Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: Luke Jackson has loose grip on closer role; Dodgers, Phillies add to turmoil

Saves. They’re oh-so elusive, but in traditional Fantasy Baseball leagues, they’re oh-so-necessary.

Some have found the closer treadmill to be too burdensome, too taxing on the FAB, and too mentally exhausting to endure year after year. As such, they’ve swapped out the saves category for saves-plus-holds. But in escaping the overly narrow, they’ve embraced the overly broad, rendering the relief pitcher position as mundane as the kicker position in Fantasy Football.

For shame! In this space, we never tire of the breathless pursuit of closers no matter how many lose their jobs. The constant turnover requires continual analysis, and the Bullpen Report is where you’ll get it. As often as necessary — almost weekly, but not quite — I’ll deliver a rundown of the 10 closer situations most in flux. Or maybe not always 10, but I can usually come up with 10.

Note that I’ve excluded the Royals, Diamondbacks, and Marlins from this first edition even though their closer roles are indeed in flux. We simply don’t know any more about them now than we did coming into the year.

Note: “Pecking order” refers to rosterability in Fantasy and not necessarily who’s first in line for saves (though it’s usually one and the same).

Emilio Pagan secured the Reds‘ first save Saturday, and it wasn’t a surprise. In the immediate aftermath of watching Ian Gibaut blow a save on opening day, manager Terry Francona said that he’d probably reserve Pagan for the ninth inning next time, and well, he did. But just because it’s the plan for now doesn’t mean it’ll be the plan for long. Indeed, Pagan’s own history should immediately have him on thin ice. The 33-year-old is notoriously homer-prone, generally delivering an ERA in the mid-to-high fours, and that’s an especially dangerous profile given the venue that the Reds call home.

Francona has hinted more than once that he considers Tony Santillan to be the Reds’ best reliever, calling him the “easy choice” to close but also “too valuable getting to the ninth.” He’s also said that the ultimate goal is to return Alexis Diaz (who’s on the IL for a hamstring injury but really more for ineffectiveness) to the role. I’m tempted to slide both Santillan and Diaz ahead of Pagan here because I’m that confident that Pagan’s stay in the role will be short-lived. I’m less confident, however, in what direction Francona and the Reds will go next.

It was way back in February that manager Dave Roberts endorsed Tanner Scott as his closer, telling Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio that the left-hander would “get the brunt of the saves to start the season,” and indeed, Scott secured the team’s first save in their first game March 18 in Tokyo. But Scott has appeared more times in the eighth inning than the ninth inning since then, and his one ninth-inning appearance resulted in a blown save. Meanwhile, right-hander Blake Treinen, who recorded the team’s most recent save Thursday, also worked the ninth inning with a four-run lead two days later. I’m not saying he’s the closer now, but I’m saying there is no closer, which is how I envisioned the Dodgers bullpen playing out before Roberts’ comment in February.

Curiously, Kirby Yates, who is the most established closer of the three, hasn’t gotten a look in the ninth inning yet, but he’s been fantastic in his three appearances, striking out seven while allowing just one base runner. Don’t be surprised if he records a save over the next week and if Roberts continues to cycle through these three moving forward. I’m still giving Scott the edge for Fantasy because he’s the one left-hander of the three and because Roberts could still fall back on what he said in February, but I wouldn’t feel so secure with Scott, particularly given the investment I made in him on Draft Day.

After spending spring training teasing various other candidates — none of whom was the most obvious choice, Chris Martin — manager Bruce Bochy surprised us on the eve of opening day by implying that Luke Jackson would be his closer. And so far, Bochy has stuck to his guns, having Jackson work the ninth inning of a tie game Thursday before giving him a save chance both Friday and Sunday. Martin set up for Jackson in two of those instances. He did record a save of his own, but only on the day (Saturday) when Jackson was unavailable.

So Jackson would appear to be the closer, firmly, but as with Emilio Pagan of the Reds, that’s only true for as long as it’s viable. And Jackson’s own history would suggest it’s not viable. Across 10 seasons, he has put together a 4.29 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. His best stretch was 2021-2023 (really just 1 1/2 seasons because of time lost to Tommy John surgery), when he put together a 2.32 ERA, but even that came with a 3.53 FIP because of a consistently high walk rate. Last year was a disaster for him, such that it wasn’t clear he’d even get a major-league deal this offseason. And now he’s closing for a team with playoff aspirations? Get real, Bochy, and don’t get attached, you.

The Phillies threw what seemed to be a clear situation into chaos on opening day when they brought in presumed closer Jordan Romano for the eighth and had perennial closer tease Jose Alvarado work the ninth. The game ultimately went to extras, and the Phillies remain without a save for now. Who gets the first one is clearly a matter of debate, though.

