Closers in Draft-and-Hold Leagues

The goal of this article is pretty simple: I want to find a way to draft enough saves to compete in a draft-and-hold league. Draft-and-hold leagues feature larger rosters but don't allow for free agent pickups to supplement your roster. There are multiple platforms to play in these types of leagues, but I'll be using the NFBC 50's and Draft Champions formats for this article. The platform matters less than the ideas behind developing a closer strategy.

Drafting enough saves in this format is challenging, for two obvious reasons. We can't supplement our rosters through the free agent process as we do in managed leagues. When a closer gets hurt or loses his job during the season, many times his replacement is someone that we didn't necessarily envision at the start of the season. The deeper rosters help us accommodate that reality, but even still, those pitchers will still often elude us. Moreover, at the time we're drafting, job battles haven't been resolved, so we have fewer solid options at the draft table.

As a consequence, draft prices on the top closers are higher in draft-and-hold leagues than they are in other formats. Seemingly every year, I've been thrown off by the higher costs and occasionally have missed my targets because I haven't properly anticipated or calculated that reality. Call it a case of too much football on the brain, or merely needing to get my draft reps in, but either way, I'm striving to be better prepared.

My approach is to first classify the closers into tiers, focusing more on role security here than I might do otherwise, given our inability to backfill against any draft mistakes. There are five categories:

• Capital "C" Closers (10) - These guys have the job, no question about it. With this group, there's little fear about ability, role or competition.
• Lower-case "c" Closers (7) - These are closers that are borderline elite but have one significant question mark that prevents from being in the first tier.
• Probable Closers (6) - While these aren't straight-up job battles, the questions are significant enough that at the very least you should draft his backup.
• Job Battles (6) - This is self-explanatory. If you peruse RotoWire's Closer Grid maintained by the excellent Ryan Rufe, you'll see "Very Low" Security rankings from the putative leader for the job here.
• Paste-Eaters (1) - Don't draft Rockies closers, it's better for your sanity and your ratios.

Here's who falls under each category. Once spring training begins, and maybe even before then, these will have quite a bit of fluidity. We've already seen one change with the White Sox during the time since I started working on this article.

Closer Tiers

Capital "C" Closers

Dodgers - Edwin Diaz

 Phillies - Jhoan Duran

 Mariners - Andres Munoz

 Guardians - Cade Smith

 Padres - Mason Miller

 Red Sox - Aroldis Chapman

 Mets - Devin Williams

 Yankees - David Bednar

 Astros - Josh Hader

 Orioles - Ryan Helsley

Notes:

• While there's some reason to distrust Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in terms of his bullpen management, he also hasn't had a closer whose performance matched his pedigree since Kenley Jansen in 2021.  
• Both at the trade deadline and shortly after the conclusion of the season, it was rumored that Mason Miller might move to the Padres' rotation, but new manager Craig Stammen said in January that Miller will remain in the bullpen.
• Josh Hader's season ended with a shoulder strain, but back in November he reported being back at full strength. Watch his status closely, and consider paying the premium closer-in-waiting price on Bryan Abreu if you decide to draft Hader. In draft-and-hold leagues, it's generally a good idea anyhow to draft the backup to your closer, especially when the pivot is clear and he's an elite reliever to boot, as is the case with Abreu. It just costs more with him — an average pick of 266 in Draft Champions Leagues since January 1st.

Lower-case "c" Closers

 Royals - Carlos Estevez

 Reds - Emilio Pagan

 Braves - Raisel Iglesias

 Blue Jays - Jeff Hoffman

 Marlins - Pete Fairbanks

 Cubs - Daniel Palencia

 Pirates - Dennis Santana

Notes:

• Estevez arguably belongs in the top tier after leading MLB with 42 saves in 2025, and if you draft him accordingly, I wouldn't argue too vociferously with you. My concern is that while Estevez only allowed five homers last season, he also was a flyball pitcher (0.55 GB/FB ratio) and had a miniscule 5.2 HR/FB rate. That alone would suggest some correction is coming, but the Royals are also moving in the fences at Kauffman Stadium, which could make the problem worse.
• If you drafted Raisel Iglesias last season, it was a disaster for the first four months, but if you stuck by him, he salvaged the season with 16 saves over the last two months, giving him 29 on the season along with a 1.00 WHIP. But he still drops to this list due to the threat of Robert Suarez on the roster. Suarez is the one with a multi-year deal.
• Jeff Hoffman was fourth in the majors with 33 saves, but they came at the cost of a whopping 15 homers and a 4.37 ERA. Oh yeah, he also blew the save in Game 7 of the World Series. The Jays signed Tyler Rogers and also have Yimi Garcia and Louis Varland as potential pivots.

Probable Closers

 Brewers - Trevor Megill

 Rays - Griffin Jax

 Tigers - Kenley Jansen

 Giants - Ryan Walker

 Nationals - Clayton Beeter

 White Sox - Seranthony Dominguez

Notes:

• Trevor Megill could make a case for being in the first tier after a 30-save season, but he missed September with an elbow issue, plus Abner Uribe is present as an obvious pivot. The other problem with drafting Megill is that it costs so much to back him up with Uribe — you're paying "second closer" price (an ADP of 153 in Draft Champions Leagues) to get him. The same holds true with Iglesias/Suarez.
• Kenley Jansen really should be in the higher tier but for the presence of manager A.J. Hinch, who has steered into the notion of a bullpen-by-committee the last two years. Moreover, there's not just one but two threats in the bullpen in Will Vest and Kyle Finnegan.
• Originally, Jordan Leasure was listed for the White Sox in this section, but they agreed to a two-year, $20 million deal with Seranthony Dominguez on Friday. The deal comes with a mutual option for 2028. While the White Sox have stated their intention for Dominguez to close, be wary of his 10.5 percent career walk rate. Don't shed your Leasure shares just yet. 

