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David's closers and saves fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and bullpen report for Week 12 (2025). His relief pitcher updates, and closers to add for saves.
All-Star voting has started, and that's how we know we're getting deep (enough) into baseball season. Small sample sizes aren't so small anymore. Rough stretches aren't just stretches anymore. Record-setting paces are starting to become significant now.
Injuries, of course, always remain a key factor in baseball, real life, and fantasy. This week, a guy we were all excited about seeing come back got hurt again. Another guy we were excited to see back on a familiar mound pitched just once, then was sent packing.
Let's dive into this week's report! As always, stay tapped in with our Fantasy Baseball Closer Depth Charts for saves, holds, and bullpens. They will be updated frequently throughout the 2025 baseball season as news breaks.
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Waiver Wire Pickups For Standard Leagues
Robert Garcia, Texas Rangers (Rostered in 19% of leagues)
Chris Martin, Texas Rangers (Rostered in 21% of leagues)
The Rangers had two save situations this week, and both went to lefty Robert Garcia. One of them went very well (1 1/3 innings, two strikeouts, only one hit allowed, and the save). The other one, not so much (three runs on four hits, only two outs, blown save, and a loss). Still, the fact that he was called upon after the blown save bodes well for his usage going forward as the Texas closer.
Chris Martin would seem to be the main competition for saves in this bullpen, but he appeared in just one game this week, pitching a scoreless inning. Shawn Armstrong and Hoby Milner each recorded two holds, but with Garcia and Martin around, they don't seem to be options for saves.
Garcia is currently rostered in only 19 percent of leagues, down from 21 percent last week. His blown save blowup likely scared some fantasy managers away, but his usage and his response in his outing after the loss are both encouraging.
Shelby Miller, Arizona Diamondbacks (Rostered in 33% of leagues)
EDIT: Justin Martinez is officially out for the season and part of next season as well. He can be dropped in all formats.
EDIT 2: A.J. Puk has stopped his throwing program and will visit Dr. Neal ElAttrache, which is very rarely good news.
Justin Martinez came back from the injured list on May 24. He pitched five times and then settled right back onto the injured list, this time with a dreaded UCL injury in his right elbow. That means Shelby Miller is back at the top of the Arizona hierarchy, and likely for a while. Miller is only rostered in a third of fantasy leagues right now, and that's up about 10 percent from last week.
This week, Miller earned his seventh save of the year and has recorded a save in two of his last three appearances. Besides that, he's on a seven-game scoreless streak. Fantasy managers in any format looking for saves should snatch up Miller quickly, because that rostered rate is sure to continue to grow.
2) Shelby Miller - AZ
It's not crazy to say that Shelby Miller has the best fastball in MLB. It's combination of velocity, extension, and ride relative to his slot gives it the foundation to dominate, and his tendency to locate it high in the zone elevates it to elite status pic.twitter.com/Zjg3GkclHr
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) April 25, 2025
Pierce Johnson, Atlanta Braves (Rostered in 1% of leagues)
Dylan Lee, Atlanta Braves (Rostered in 6% of leagues)
Hey, remember when Craig Kimbrel was on the Braves? No, not from 2010 until 2014, when he saved 186 games. I'm talking about in 2025, when they made a whole welcome back video for him, had him pitch one (scoreless) inning, then immediately released him after the game. Nostalgia sure is something, isn't it?
Anyway, the Braves don't have a closer right now. Raisel Iglesias was in the role, but his 6.48 season ERA got him demoted. Manager Brian Snitker has said that Iglesias may still close some games, but he will not be the primary closer.
Pierce Johnson and Dylan Lee figure to be the two guys who join Iglesias in the committee, and both are widely available. The Braves only won two games this week, and one of them was a Spencer Schwellenbach complete game, so there were no saves and no holds recorded by an Atlanta pitcher this week. Iglesias and Johnson each got a blown save added to their stats, though.
Pierce Johnson's Nasty Curveball🤮 pic.twitter.com/MlrDF2Fsd6
— Eric Yu (@Eric35_Yu) June 4, 2025
Daniel Palencia, Chicago Cubs (Rostered in 45% of leagues)
Ryan Pressly, Chicago Cubs (Rostered in 48% of leagues)
Daniel Palencia continues to serve as the Cubs' closer and is still a perfect five-for-five in save opportunities. He did take his second loss of the season this week, allowing a walk-off win to the Phillies in the 11th inning, but it was after already pitching a scoreless 10th. Nothing about that outing will harm Palencia's standing as the closer in Chicago, yet his rostered rate dropped by two percent this week.
