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