After I ranked the Top 30 Closers and Top 70 Relievers for Holds, it’s now time to put the lists together for all of you in Saves+Holds leagues. Which if you haven’t taken part in one yet, I highly recommend giving it a shot. Middle relievers were always the only players in baseball that constantly got ignored in fantasy baseball. The inclusion of the holds stat has changed all of that and added a whole different dimension to the fantasy baseball experience.
Tier 1
1. Kenley Jansen (Los Angeles Dodgers)
2. Aroldis Chapman (New York Yankees)
3. Edwin Diaz (Seattle Mariners)
4. Zach Britton (Baltimore Orioles)
5. Andrew Miller (Cleveland Indians)
6. Seung Hwan Oh (St. Louis Cardinals)
7. Mark Melancon (San Francisco Giants)
8. Ken Giles (Houston Astros)
9. Dellin Betances (New York Yankees)
10. Kelvin Herrera (Kansas City Royals)
11. Craig Kimbrel (Boston Red Sox)
12. Wade Davis (Chicago Cubs)
13. Jeurys Familia (New York Mets)
14. Roberto Osuna (Toronto Blue Jays)
15. Alex Colome (Tampa Bay Rays)
16. Cody Allen (Cleveland Indians)
Even when combing holds and saves, I still lean towards closers. Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances are the exceptions, as they help in every other category as well. Realistically, Miller can be in the RP1 discussion here, but somewhere in the 3-8 range seems more reasonable.
Tier 2
17. A.J. Ramos (Miami Marlins)
18. Fransisco Rodriguez (Detroit Tigers)
19. Shawn Kelley (Washington Nationals)
20. Adam Ottavino (Colorado Rockies)
21. Addison Reed (New York Mets)
22. David Robertson (Chicago White Sox)
23. Sam Dyson (Texas Rangers)
24. Hector Neris (Philadelphia Phillies)
25. Nate Jones (Chicago White Sox)
26. Kyle Barraclough (Miami Marlins)
27. Cam Bedrosian (Los Angeles Angels)
28. Sean Doolittle (Oakland Athletics)
29. Neftali Feliz (Milwaukee Brewers)
30. Luke Gregerson (Houston Astros)
31. Tony Watson (Pittsburgh Pirates)
32. Jim Johnson (Atlanta Braves)
33. Matt Bush (Texas Rangers)
34. Tyler Thornburg (Boston Red Sox)
35. Bruce Rondon (Detroit Tigers)
36. Brad Brach (Baltimore Orioles)
37. Will Harris (Houston Astros)
38. Raisel Iglesias (Cincinnati Reds)
Reed is someone I’d be targeting early in these leagues. Even if Jeurys Familia somehow isn’t suspended early in the season, he is still a great holds option. Overall there is a lot of K upside in this group. I’d be happy with ending up with one guy from tier one and 2 from this tier in deep SV+HD leagues.
Tier 3
39. Hector Rondon (Chicago Cubs)
40. Brett Cecil (St. Louis Cardinals)
41. Carter Capps (San Diego Padres)
42. Brandon Maurer (San Diego Padres)
43. Pedro Baez (Los Angeles Dodgers)
44. Koji Uehara (Chicago Cubs)
45. Felipe Rivero (Pittsburgh Pirates)
46. Derek Law (San Francisco Giants)
47. Justin Wilson (Detroit Tigers)
48. Arodys Vizcaino (Atlanta Braves)
49. Matt Strahm (Kansas City Royals)
50. Fernando Rodney (Arizona Diamondbacks)
51. Ryan Madson (Oakland Athletics)
52. Mychal Givens (Baltimore Orioles)
53. Grant Dayton (Los Angeles Dodgers)
54. Greg Holland (Colorado Rockies)
55. Steve Cishek (Seattle Mariners)
56. Xavier Cedeno (Tampa Bay Rays)
57. Will Smith (San Francisco Giants)
58. Carl Edwards Jr. (Chicago Cubs)
59. Darren O’Day (Baltimore Orioles)
60. Jason Grilli (Toronto Blue Jays)
Matt Strahm will have extra value to those in deeper leagues as someone you can use in a SP slot. I think he has a legitimate chance to be the Royals primary set-up man too, after Joakim Soria struggled for much of last season. Even this deep into the list, I’m perfectly fine with Darren O’Day or Jason Grilli as my potential 5th RP.
