What I am seeing doing some more searching on alaska.com and EF is that the lowest award price levels for the various distance brackets disappear 2-3 weeks prior to departure. It isn't transparent where the maximum price for saver "W" awards is close to departure but it appears to be "level 2" where the lowest price is "level 1". An example would be SFO-DAL W class 12.5k o/w on 5/1 whereas the lowest price for a "Jump" length flight is 10k which is available on flights starting 2-3 weeks out.

Not sure where the SFO-SLC 30k I was able to find came up from. Based on the above theory, it'd be expected to be 7.5k as a "Hop" distance flight.

This isn't completely transparent (a little Delta like) but I suppose it's better than a close in booking fee. If you live in an Alaska hub or focus city the best use of miles on AS metal is the generous stopover on one-way awards. It'd be nice if programs consistently priced saver awards no matter the circumstance. With United going revenue based this clearly won't be the case anymore with them sadly either.