Alvarado — a perennial tease, as I’ve said — has been throwing the ball harder than ever so far and struck out 20 over nine innings this spring. It may be that manager Rob Thomson views Alvarado as a co-closer to deploy when more left-handers are due up in the ninth, but I think Monday’s game, when he worked the eighth inning, made it clear that he isn’t the closer outright. Alvarado’s inning of work set up Romano for a save chance, but the Phillies added a couple more runs in the bottom of the eighth, eliminating that possibility. Still, Romano handled the ninth with aplomb, recapturing his velocity from 2023. The situation remains in flux, but I’d feel better about my investment in Romano today than a few days ago.

Manager Bud Black dropped hints late in spring training that he might be leaning toward Victor Vodnik as his closer, and of course, Tyler Kinley finished out last year in the role. But instead, in a most pleasant surprise, it was Seth Halvorsen who got the team’s first save chance Saturday, and the way Black has used these three so far would suggest Halvorsen is the guy outright.

That save chance, which remains the Rockies‘ only one, is also Halvorsen’s lone appearance so far. Meanwhile, Vodnik and Kinley have yet to appear in the ninth inning of any game. I say it’s a pleasant surprise because I do believe Halvorsen to be the most talented of the three, but even if he does have the closer role exclusively, his save opportunities could be limited and his margin for error thin.

I think this one is as straightforward as it gets, actually. It’s true that right-hander Justin Slaten recorded the save on opening day and that left-hander Aroldis Chapman, the presumed closer, set up for him. But in anointing Chapman the closer prior to the season-opening series against the Rangers, manager Alex Cora did explicitly say that if Corey Seager led off the eighth, Chapman would be used in the eighth. Naturally, Seager led off the eighth on opening day, so Chapman worked the eighth and left the ninth to Slaten.

The Red Sox haven’t had a save chance since then, and notably, Chapman hasn’t worked since then. Slaten, meanwhile, has worked twice and actually got knocked around in his latest appearance Monday. Nothing about his usage since opening day would suggest he’s on equal footing with Chapman.

All three of Ryan Pressly’s appearances have been to finish out a game, including once for a save, and in each of those three instances, Porter Hodge preceded him in the eighth. It’s about as clear of a setup man/closer dynamic as you’ll find in 2025. So why feature it here? Because Pressly has looked awful so far, issuing 10 base runners and three earned runs in his three innings of work. His velocity, which dipped last year, is back up to 2023 levels, which you’d think would improve his chances of fending off Hodges, but not unless the performance changes. Meanwhile, Hodge appears to have picked up where he left off last year when he was the Cubs‘ most dominant reliever and their closer over the final six weeks.

When it comes to closers who’ve looked awful, David Bednar takes the cake. Twice he’s had to be removed before recording a single out, and the one time he did record a save, he still gave up two earned runs. Seeing as he had a 5.77 ERA last year, ultimately ceding the role to Aroldis Chapman, he needed to hit the ground running this year and clearly hasn’t. His one saving grace is that the Pirates have no viable alternative, really. Eighth-inning man Colin Holderman has looked just as bad, which has me leaning toward Dennis Santana as the next in line, not that he’s anything special either.

The Tigers optioned 2025 saves leader Jason Foley to Triple-A on the eve of opening day, leaving them without an obvious front-runner for the closer role. Tigers fans have anointed Beau Brieske the favorite because he throws hard and had a couple of nice appearances in the postseason, but he got a chance to secure a save in the 10th inning of a game Friday and blew it in particularly grotesque fashion, giving up five runs, four earned, while recording just one out.

Tommy Kahnle, who was the team’s biggest bullpen acquisition this offseason, worked a scoreless ninth in that game and has yet to appear otherwise, which has me wondering if manager A.J. Hinch is preserving him for the ninth. I list Tyler Holton first in the pecking order here not because I think he’ll step in as closer but because I think he’ll remain a part of the saves mix, no matter how it shakes out, and continue to deliver good ratios like he’s done each of the past two years.

I still list Mike Clevinger first here because he remains the only one who manager Will Venable has hinted could be a part of the saves mix and because the White Sox have no compelling candidates otherwise. But the converted starter has yet to appear in the ninth inning of a game and has looked pretty shaky in his two eighth-inning appearances. Meanwhile, right-hander Jordan Leasure and left-hander Fraser Ellard have each worked the ninth with a one-run deficit, so I would guess that if the first save chance doesn’t go to Clevinger, it would go to one of them.