Top 125 Relievers for SV+HD Leagues in 2019

Following our saves and holds preview articles, today we combine the two to get the top relief pitchers for SV+HD leagues. While opportunity is certainly taken into consideration, it’s typically hard to gauge because bullpen usage is so fluid throughout the season for most teams. The bulk of the rankings are derived from swing-and-miss ability, expected outcome stats (FIP, SIERA, xwOBA, etc.), and a little bit of HOTEL mixed in. Also, keep in mind that holds are much more volatile and harder to predict. We’ve only seen eight seasons from a pitcher with more than 30 holds since 2016, while 38 closers have gone over 30 saves in that same time frame.

 

The Rankings

 

Rank	Player	Team
1.	Edwin Diaz	New York Mets
2.	Josh Hader	Milwaukee Brewers
3.	Kenley Jansen	Los Angeles Dodgers
4.	Blake Treinen	Oakland Athletics
5.	Aroldis Chapman	New York Yankees
6.	Craig Kimbrel	Free Agent
7.	Sean Doolittle	Washington Nationals
8.	Will Smith	San Francisco Giants
9.	Kirby Yates	San Diego Padres
10.	Jose Leclerc	Texas Rangers
11.	A.J. Minter	Atlanta Braves
12.	Roberto Osuna	Houston Astros
13.	Dellin Betances	New York Yankees
14.	Felipe Vazquez	Pittsburgh Pirates
15.	Ryan Pressly	Houston Astros
16.	Brad Hand	Cleveland Indians
17.	Corey Knebel	Milwaukee Brewers
18.	Seranthony Dominguez	Philadelphia Phillies
19.	Jose Alvarado	Tampa Bay Rays
20.	Andrew Miller	St. Louis Cardinals
21.	Ken Giles	Toronto Blue Jays
22.	Raisel Iglesias	Cincinnati Reds
23.	Wade Davis	Colorado Rockies
24.	Matt Barnes	Boston Red Sox
25.	David Robertson	Philadelphia Phillies
26.	Jeurys Familia	New York Mets
27.	Joakim Soria	Oakland Athletics
28.	Joe Jimenez	Detroit Tigers
29.	Trevor May	Minnesota Twins
30.	Jose Castillo	San Diego Padres
31.	Cody Allen	Los Angeles Angels
32.	Jeremy Jeffress	Milwaukee Brewers
33.	Taylor Rogers	Minnesota Twins
34.	Keone Kela	Pittsburgh Pirates
35.	Jace Fry	Chicago White Sox
36.	Mychal Givens	Baltimore Orioles
37	Arodys Vizcaino	Atlanta Braves
38.	Archie Bradley	Arizona Diamondbacks
39.	Jordan Hicks	St. Louis Cardinals
40.	Pedro Strop	Chicago Cubs
41.	Seung Hwan Oh	Colorado Rockies
42.	Adam Ottavino	New York Yankees
43.	Ryan Brasier	Boston Red Sox
44.	Ty Buttrey	Los Angeles Angels
45.	Alex Colome	Chicago White Sox
46.	Craig Stammen	San Diego Padres
47.	Diego Castillo	Tampa Bay Rays
48.	Tony Watson	San Francisco Giants
49.	Trevor Rosenthal	Washington Nationals
50.	Carl Edwards Jr.	Chicago Cubs
51.	Hector Neris	Philadelphia Phillies
52.	Richard Rodriguez	Pittsburgh Pirates
53.	Oliver Perez	Cleveland Indians
54.	Sergio Romo	Miami Marlins
55.	Drew Steckenrider	Miami Marlins
56.	Kelvin Herrera	Chicago White Sox
57.	Greg Holland	Arizona Diamondbacks
58.	Brad Boxberger	Kansas City Royals
59.	Blake Parker	Minnesota Twins
60.	Darren O’Day	Atlanta Braves
61.	Zach Britton	New York Yankees
62.	Hector Rondon	Houston Astros
63.	Tony Cingrani	Los Angeles Dodgers
64.	Dan Winkler	Atlanta Braves
65.	Will Harris	Houston Astros
66.	Chad Green	New York Yankees
67.	Chris Devenski	Houston Astros
68.	Pedro Baez	Los Angeles Dodgers
69.	Shane Greene	Detroit Tigers
70.	Scott Oberg	Colorado Rockies
71.	Victor Arano	Philadelphia Phillies
72.	David Hernandez	Cincinnati Reds
73.	Reyes Moronta	San Francisco Giants
74.	Lou Trivino	Oakland Athletics
75.	Yoshihisa Hirano	Arizona Diamondbacks
76.	Ryan Tepera	Toronto Blue Jays
77.	Seth Lugo	New York Mets
78.	Jesse Chavez	Texas Rangers
79.	Adam Conley	Miami Marlins
80.	Tanner Scott	Baltimore Orioles
81.	Brandon Morrow	Chicago Cubs
82.	Mark Melancon	San Francisco Giants
83.	Amir Garrett	Cincinnati Reds
84.	Justin Anderson	Los Angeles Angels
85.	Jared Hughes	Cincinnati Reds
86.	Dominic Leone	St. Louis Cardinals
87.	Chaz Roe	Tampa Bay Rays
88.	Hunter Strickland	Seattle Mariners
89.	Steve Cishek	Chicago Cubs
90.	Joe Kelly	Los Angeles Dodgers
91.	Ryne Stanek	Tampa Bay Rays
92.	Kyle Crick	Pittsburgh Pirates
93.	Phil Maton	San Diego Padres
94.	Juan Nicasio	Philadelphia Phillies
95.	Brad Brach	Chicago Cubs
96.	Anthony Swarzak	Seattle Mariners
97.	Tyler Olson	Cleveland Indians
98.	Ryan Buchter	Oakland Athletics
99.	Sam Dyson	San Francisco Giants
100.	Shawn Kelley	Texas Rangers
101.	John Brebbia	St. Louis Cardinals
102.	Trevor Hildenberger	Minnesota Twins
103.	Nate Jones	Chicago White Sox
104.	Pat Neshek	Philadelphia Phillies
105.	Fernando Rodney	Oakland Athletics
106.	Kyle Barraclough	Washington Nationals
107.	Tayron Guerrero	Miami Marlins
108.	Robert Gsellman	New York Mets
109.	Tommy Hunter	Philadelphia Phillies
110.	Justin Miller	Washington Nationals
111.	Cam Bedrosian	Los Angeles Angels
112.	Addison Reed	Minnesota Twins
113.	Ray Black	San Francisco Giants
114.	Tim Mayza	Toronto Blue Jays
115.	Andrew Chafin	Arizona Diamondbacks
116.	Paul Fry	Baltimore Orioles
117.	Neil Ramirez	Cleveland Indians
118.	Dylan Floro	Los Angeles Dodgers
119.	Robert Stock	San Diego Padres
120.	Drew VerHagen	Detroit Tigers
121.	Taylor Cole	Los Angeles Angels
122.	Heath Hembree	Boston Red Sox
123.	Adam Cimber	Cleveland Indians
124.	Luis Garcia	Philadelphia Phillies
125.	Nick Vincent	San Francisco Giants

