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David's closers and saves fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and bullpen report for Week 24 (2025). His relief pitcher updates, and closers to add for saves.
For seemingly the first time this season, there wasn't any enormous bullpen news this week. There's still plenty to talk about, and we're waiting for more information about an injury that could be pretty significant news. However, nothing headline-making, front-page of the newspaper, breaking news caliber occurred this week.
Which probably means we're absolutely in for a mess next week, but who knows? Still things to look at and closers to pick up on waivers this week like every week. Don't let the start of football season distract you from fantasy baseball playoffs, where one save, or one hold could be the difference in your matchup!
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 38% of leagues)
Dennis Santana keeps doing it, but fantasy managers just don't seem to notice. The Pirates closer is still only rostered in just over one-third of fantasy leagues, but he's up to 13 saves on the season and seven since August 8. In his last four outings, he has four saves and has allowed just one hit while striking out five.
Even with the general struggles of the Pirates, Santana is a much better fantasy option as we're down to the wire than other guys who may be committee members or key setup guys.
Abner Uribe, Milwaukee Brewers (Rostered in 45% of leagues)
The Brewers got some bad news when closer Trevor Megill (elbow) ended up on the injured list with a flexor strain. However, they then received relatively good news when imaging and tests revealed a very minor injury. Megill is already throwing a bullpen session and looks like he could be back on the mound very soon.
In his place, though, Uribe has taken over as closer in Milwaukee. Uribe has been one of the league's best setup guys all season, and he's picked up two saves since Megill landed on the IL (although he did have a rough outing, taking a loss in between). Uribe may not be the closer for long if Megill doesn't have any setbacks, but he's still an absolute must-roster in all holds leagues at least.
Abner Uribe in August...
10.0 IP, 0 ER 🤠 pic.twitter.com/7xDj27Qu4I
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 21, 2025
JoJo Romero, St. Louis Cardinals (Rostered in 27% of leagues)
After the Cardinals traded away their closer at the deadline, it looked like the ninth-inning plan would involve a committee approach. That worked for a bit, but Riley O'Brien (shoulder) hasn't pitched for a week due to shoulder soreness.
JoJo Romero, who was already handling the "bigger half" of closing duties, has pretty much taken over in the role for St. Louis. He saved three games this week and now has seven on the season to go with a 2.06 ERA. Even with O'Brien expected back soon, Romero makes for a good addition and is available is most leagues right now.
Shawn Armstrong, Texas Rangers (Rostered in 13% of leagues)
Maybe the Rangers have finally figured out their ninth inning? It's been an adventure down in the Texas bullpen this season, with nine different players closing out at least one game and no one on the roster having more than nine saves.
Armstrong may have landed in the role and could hang onto it if he keeps pitching well. He has six saves on the year, good for third most on the team, and three of those have come in his past six outings. The peripherals look good, so there's reason to think he might hang on to the role for the rest of the season.
Shawn Armstrong shuts it down in extra-innings against the Dbacks…
Rangers are now 1.5 games behind the Mariners the 3rd AL Wild Card spot.#MLB #AllForTX
pic.twitter.com/8KN2K8H3fn— SportsGrid (@SportsGrid) September 2, 2025
Waiver Wire Pickups For Deeper Leagues
Jake Woodford, Arizona Diamondbacks (Rostered in 1% of leagues)
Andrew Saalfrank, Arizona Diamondbacks (Rostered in 12% of leagues)
Taylor Rashi, Arizona Diamondbacks (Rostered in 1% of leagues)
The Arizona bullpen has been an interesting one over the past few weeks. Since the start of August, 11 saves have been recorded by a Diamondbacks pitcher. Three each for Andrew Saalfrank and Jake Woodford, two for Taylor Rashi, and then one each for Kyle Nelson, Juan Morillo, and Kyle Backhus.
This week, Woodford and Rashi had two saves each, but one of Rashi's was a three-inning outing in his major league debut. He could keep mixing in, but Woodford feels like the safer bet with Saalfrank not far behind.
Keegan Akin, Baltimore Orioles (Rostered in 9% of leagues)
The Orioles are playing better baseball lately, and Keegan Akin seems to be the guy atop the bullpen hierarchy in Baltimore. He's a decent add in deeper leagues and could nab a save or two a week going forward. We all know how big that can be when it comes to fantasy playoffs.
Short Relief: More Bullpen Notes
-This week's saves leaders are Santana and Romero, with three each.
-The holds leaders for the week are Isaac Mattson and Saalfrank, with three each.
-Kyle Finnegan has been outstanding since joining the Tigers as he still hasn't allowed a run in 14 1/3 innings. He was forced to stop warming in the bullpen due to groin tightness this week, though the severity of his injury is not yet known (EDIT: Finnegan was placed on the injured list on Friday due to a right adductor strain). Will Vest figures to jump back into Detroit's closer role if Finnegan has to miss time.
-Ryan Walker continues to work as the Giants closer and should be able to keep that role through the rest of the season. Randy Rodriguez (elbow) will undergo Tommy John Surgery and miss the rest of this season and at least part of next as well.
-Jordan Leasure is maybe a thing again? Hard to trust the White Sox, but he's been pretty good lately and has the two most recent Chicago saves.
-No one knows what's happening in the Twins or Marlins bullpens, and at this point it may be better to stop wondering.
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