Job Battles

 Cardinals - Riley O'Brien, JoJo Romero, Ryne Stanek, Matt Svanson

 Diamondbacks - Kevin Ginkel, Andrew Saalfrank, Ryan Thompson, Taylor Clarke

 Athletics -  Justin Sterner, Elvis Alvarado, Mark Leiter

 Angels - Kirby Yates, Ben Joyce, Robert Stephenson, Jordan Romano

 Twins - Justin Topa, Cole Sands

 Rangers - Robert Garcia, Chris Martin

Notes:

• O'Brien converted four of the final five save chances for the Cardinals in 2025, but Romero (eight) has the most of any returning Cardinal. Both O'Brien (22.6 percent) and Romero (21.6 percent) had middling strikeout rates, so if you're looking for a darkhorse, Matt Svanson might have the skills to pay the bills. Svanson posted a 1.98 ERA and 29.1 percent strikeout rate over 60.1 innings in his rookie season.
• The last time the Diamondbacks had a closer with 30-plus saves under manager Torey Lovullo was in 2018, when Brad Boxberger converted 32 opportunities. That was also the last time the Snakes have had a closer with 20 saves! This season portends to be similarly messy — A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez are rehabbing injuries and won't be with the team for at least the start of the season, with Martinez possibly missing the entire season. The top returning option might be Kevin Ginkel, but he's also coming back from a shoulder injury. Andrew Saalfrank might default to the leading choice, but his skills don't suggest being closer-worthy.
• The Angels are a fine mess. Kirby Yates at least had the opportunity to work with new pitching coach Mike Maddux in the past while pitching for the Rangers. He missed the playoffs last season, but at least he had a hamstring injury, instead of the arm injuries that befell Ben Joyce and Robert Stephenson. Angels GM Perry Minasian, during a conference call announcing Yates's signing, said that Yates "would have to earn closing opportunities." At least he contemplated Yates in that situation.

Paste-Eaters

Rockies - Victor Vodnik, Seth Halvorsen

• The Rockies are notorious for many things, including being behind the technology curve in terms of player development. Following the hiring of Paul DePodesta to their front office, perhaps we can surmise that they have internet access now at least. Investing in Rockies relievers is a notoriously difficult exercise, and even when a player overcomes Coors Field one year, the bill usually comes due the following year, as it did for Daniel Bard in 2023 after his 34-save season in 2022. I plan on staying away from all Colorado options.

Draft-and-Hold Closer Strategy

To reach the 80th percentile in saves in the 15-team Draft Champions contest, one needed to roster 66 saves, and 71 saves in the 12-team NFBC 50s contests. To reach a more modest 70th percentile, one needed 60 and 65 saves, respectively, for the two contests. Nine of the top 10 overall finishers in the Draft Champions hit that 80th percentile, and the 10th team came close with 62 saves. The correlation wasn't as strong in the NFBC 50s, with only four of the top 10 overall contest finishers hitting that 80th percentile. But even the lowest of the top 10 finishers in the NFBC 50's finished with 54 saves. In other words, if you want to compete in overall contests, you can't afford to blow off saves.

Getting to our targets won't be easy. Just two closers, Carlos Estevez and Robert Suarez, had 40-plus saves, and only eight closers reached 30 saves in 2025. Thirteen more pitchers had between 20 and 29 saves. All of this suggests that rostering two closers (and perhaps their top backups) and calling it a day will be insufficient. Chances are, we're going to need at least three pitchers that can record saves, even if we're not starting three relievers each week. Given that there are only 30 teams, the competition for those pitchers will be fierce.

Ideally in a 15-team league I'd like to get one closer from each of the first two tiers, and then take a few shots from the "Probable" and "Job Battle" tiers. I missed out on that in my most recent draft, landing Andres Munoz before having to settle on Griffin Jax plus Clayton Beeter and a handful of job-battle guys. My experience in that draft inspired this article.

Closer ADP by Tier

Here's what it's going to cost, using the ADP from Draft Champions Leagues from January 1st and beyond.

Capital "C" Closers

The pitchers in this tier are also on average the first 10 closers drafted in Draft Champions leagues, albeit in a slightly different order than I had listed them. The takeway here is that you need to draft a closer by the third or fourth round if you want one of them.

Lower-case "c" Closers

This is where I whiffed in my previous draft, and why I was kicking myself for getting shut out and not being better prepared. Emilio Pagan was my target, and he was available for a reasonable price (pick 102), but I played chicken. He was gone by my next pick, as were everyone else from this tier except Dennis Santana, as well as the top two pitchers from the next tier. One shouldn't go into a draft without a solid closer plan, and mine was more of a loose, theoretical plan. Shame on me.

Probable Closers

These pitchers are mostly affordable, but the trade-off is the lack of reliability that they'll have the job and retain it. Take Ryan Walker, for instance. Most projection systems give him 25-to-30 saves, but he generated fewer whiffs and consequently fewer strikeouts, and he lost his job for a good portion of 2025. He's projected as the closer right now because there isn't a clear alternative following Randy Rodriguez's injury and the trade of Camilo Doval last year. But alternatives will emerge if Walker goes through a similar spotty stretch in 2026. It's a matter of art and not science to determine just how safe his job is, but even with his 30-save projection, I wouldn't count on more than 15 saves out of him if you're trying to project out how many you have on your roster.

Conclusion

You don't need to use my loose plan or even my tiers, but when you're in a draft-and-hold league, especially one that's part of an overall contest, make sure you come into it with a plan for how you're going to get your saves. It might be costly, but with the ability to plan ahead, you can make it palatable and get ahead of your competition.