 

Notes

 

The top 80 have been covered, so let’s jump right into No. 80 and Brandon Morrow. Easily a top-40 talent, health has always been his downfall, and he is now rehabbing from arthroscopic elbow surgery. He will miss at least a month, probably closer to two, and will have to contend with Pedro Strop among other capable relievers in that bullpen once he returns. I’m not an advocate of holding onto relievers with long-term injuries unless they are guaranteed their jobs back and/or are truly special talents. He’s only worth a draft pick if you have injured list spots, and even still, it could very well end up a wasted pick.

Tanner Scott and Justin Anderson are both intriguing because of their incredible ability to get swings and misses. Scott posted a 16.7% swinging-strike rate, good for 10th among relievers, while Anderson had a 37.19 whiff rate, good for ninth. Why are they so low, then, you ask? Both had tendencies to walk the yard, with Scott holding a 4.73 BB/9 with Anderson at a dismal 6.51%. If they can shore up some of the command issues, both have the stuff to move quickly way up the rankings.

It’s unfortunate for fantasy purposes Ryne Stanek made 29 “starts” this past year as his stuff plays great as a prototypical late-inning reliever. It’ll be interesting to see how the Rays attack the whole “opener” role this season, but keep on eye on Stanek if he winds up in a more conventional role this year.

The 20-player gap between 94 and 113 features plenty of names who were at the top of these lists not all that long ago. Despite an ERA of 6.00 this past year and lodged in a deep Philly bullpen, Juan Nicasio could still be a big contributor this season. A ridiculously high .402 BABIP explains a lot as to why things went wrong last year as he still had an impressive 26.2% K/BB rate.

Although I’m not sure exactly where he fits into the Angels 25-man roster, keep an eye on Taylor Cole. A 34.48% whiff rate and 20% K/BB over his first 36 MLB innings have me intrigued. He’s already 29 and missed all of 2017 recovering from injury, but there’s some ability here if he can earn a consistent role at the end of games.

(Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire)