2019 Reliever Rankings by Paul Sporer March 11, 2019 I remember back in mid-December when first putting together a reliever ranking that I eventually threw my hands up around the early-20s and comforting myself with the idea that things would be much clearer by the time draft season kicked into high gear. I was wrong. A few situations have become clearer, but what I didn’t quite anticipate was that even more teams would push toward a more open setup rather than committing to one guy. Even a team like Philadelphia that brought in David Robertson and his 137 career saves has acknowledged that he will still share some of the duties with Seranthony Dominguez. Another factor was that closer-types I thought could earn a full-scale role signed on with teams where they will remain middle relief studs, namely Adam Ottavino and Jeurys Familia. Oh ya, and there’s the fact that a clear top 5 closer is still unsigned and will likely end up just displacing a current closer when he does finally land unless the Red Sox do an about face. I’m of two minds on all this. On the one hand as an analytically-oriented person, I think it’s completely the right move for teams to be flexible with their ninth inning situation and play the matchups as games unfold. On the other hand as a fantasy baseball diehard, it has made tackling saves a complete fustercluck. I’ve got 95 relievers for you. The first table of 50 focuses on announced closers, those in the aforementioned flexible situations, a handful on deck in sketchy situations, and a host of hurt guys who will be in line for saves once healthy. The other list of 45 is really for Holds leaguers, deep leaguers, and a watch list for shallow leaguers. Top 50 Relievers Pitcher Team Status 1 Edwin Diaz NYM CLOSER 2 Blake Treinen OAK CLOSER 3 Roberto Osuna HOU CLOSER 4 Kenley Jansen LAD CLOSER 5 Aroldis Chapman NYY CLOSER 6 Craig Kimbrel FA CLOSER 7 Felipe Vazquez PIT CLOSER 8 Brad Hand CLE CLOSER 9 Kirby Yates SD CLOSER 10 Corey Knebel MIL CLOSER 11 Sean Doolittle WAS CLOSER 12 David Robertson PHI IN THE MIX 13 Ken Giles TOR CLOSER 14 Jose Leclerc TEX CLOSER 15 Jordan Hicks STL IN THE MIX 16 Raisel Iglesias CIN IN THE MIX^ 17 Jose Alvarado TB CLOSER 18 Josh Hader MIL IN THE MIX? 19 Wade Davis COL CLOSER 20 Pedro Strop CHC CLOSER 21 Archie Bradley ARI IN THE MIX 22 Cody Allen LAA CLOSER 23 Arodys Vizcaino ATL CLOSER 24 Trevor May MIN IN THE MIX 25 Alex Colome CWS CLOSER 26 Matt Barnes BOS CLOSER 27 Will Smith SF IN THE MIX 28 Seranthony Dominguez PHI IN THE MIX 29 Shane Greene DET CLOSER 30 Blake Parker MIN IN THE MIX 31 Ryan Pressly HOU NEXT UP 32 Hunter Strickland SEA CLOSER 33 Drew Steckenrider MIA IN THE MIX 34 Sergio Romo MIA IN THE MIX 35 Joe Jimenez DET NEXT UP 36 Mychal Givens BAL CLOSER 37 A.J. Minter ATL HURT 38 Ryan Brasier BOS HURT 39 Jeremy Jeffress MIL HURT 40 Dellin Betances NYY NEXT UP 41 Andrew Miller STL IN THE MIX 42 Wily Peralta KC IN THE MIX 43 Brad Boxberger KC IN THE MIX 44 Mark Melancon SF IN THE MIX 45 Brandon Morrow CHC HURT 46 Kelvin Herrera CWS HURT 47 Jeurys Familia NYM NEXT UP 48 Alex Reyes STL IN THE MIX 49 Keone Kela PIT NEXT UP 50 Ty Buttrey LAA NEXT UP ^adjusted Iglesias to “IN THE MIX” after a comment pointed out that he’ll be used in the fireman role, which means he won’t get all the save opps. The historical volatility of closers tells us that several of the above guys will be out of the job by midseason making this next list of 45 worth knowing. The morbid thing about closer turnover is that even this upcoming list of 44 likely won’t even capture all the guys who nab 5+ saves this year, but I had to cut it off somewhere. 44 More Pitcher Team Status Carlos Martinez STL HURT/IN THE MIX? Taylor Rogers MIN IN THE MIX Steve Cishek CHC IN THE MIX Greg Holland ARI IN THE MIX Craig Stammen SD NEXT UP Jared Hughes CIN IN THE MIX Seung Hwan Oh COL NEXT UP Trevor Rosenthal WAS NEXT UP Joakim Soria OAK NEXT UP Bud Norris TOR NEXT UP Joe Kelly LAD NEXT UP Diego Castillo TB NEXT UP Ryne Stanek TB MR STUD Richard Rodriguez PIT MR STUD Corbin Burnes* MIL MR STUD Chad Green NYY MR STUD Adam Ottavino NYY MR STUD Chaz Roe TB MR STUD Zack Britton NYY MR STUD Lou Trivino OAK MR STUD Carl Edwards Jr. CHC MR STUD Amir Garrett CIN MR STUD Tony Watson SF MR STUD Reyes Moronta SF MR STUD Scott Oberg COL MR STUD Yoshihisa Hirano ARI MR STUD Adam Conley MIA MR STUD Jake Diekman KC MR STUD Scott Alexander LAD MR STUD Kyle Barraclough WAS MR STUD Brad Brach CHC MR STUD Richard Bleier BAL MR STUD Tyler Beede/Ray Black SF DEEP RADAR Tyler Thornburg BOS DEEP RADAR Touki Toussaint ATL DEEP RADAR Jesse Chavez TEX DEEP RADAR Danny Salazar CLE DEEP RADAR Nate Jones CWS DEEP RADAR Sandy Alcantara MIA DEEP RADAR Kyle Crick PIT DEEP RADAR Tanner Scott BAL DEEP RADAR Fernando Romero MIN DEEP RADAR Shawn Armstrong SEA DEEP RADAR Dan Altavilla SEA DEEP RADAR *or Brandon Woodruff… whoever loses the 5th SP role