faced. If he can stay healthy, Nardi should reemerge as a high-end holds-league arm with ridiculous strikeout upside. End parentheses.)
Honorable Mention: Caleb Thielbar (CHC), Braydon Fisher (TOR), Cole Winn (TEX)
SPRPs (Yahoo-eligible)
Tyler Alexander (TEX) (11%)
While he’s technically leading off, I’m featuring Tyler Alexander here as much out of caution as anything else. It’s easy to get excited about any reliever with two saves this early on, let alone one you can slot in at SP. The saves were situational anomalies, though, either due to a game going into extras, or the unavailability of Robert Garcia and Chris Martin. Still, Alexander did get the job done, and it’s fair to think he at least gets a decent share of holds in the Rangers’ bullpen. It needs to be stressed, though, that Alexander has never put together so much as an above-average season, and with middling stuff entering his eighth year, there’s little reason to believe that suddenly changes. In holds leagues where the SP eligibility plays up, he’s a fine add; if you’re looking for a typical closer, look elsewhere.
Tobias Myers (NYM) (2%)
Whether his role ends up being fantasy-friendly is up for grabs, but I like what I’ve seen so far out of Tobias Myers in the Mets’ bullpen. His three appearances have been good for six strong innings, with his only real blemish a solo shot surrendered to apparent NL MVP favorite Ryan O’Hearn. Intriguingly, Myers entered in the sixth inning on Monday with the Mets leading 4-2, nabbing a hold with three strikeouts over an inning and a third. He followed this up by pitching the tenth and eleventh innings on Wednesday, taking a tough-luck loss off a bloop single against St. Louis. While Myers wouldn’t really make the cut on most standard holds rankings, he’s looking like one of the better options among few emerging SPRPs this season.
AJ Blubaugh (HOU) (2%)
One of the Astros’ top pitching prospects, AJ Blubaugh got his career off to a terrific start in 2025. In a versatile role, often pitching 3+ innings, he put up a 1.69 ERA backed by a 3.54 SIERA and .184 xBA. In three outings this season, he’s allowed just two hits while striking out six over 5.1 innings, picking up a win and a hold to boot. Despite his varying usage, you can likely count on Blubaugh as a solid buffer to your ratios while tacking on some bonus counting stats here and there.
Honorable Mention: Ian Seymour (TB), Ben Brown (CHC), Brad Lord (WSH)
