2011 Holds Rankings: September

Last week we put together our final set of closer rankings for the 2011 season, and now it’s time to do the same for the guys handing them the ball. Here is August’s holds ranking, and here is the holds leaderboard for reference.

Tier One
Tyler Clippard
Daniel Bard
Jonny Venters
David Robertson
Mike Adams
Sean Marshall
Aroldis Chapman

Robertson and Marshall jump into the top tier just because they’ve been so brutally effective, plus it helps that the former has kept the eighth inning job in New York despite Rafael Soriano’s return from injury. Rafael Betancourt occupied this tier last month, but now he’s closing games for the Rockies.

Tier Two
Antonio Bastardo
Sergio Romo
Glen Perkins
David Hernandez
Koji Uehara
Francisco Rodriguez
Jose Veras
Grant Balfour
Takashi Saito

Uehara (and Adams, for that matter) have stumbled a bit since moving to Texas, but I don’t see any reason to think it’s anything more than a blip on the radar. Saito’s a perpetual injury risk, but what reliever isn’t?

Tier Three
Vinnie Pestano
Eric O’Flaherty
Rafael Soriano
Joaquin Benoit
Tony Sipp
Scott Downs
Jesse Crain
Chris Sale
Jim Johnson
Kerry Wood
Joel Peralta
Kameron Loe

Johnson isn’t really working straight setup innings anymore, the Orioles are talking about moving him into the rotation next year and most of his recent outings have been longer, multiple inning stints to get stretched out. It’s kinda weird and unpredictable. Soriano’s been much better since coming off the DL, but he’s still prone to the long ball (especially in his home park) and isn’t the top setup dog in his own pen.

Tier Four
Matt Thornton
Bobby Parnell
Matt Reynolds
Fernando Rodney
Luke Gregerson
Matt Lindstrom
Javier Lopez
Darren Oliver
Jeremy Affeldt
Jamey Wright
Chad Qualls
Hong-Chih Kuo

Parnell is … quite unpredictable. The Mets are practically begging him to take over their closer’s job, but he seems to keep hitting a speed bump.

Hurt/In The Minors
Randy Choate
Kenley Jansen
Eduardo Sanchez
Joba Chamberlain
Evan Meek
Jose Contreras

There’s a non-zero chance that Sanchez will be back before the end of the season, but the others are as good as done for 2011.