Fantasy Baseball 2016 > Rankings > Relief Pitchers > Rankings Archive 2015
Our Relief Pitcher archives from before the 2015 fantasy baseball season were excellent predictors of success. We were the only ones out there telling you that Wade Davis was the best pitcher in all of baseball, let alone among relievers, when you look at his stats as a whole. In 2015, He got an even bigger chance to prove it, too, when Greg Holland's season ended prematurely. We also warned you (again) to avoid Fernando Rodney like the relief pitching plague he is, and we were dead-on (again). We also let you know to ignore Jenrry Mejia and draft Jeurys Familia, instead (you're welcome). We also let you know about the impending success of Ken Giles in 2015, too... We also let you know about Dellin Betances. Even though we expected he would take the closer role in favor of Andrew Miller, he still had dominant stats that helped your fantasy team across the board. Betances had a better ERA than Miller, but the rest of their stats were about even. Prior to the 2015 fantasy season, we told you to start embracing the idea of "saves don't matter as much as you think." In preparation for your 2016 draft, we highly recommend you read our strategy for drafting relief pitchers before you just start chasing saves.
Moving on... the list above is probably the more-important list for you to use on draft day. You're not likely to abandon the thought of drafting for Saves, and honestly, if you can draft a guy who kicks ass across all stats and saves a ton of games, you might as well draft for Saves, too. Just know that when the Saves guys run out, you don't need to panic. There will be tons of relievers out there who will dominate at least 3 of the 5 stats.
Fantasy Sleeper Picks: Closers
First of all, there are a lot of teams that are in big trouble when it comes to the Closer role. Because of this, you're very likely going to have a lot of sleeper pick options for closers on draft day. Even if you don't cash in on a sleeper Closer in your draft, your league's waiver wire will have lots of free-agent options throughout most of the season.
Joakim Soria and Al Albuquerque are both potential sleeper picks at closer for the Detroit Tigers. Joe Nathan is the guy right now, but he's getting older and older. Nathan also stunk up the joint last season with a 4.81 ERA, 1.53 WHIP and 7 Blown Saves (out of 42 Save Opportunities). Joe Nathan is 40 this year, so we expect his stint as the Tigers' closer is over. Between Joakim Soria and Al Albuquerque, Soria may actually be the best bet. Soria had a higher ERA, but a significantly lower WHIP than Albuquerque (0.99 compared to 1.17), and WHIP is the better overall indicator that we trust, even over ERA. Plus, Soria has more experience as an actual (and successful) closer than Albuquerque. Still, though, Soria has a history of injuries, and Albuquerque has been in Detroit for a while now, so the team knows him he knows his own ball park, so he may get the nod over Soria despite the stats. If you wanna play it safe, take them both as late as you can. Regardless, they'll both put up solid fantasy stats regardless of the Saves.
Addison Reed is slated to be the closer for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but let's face it: Addison Reed is a mess. The problem is that Brad Ziegler is the most-likely replacement for Reed, and Ziegler is also kind of a mess. If it comes down to brass tacks, you can draft Ziegler as a desperation sleeper pick, but also keep an eye on any young flame-throwers who show up in Arizona this season.
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Top 25 Fantasy Relievers: Saves
Top 25 Relievers: ERAMinimum 30 Innings Pitched
Top 25 Relievers: WHIP
Top 25 Relief Pitchers: K/9
Top 25 Relief Pitchers: Total Strikeouts
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The Cubs have a solid offense and a solid starting rotation, and their bullpen is solid, too. Hector Rondon is slated to be the Closer for the Cubs in 2015, and he put up excellent numbers for fantasy owners in 2014, too. Rondon finished last season with 29 Saves, a 1.06 WHIP9.09 K/9 and a 2.42 ERA. His setup man, Neil Ramirez, is a potential sleeper because he actually put up better stats than Rondon. Ramirez had a 1.44 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 10.9 K/9 - better numbers across the board (he also had 3 saves for what that's worth). If anything happens to Rondon, You'd better hope you have Neil Ramirez on your fantasy roster... or Pedro Strop. Strop posted a 2.21 ERA in 2014, along with a 1.06 WHIP and 10.5 K/9. You heard it here, first: the Cubs are a dangerous, dangerous team in 2015, and the fantasy stats you'll get from their lineup, starting rotation and their bullpen will be excellent.