On Thursday, he was brought in for the eighth inning, which led to Ryan Pressly earning a save for the first time since April 13, but Palencia faced the heart of the order in his inning and is clearly still the go-to guy in this pen.
Palencia should certainly be rostered in most formats, but he's only on a team in under half of the current fantasy leagues. Take a quick peek at your league's waiver wire just in case! Anyone who wants to probably read too much into one game can check on Pressly as well.
Daniel Palencia 101 mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/NjFdJf2kP5
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 31, 2025
David Bednar, Pittsburgh Pirates (Rostered in 55% of leagues)
EDIT: Bednar earned his 10th save of the season on Friday night.
The Pirates did a lot of jumping back and forth between closers earlier this season, but David Bednar has returned as the David Bednar of old and taken control of the end of the Pittsburgh bullpen. He had two saves this week in a strong week for the Pirates, who won five games.
Bednar was the only one to log a save situation, further distancing himself from Dennis Santana, who earned two holds and has consistently been pitching the inning before Bednar.
The Pirates likely won't have a ton of five-win weeks, so Bednar isn't an immediate must-add in all formats, but fantasy managers looking for saves should absolutely check waiver wires for him.
David Bednar in June:
• 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 SO
• 0.00 ERA, .077 BAA, 0.25 WHIP
• 3 saves pic.twitter.com/V9NPQpsF88— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) June 11, 2025
Waiver Wire Pickups For Deeper Leagues
Calvin Faucher, Miami Marlins (Rostered in 9% of leagues)
EDIT: Faucher earned the save on Friday and was used in a traditional closer way.
EDIT 2: Anthony Bender was brought in for the save on Saturday but had to be relieved by Faucher after giving up two runs and leaving the bases loaded. Faucher got the last out of the game to earn another save.
Maybe the Marlins have finally settled on someone for their closer role, or maybe it's just once again manager Clayton McCullough using a pitcher as a closer for a few games only to bring him into the fourth inning of a game a few days later. That's already happened with Calvin Faucher, but at some point, you have to think that maybe the Miami bullpen will settle into some pattern?
Ronny Henriquez made a little noise and looked like he could be taking the role, but he's struggled lately, and Faucher was used for the only Marlins save of the week. Rookie Cade Gibson has seemingly earned some of his manager's trust and may start seeing more leverage innings, but at least for right now, it looks like Faucher is the one to roster if, for some reason, rostering a Marlins reliever is necessary.
Since giving up six runs without recording an out on May 20, Faucher has only allowed one run in eight outings.
Marlins bullpen, 5/11-5/17: 22.1 IP, 4 ER
Calvin Faucher, 5/20: 0 IP, 6 ER pic.twitter.com/sJ7knfT6vQ
— Louis Addeo-Weiss (@addeo_louis00) May 21, 2025
Short Relief: More Bullpen Notes
-This week's saves leader is Jeff Hoffman, who recorded four saves this week despite allowing a run in two of his four outings.
-The holds leader for the week goes to Ryan Zeferjahn, who picked up four.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers' bullpen remains a mix-and-match type of vibe. This week, Tanner Scott earned two saves and Alex Vesia earned one. Both lefties had scoreless weeks, and Scott may be righting the ship that caused the Dodgers to go into more of a committee mode in the first place.
Kirby Yates and Jack Dreyer had two holds each, but Scott is still likely the biggest fantasy asset in the LA bullpen. Michael Kopech is back, but his second appearance of the season featured three walks out of just four batters faced, so he's in much more of a wait-and-see mode before he needs to be added in most leagues.
New York Yankees
Luke Weaver (hamstring) reportedly "felt great" after throwing a bullpen session this week and could be back on the mound for the Yankees a little sooner than originally expected. Devin Williams has been closing in his place and picked up three saves this week. He's been pitching much better than he did earlier in the season, but it appears this will still be Weaver's job when he returns, sending Williams back to a key setup role.
Colorado Rockies
The Rockies were deploying Zach Agnos as their closer for a while on the few times they had late leads, and it worked well...until it didn't. Agnos has allowed runs in five of his six June outings and has an 18.56 ERA since the month began. Seth Halvorsen and Tyler Kinley should be the ones seeing save chances for Colorado, but by now, you know better than to roster a Rockies reliever, right?
Chicago White Sox
Brandon Eisert seems to have taken over in the closer's role for the White Sox, or at least made his way up to head of committee status. Much like rostering a Rockies reliever, we hope you already know better.
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