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David's closers and saves fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and bullpen report for Week 2 (2025). His relief pitcher updates, and closers to add for saves.
Baseball is back, and the games count again, and everything is great. (Don't fact-check this. Don't watch the news to prove me wrong.) There have been some exciting starts to the season mixed in with some unexpectedly and surprisingly bad ones.
Saves, holds, and blown saves are coming from some expected pitchers and thoroughly unexpected pitchers seemingly at the same rate. And yeah, small sample size, but it's still fun to look at, so let's dive in with the first standard Closers and Saves Waiver Wire Report of the season.
All that and more in this week's report! Be sure to also keep an eye on our Fantasy Baseball Closer Depth Charts for saves, holds, and bullpens. They will be updated daily or sometimes even more often throughout the 2025 baseball season.
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Waiver Wire Pickups For Standard Leagues
Luke Jackson, Texas Rangers (40% Rostered)
Luke Jackson is the Rangers closer. It seemed like he might have blown his chance at that title as early as possible with an awful outing on Opening Day (1/3 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 1 BB), but Texas manager Bruce Bochy went right back to him the next day and Jackson now has three saves and hasn't allowed another run yet.
Likely due to the early-season uncertainty combined with the Opening Day blowup, Jackson is currently only rostered in 40 percent of leagues. It seems he's locked down the ninth inning in Texas, and he's always had pretty good swing-and-miss stuff (although he earned his third save without inducing a whiff), which should make him a solid mid-tier fantasy closer. He should be picked up in most formats.
Luke Jackson is going to be a weapon in the Rangers' bullpen this season https://t.co/UvEB6V7cZm pic.twitter.com/lOgO9xo9ON
— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) March 25, 2025
Jose Alvarado, Philadelphia Phillies (17% Rostered)
A lot happened in baseball this week, but maybe the thing that surprised me the most was seeing that Jose Alvarado is only rostered in 17 percent of fantasy leagues right now. Alvarado may not be the Phillies closer, but he's definitely going to earn saves.
He was warming up for a save on Wednesday before his teammates increased the lead and made his outing a scoreless ninth inning, but with no save stat attached. The next day, Jordan Romano pitched the eighth inning while Alvarado came in for the ninth and earned the save.
Romano (who is 77 percent rostered) isn't going to just go away, but Alvarado is the clearly better pitcher and will get the highest leverage situations late in games. Sometimes, that will be the seventh or eighth inning, but it'll be the ninth sometimes as well.
Alvarado has some of the highest strikeout upside in the league, and should be rostered in every holds league already, but it also makes him an upside grab in standard leagues.
José Alvarado 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/bNoSsuZCRU
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 27, 2025
Waiver Wire Pickups For Deeper Leagues
Dennis Santana, Pittsburgh Pirates (15% Rostered)
The Pirates watched David Bednar struggle most of last season, but still gave their veteran closer a chance to start this year in charge of the ninth inning. It didn't work. Bednar pitched in three games, tossing one inning total while allowing four runs and taking two losses. He was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis, which left an open spot at the end of the Pittsburgh bullpen.
In steps Dennis Santana. Santana is the outright closer in Pittsburgh but is currently only rostered in 15 percent of leagues. The Pirates likely won't have a ton of leads for him to save, and his ratios aren't great this season so far (three walks and three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings), but he'll get saves more regularly than pretty much anyone else around this rostered amount.
Dennis Santana and his pants should be rostered in deep leagues for sure.
Have you ever seen this style of baseball pants?? 😭
Dennis Santana’s “pants” had the Rays broadcast in disarray pic.twitter.com/3daKAKlBzI
— MLB (@MLB) April 2, 2025
Tommy Kahnle, Detroit Tigers (7% Rostered)
The Tigers might not have an actual closer closer all season, but they'll definitely have a committee that can provide some significant fantasy value if you time things right. Right now, the timing seems to point toward Tommy Kahnle as The Guy in the Detroit bullpen. Will Vest (one percent rostered), Tyler Holton (27 percent rostered), and Beau Brieske (six percent rostered) will all pitch leverage innings as well.
Kahnle has always had strong ratios, and he's off to a good start to this season, pitching two innings with two strikeouts and only allowing one runner on via hit-by-pitch. He's not a must-add in standard leagues, but managers in deep leagues needing an extra save or two and a little ratio help can probably find him on the wire for free.