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The Colorado Rockies are in the opposite situation as the Cubs: they have a shaky, aged closer who put up near-disastrous stats in 2014. Look... no offense to LaTroy Hawkins, but if he's the Closer you're bringing to the ball park every day, you're in trouble. Even worse, at the time we're writing this, there's no clear alternative to anyone on the Rockies' roster. Jairo Diaz had decent, but insignificant stats with the Angels last season, and Adam Ottavino has managed to keep his ERA at 3.08 over the past two seasons in Colorado (a feat unto itself), although his 1.31 WHIP over that same span scares us. Either Jairo Diaz or Adam Ottavino are decent sleeper picks if you need Saves, but not if you're looking for a guy who can help you across the board.
Pat Neshek is a good, late-round sleeper pick just in case Luke Gregerson doesn't pan out as the full-time closer with the Houston Astros. Gregerson has put up kickass fantasy numbers (other than saves) for the past 6 seasons. His career ERA is 2.75, and he's been at or under that mark for the past 4 seasons. Gregerson's career WHIP is a stingy 1.08, and his career K/9 is 8.8. The only concern we have with Gregerson is that his K/9 have dropped from 9.0 to 7.3 in the last two seasons. Pat Neshek, on the other hand, improved his K/9 dramatically last season, going from 6.5 in 2013 to 9.1 in 2014. Either Neshek had a crazy, career year, or he figured something out that had eluded him the previous 3 seasons. We still think Gregerson is the better bet, but if he can't strike guys out any more, look to pick up (or draft) Pat Neshek to fill the void.
The Angels' bullpen was a circus and a merry-go-round all wrapped into one last year. Finally, though, the Angels solidified their closer spot with Huston Street. Huston Street's ERA has only been higher than 3.00 four times, and three of those seasons were in Colorado. Other than that, he's been money. However... Joe Smith could step in and fill the closer role for the Angels if he has to, and he can still give you some solid fantasy stats across the board, too, whether he gets any saves or not. Over the past 4 seasons, Joe Smith has a 2.25 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 7.3 K/9. Last season, he went crazy with a 1.81 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 8.2 K/9. While with the Angels, Street's ERA was better last year (1.71), but his 1.18 WHIP was much worse than Smith's. Still, Street's stats were relatively consistent with his career numbers while Smith's seemed like more of an anomaly. Still, though, if your fantasy pitching staff needs help at all, Joe Smith is a good option.
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Jenrry Mejia was such a mess at Closer last season for the Mets that there's no way he can possibly retain that job this season. Especially when a guy like Jeurys Familia is breathing down Mejia's neck, there's just no way to justify Mejia as the Mets' closer. No way. Mejia's ERA was 3.65 and Familia's was 2.21. Mejia's WHIP was a ridiculously-bad 1.48 and Familia's was a better-than-average 1.18. Mejia gave up 9 HR and Familia gave up 3. On top of all that, not only does Familia have a very marketable and brandable last name, he also hit .667 last season, going 2 for 3 at the plate. We know that doesn't matter to fantasy relief pitcher stats, but it's just another way that he as significantly better than Jenrry Mejia (who went 0 for 17).
At the time we're writing this, Jonathan Papelbon is on the verge of being traded. However, at this point he's still the Phillies' closer. If he does get traded, you can expect Ken Giles to take the closer position in Philadelphia. Even if Papelbon stays, we recommend you draft Ken Giles just to pad your pitching stats. In 45.6 innings, Giles recorded a 1.18 ERA, 12.6 K/9 and an absurd 0.79 WHIP. Draft Ken Giles as a sleeper regardless of Papelbon's situation.
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The Yankees gave David Robertson the closer job last year when Mariano Rivera retired, then Robertson signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox. Now, the Yankees are looking at two different options: Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. Betances, in our opinion, is the better bet. In 2014, Betances posted some seriously-ridiculous fantasy stats: a 1.40 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 13.5 K/9... and Betances is 6'8", 260 pounds, so his strikeout power is the real deal. Andrew Miller is no slouch, so he also makes a good sleeper pick in the bullpen, but we don't see him beating out Betances for the Closer role. Only Betances can beat himself - no one else will.
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