2011 Holds Rankings: August
The trade deadline inevitably impacted the holds rankings, though not as much as you’d think. The elite guys are still elite, but some lesser relievers have coming into primary setup jobs or have returned from injury. Here are last month’s rankings, and here’s the holds leaderboard for reference.
Tier One
Tyler Clippard
Mike Adams
Jonny Venters
Daniel Bard
Rafael Betancourt
Aroldis Chapman
No new additions, just rearranged some of the furniture here. Clippard has a chance to vulture some saves down the stretch if Drew Storen continues to be shaky. Betancourt has a non-zero chance of being traded this month, presumably to a contender.
Tier Two
David Robertson
Sean Marshall
Sergio Romo
Glen Perkins 
Koji Uehara
Francisco Rodriguez
Jose Veras
Grant Balfour
Apparently Perkins agrees with working out of the bullpen, he’s been one of the best relievers in the game this year. Robertson still has a sky-high strikeout rate and still walks a ton of guys, and Romo still doesn’t throw as many innings as he should. Balfour is another guy that could be on the move in a waiver trade this month, and the move to Texas boosts Uehara’s stock a bit.
Tier Three
David Hernandez
Rafael Soriano
Tony Sipp
Eric O’Flaherty
Scott Downs
Bobby Parnell
Joaquin Benoit
Jesse Crain
Chris Sale
Jim Johnson
Kerry Wood
Kameron Loe
Soriano figures to see plenty of late-inning work now that he’s off the disabled list, and he’ll shoot up the rankings as soon as he shows he’s better than he was in April and May. Sale has recovered from a rough start and Hernandez’s workload has returned to a normal level. Most of these guys are interchangeable though.
Tier Four
Vinnie Pestano
Joel Peralta
Matt Reynolds
Fernando Rodney
Luke Gregerson
Matt Lindstrom
Javier Lopez
Chad Qualls
Darren Oliver
Jeremy Affeldt
Jamey Wright
Randy Choate
Mike Dunn
Hong-Chih Kuo
Rodney’s healthy, and Qualls inherited Adams’ job in San Diego. Kuo’s fall from grace is a shame, he was so, so good the last few years. Best reliever in baseball good.
Hurt/In The Minors
Kenley Jansen 
Eduardo Sanchez
Joba Chamberlain
Evan Meek
Jose Contreras
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
No Bastardo?
Inglorious Bastardo
What about Marc Repzynsk…. uh, the Scrabble guy?
Looks like he’s the only lefty in the Cards bullpen. LOOGYs get credit for holds, right?
Google is my friend: Marc Rzepczynski.
I definitely recommend Rzepczynski and Samardzija, as they both have SP eligibility. Hernandez is in the same boat, but odds are he’s owned in a holds league already.
Lynn (STL) and Beato (NYM) also fits the bill as SP-elig (Samardzija is only RP-elig in my league). It is a pts league that limits RP to 4 slots.
Just refer to Marc Rzepcynski as The Rze, that’s what the hipsters are doing.
Matt Capps?
Pestano is way too low.
Saito and Hawkins have both been being used ahead of Loe in hold situations as of late.
Non-Holds league question:
I have Izzy and Farnsworth. Is it safe yet to drop Parnell or Peralta? I’m leaning towards dropping Peralta, but I don’t know yet if Farnsy could be a waiver trade.
Where is Matt Thornton on this list? Error of omission?
I suggest you look at D.Robertson’s Game Log since May 20th before you say he “still walks a ton of guys”