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David's closers and saves fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and bullpen report for Week 22 (2025). His relief pitcher updates, and closers to add for saves.
Plenty of injuries, ineffectiveness, and interesting bullpen moves this week, as usual in Major League Baseball. Also, a five-save week for a guy we all wrote off earlier this year! The more we start hearing about football season, the more we know baseball playoffs are coming up.
This week, we learned more about old injuries, got some new injuries to talk about, and saw some committees completely blow up. Saves are key stats all year in fantasy leagues, but even more important right now when one or two saves could be the difference between a playoff berth and an early exit.
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 new information becomes available.
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Waiver Wire Pickups For Standard Leagues
Dennis Santana, Pittsburgh Pirates (Rostered in 33% of leagues)
Dennis Santana remains the unquestioned closer for the Pirates and yet remains available in two-thirds of fantasy leagues right now. He saved two games this week without allowing a run in three appearances and certainly seems to have made it past the little rough patch that caught him right after the trade deadline.
DENNIS SANTANA WITH THE CUTLASS CELEBRATION AFTER THE SAVE
RAISE IT pic.twitter.com/M27RjyO42q
— Platinum Key (@PlatinumKey13) August 9, 2025
Jose A. Ferrer, Washington Nationals (Rostered in 11% of leagues)
There's another closer who got three saves this week in four scoreless appearances (who is rostered even less than Santana), and that is Jose A. Ferrer. Ferrer may not be quite as firmly entrenched in the closer's role as Santana, but plenty of signs point to the Nationals giving him the ninth inning much more often than not from now until the season ends.
José Ferrer @Nationals lanzó 1 entrada, permitió 1 hit y 0 carreras. Obtuvo su tercer juego salvado de la temporada. 4.38 EFE.#AguiluchosMLB pic.twitter.com/rYNzLxEN7C
— Águilas Cibaeñas (@aguilascibaenas) August 21, 2025
Randy Rodriguez, San Francisco Giants (Rostered in 45% of leagues)
EDIT: Rodriguez had some arm soreness after his appearance on Friday, leading to a Ryan Walker save on Sunday. He'd be an immediate add if RandRod ends up on the IL.
Giants closer Randy Rodriguez only appeared twice this week, but he's still likely the guy with the most upside who isn't rostered in even half of fantasy leagues at the moment. His rostered rate went down by 3 percent this week. The Giants are struggling as a team, but Rodriguez is locked into the ninth-inning job and has sky-high strikeout upside.
Randy Rodriguez tosses 💯 to close it out 🔥 pic.twitter.com/v1l00Jorcg
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 2, 2025
Victor Vodnik, Colorado Rockies (Rostered in 18% of leagues)
Ok, fine, we'll finally mention a Rockies reliever in this section. Victor Vodnik has allowed just two runs, both in the same outing, since August began. His past four outings have been perfect innings where he's faced three batters and retired all three in order each time. He had two saves this week and is the clear closing option in Colorado. Tread lightly, but maybe actually tread this time.
Victor Vodnik, Wicked 93mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/zld6szrOts
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 13, 2025
Waiver Wire Pickups For Deeper Leagues
Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels (Rostered in 5% of leagues)
Kenley Jansen struggled on Tuesday and then reported "something physical" going on post-game. He's dealing with a rib issue and reportedly hopes to avoid needing a trip to the injured list, but Reid Detmers figures to be the next guy up for ninth-inning work in Anaheim and can be a decent speculative add in deep leagues.
JoJo Romero, St. Louis Cardinals (Rostered in 24% of leagues)
Riley O'Brien, St. Louis Cardinals (Rostered in 9% of leagues)
The Cardinals have shown that they're satisfied with a lefty-righty platoon for their ninth-inning role, at least for the remainder of this season. Since trading closer Ryan Helsley at the trade deadline, JoJo Romero has earned four saves, and Riley O'Brien has earned two. It will likely be a similar split for the rest of the season, meaning both guys should have value in deeper leagues, with a slight edge to Romero.
Calvin Faucher, Miami Marlins (Rostered in 23% of leagues)
EDIT: Tyler Phillips, who certainly had one of the post-game interviews of all time, got the save on Sunday and could mix in more often with Henriquez and Faucher.
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough seems to have an aversion to using Ronny Henriquez at all lately, but besides that, he seems to enjoy using him as early in a game as he can. The only Marlin reliever who seems to be saved for later innings at all, and even then not consistently, is Calvin Faucher. With Anthony Bender (tibia) out for the season, Faucher figures to work more in save chances than not.
Short Relief: More Bullpen Notes
-This week's saves leader is Raisel Iglesias, with five. It's the most saves in a week so far this season.
-The holds leader for the week is Hunter Gaddis, with three.
-No one knows what the Athletics are doing with their bullpen. We thought it was Sean Newcomb or Michael Kelly, then Hogan Harris earned a save this week.
-Phil Maton and Robert Garcia have struggled, while Shawn Armstrong has not. The Rangers seem likely to go with the hot hand, and at least for now, that's Armstrong.
-Tanner Scott has completed his rehab assignment and will be activated on Friday. He should be back to closing games for the Dodgers before long if everything goes as planned. (EDIT: Scott returned and retired the top of the Padres order in six pitches.)
-The A's and D-backs lead the league with four relievers on each team having earned saves since the trade deadline.
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