Tier 4
61. Brandon Kintzler (Minnesota Twins)
62. Trevor Rosenthal (St. Louis Cardinals)
63. Hunter Strickland (San Francisco Giants)
64. Santiago Casilla (Oakland Athletics)
65. Tyler Clippard (New York Yankees)
66. Brad Ziegler (Miami Marlins)
67. Joaquin Benoit (Philadelphia Phillies)
68. Jeanmar Gomez (Philadelphia Phillies)
69. Michael Lorenzen (Cincinnati Reds)
70. Daniel Hudson (Pittsburgh Pirates)
71. Blake Treinen (Washington Nationals)
72. Brad Hand (San Diego Padres)
73. Cory Knebel (Milwaukee Brewers)
74. Hansel Robles (New York Mets)
75. Joakim Soria (Kansas City Royals)
76. Pedro Strop (Chicago Cubs)
77. Jeremy Jeffress (Texas Rangers)
78. Ryan Buchter (San Diego Padres)
79. Drew Storen (Cincinnati Reds)
80. Brad Boxberger (Tampa Bay Rays)
81. Andrew Bailey (Los Angeles Angels)
Here is where things get a little more dicey. Even still, there are at least one or two guys from this list that will be closing at some point this season. That especially includes the last 3 names on this list. I don’t mind taking one of them as a lottery ticket towards the end of the draft.
Tier 5
82. Glenn Perkins (Minnesota Twins)
83. Jake Barrett (Arizona Diamondbacks)
84. Kevin Siegrist (St. Louis Cardinals)
85. Koda Glover (Washington Nationals)
86. Jake McGee (Colorado Rockies)
87. Huston Street (Los Angeles Angels)
88. Sammy Solis (Washington Nationals)
89. David Phelps (Miami Marlins)
90. Sergio Romo (Los Angeles Dodgers)
91. JP Howell (Toronto Blue Jays)
92. Nick Vincent (Seattle Mariners)
93. JT Chargois (Minnesota Twins)
94. Keone Kela (Texas Rangers)
95. Carson Smith (Boston Red Sox)
96. Mauricio Cabrera (Atlanta Braves)
97. Bryan Shaw (Cleveland Indians)
98. Dan Otero (Cleveland Indians)
99. Jacob Barnes (Milwaukee Brewers)
100. Michael Feliz (Houston Astros)
Shot in the dark Tier. At this point, you are just taking fliers on players. Might as well go high ceiling over high floor now if your draft/league goes 100 RP’s deep. You’re also just as likely to end up dropping this player for a hot waiver pickup anyway so always aim for more towards upside this late.
Does Joe Blanton signing with the Nationals change anything here? I think he would at least replace Sammy Solis on this list.
Yes thats right, I forgot to factor him in to this. Id replace Solis with him and trade places with Glover.
What about Juan Nicasio and Joe Kelly. Do you see their stuff playing up in the bullpen, enough to slide into setup roles?
I have Kelly right outside the top 100, I think if he embraces his full time move to the bullpen he can be a pretty dominant reliever. His stuff definitely plays late in games. You can make a case for Nicasio being right behind him.
What do you see in Bruce Rondon to warrant 2nd tier ranking and first setup duties on Detroit? I wouldn’t even expect him to be on a top 100 list, not to mention ranked over Justin Wilson. Is this all strikeout upside?
Mostly just how good he was in the second half and his K upside. From what I’ve read, he’s also next in line for the 9th inning role for at least a year until Jimenez is ready. It’s definitely worth monitoring his velocity over the next month in the WBC, as he was reportedly down a few MPH but I’ll take his upside over Wilsons.
Hey Nick – curious how Matt Strahm is SP eligible. Am i missing something?
I need to check CBS/Yahoo/ESPN eligibility, but Fantasy Pros has Strahm listed as both a SP and RP:
https://www.fantasypros.com/mlb/players/matthew-strahm.php
Strange. He 21 appearances last year for the Royals- all out of the bullpen.
Im not sure how position eligibilty works with minor league players, but if I had to guess, it is because he made 18 starts at AAA last season. His SP eligibility makes him even more valuable in Holds leagues.