Tommy Kahnle YOU are a Detroit Tiger
One of the nastiest change-ups in all of baseball pic.twitter.com/qwYFBOVxib
— Calico Joe (@CalicoJoeMLB) January 29, 2025
Anthony Bender, Miami Marlins (3% Rostered)
Calvin Faucher was outstanding last season, pitching 53 2/3 innings without allowing a home run and posting a 3.19 ERA. He's off to a rough start this year, though, as he's pitched three innings and already allowed a home run, along with three walks and just two strikeouts. He's been working leverage innings for the surprisingly competent Marlins, but Anthony Bender seems to have taken hold of the ninth inning.
Faucher will likely work his way back into leverage once he gets right and will work alongside Lake Bachar and Anthony Veneziano, but it looks like Bender could be the one earning saves in Miami. Bender has always put up solid ratios, and his step into the closer's role certainly makes him worth rostering in deeper leagues and NL-only formats. Faucher (17 percent rostered) can be dropped for now.
Anthony Bender, Wicked 85mph Back Door Sweeper. 🤢
18 inches of horizontal break. pic.twitter.com/u8PWoXJWfr
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 9, 2024
Emilio Pagan, Cincinnati Reds (17% Rostered)
No one knew what the Reds were going to do with their closer role once it was confirmed that Alexis Diaz would begin the season on the injured list. As things settled after the first week, it appears that veteran righty Emilio Pagan may end up as the ninth-inning guy, at least for now. Diaz will likely get a shot to get his job back once he returns, but in the meantime, Pagan and his 34 career saves should get most of the chances. He's been prone to huge innings in his career but has generally been a solid reliever with decent strikeout numbers and good control.
Fantasy managers looking for some short-term help with saves can add Pagan and hang onto him at least until Diaz returns. He's an ideal add for anyone holding Diaz in an IL spot.
Good #Reds news?
Emilio Pagan and Tony Santillan look like they're back.
Pagan's 4SFB shape looked incredible all spring and he finally added more velo yesterday after sitting 92-93 in AZ.
Santillan's shape needs velo a bit more, so seeing him back to 96-97 yesterday is huge. pic.twitter.com/e8dO3UHk7L
— Reds in Four (@RedsInFour) March 28, 2025
Seth Halvorsen, Colorado Rockies (23% Rostered)
While rostering and relying on any Rockies pitcher is seldom recommended, Seth Halvorsen does seem to at least have one of the more important roles in fantasy baseball: a set closer position. Halvorsen fought off Victor Vodnik and Tyler Kinley to earn his manager's trust and appears locked into the ninth-inning role for Colorado. Things could change quickly in that bullpen though, as several of their relievers have somewhat similar profiles.
For now though, it's the 25-year-old Halvorsen, who earned the first two saves of his career last season and has already tacked on one more this year. He limits walks and gets decent swing-and-miss numbers, but his 1.46 ERA in a small sample of 12 1/3 innings in 2024 was helped by the good luck of a .214 BABIP. In deeper leagues, having an outright closer is always valuable, so Halvorsen should certainly be considered.
Seth Halvorsen, 101mph Paint. 🖌️🎨 pic.twitter.com/86i4iCFfju
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 17, 2024
Short Relief: Quick Bullpen Notes
Los Angeles Dodgers
Tanner Scott is rostered in 95 percent of leagues and rightly so, as he has the most upside in the Dodgers bullpen. However, Blake Treinen (36 percent rostered) will get some save chances and would pair excellently with Scott in leagues that count saves and holds.
San Francisco Giants
Camilo Doval has looked like the Camilo Doval of old and could be working his way into at least a shared role in the back of the Giants bullpen with Ryan Walker. Doval is currently rostered in 22 percent of leagues while Walker is rostered in 96 percent.
Boston Red Sox
Justin Slaten (21 percent rostered) got a ton of hype during spring training and will almost certainly be an excellent holds league asset. He's currently the "1B" option behind Aroldis Chapman for saves if Chapman is needed earlier to face a lefty pocket and could step up if the streaky Chapman loses the zone. A few bad outings from the southpaw could bump Slaten up a spot in the Boston hierarchy (despite Slaten's atrocious outing early this week).
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