Braves closer Craig Kimbrel has 88 saves over the past two seasons -- more than any other pitcher in the majors. Photo Credit: NJ Baseball
Is there a more troublesome page on a Fantasy Baseball website this year than the 2013 Fantasy Baseball Reliever Rankings. I didn’t think so. (Or maybe the page that says Send Us Money! Those are troublesome, too.) But here we are – checking out who we think are the best Fantasy Relievers, which usually indicate the players we think will be closing the most games out for their teams this season.
No other position in Fantasy Baseball has this much turnover. It’s ridiculous. Look at last season, for instance.
You had players like Heath Bell, Javy Guerra, Sergio Santos, Jose Valverde, Jordan Walden and Brian Wilson, all ranking in the top 20 or so of Fantasy relievers.
And here we are now, in 2013, and whether it was because of poor performance or injury, none of those players are in my top 30 Fantasy relievers. Mariano Rivera is in my top 30, but even he had a season-ending knee injury last year.
If you take just one piece of information into your Draft Day, take this: About one third of all regular season saves come from pitchers that don’t get drafted in mixed leagues. ONE THIRD!!!
There are always a bunch of pitchers that become hot pickups just a week or two into the regular season, that end up being big Fantasy helpers in the saves category. Last year, nearly every week of the regular season, relievers were the costliest free agents in FAAB and waiver wires. Sergio Romo and Kenley Jansen were in-season pickups that paid off in spades.
That’s not even mentioning Fernando Rodney, who was supposed to hand back the closer’s job to the injured Kyle Farnsworth by June. Only Baltimore’s Jim Johnson, another surprise relief stud, had more saves (51) than Rodney (48) in 2013.
There are a few changes you’ll want to track, like:
This is like handing a sharp knife to a kid, so he can cut his own steak. Just be careful. If you do things right, oh, how tasty! But if you slip up, you’ll wish you only had nine-and-a-half fingers compared to the bullpen your team is sporting. Hopefully, these 2013 Fantasy Baseball Reliever Rankings will help you stay sharp!
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Just wanted to alert you that some of the statistics are inaccurate. For instance, several of the RP's save numbers are located in the Wins column (see Betancourt, Wilhelmson, Chris Perez, Addison Reed, Hanrahan, Jim Johnson).
Thanks, Jon! That was a MAJOR mistake, as I had my old table loaded in, rather than the FantasyPros widget with my correct updated rankings. Thank you for commenting and letting me know! Good luck, this season!
It's interesting how the relievers play into this. I have primarily played the daily games which doesn't use relievers. I'm anxious to play a full draft next year and articles like this really helps.
Thanks, Zeke. I'm actually surprised that daily games haven't been able to come up with a way to work in closers at least.