2020 Reliever Rankings
I know some drafts are still going forward despite the delay to the MLB season so I wanted to get these RP rankings out as I did promise them on the podcast the other day. I’ll probably do an update to every position once more before the season starts, but here’s the initial run of RPs.
2020 Reliever Rankings
Bummer?
See my other response to the Oberg Q
Thanks for keeping the content coming to keep us satiated with no actual baseball.
Oberg is fairly high, and no Wade Davis, despite the announcement that the latter would start the season as closer?
OK this is one of the downsides of doing Dropbox files on multiple computers. Wade Davis is on my file in the office and I definitely thought it uploaded to D’box so when I pulled it on the laptop to post, I didn’t scan it. Bummer is, too. My fault for not reviewing, but I will correct it over the weekend.
Thanks for the update, Paul! Any chance Wittgren and Chafin accidentally received the same treatment? Wittgren will unseed Hand if (when?) he gets injured again. Chafin, I think, is already a better pitcher than Bradley.
Bradley’s 2019 looked a lot like his 2016 in the underlying metrics: BB% was up 2 points over ’17/’18 based on lower FStrike/Zone%, returned to his changeup 5-10% as a 3rd pitch after 2 years not using it, etc. I’m trying to figure out why he was more successful this time around with that formula than 3 years ago.
Wow. How did the Reds manage to get 6 of the top-68 relievers in these rankings? And how did Lucas Sims manage to get a higher ranking than Rob Stephenson?
David Bell generally had a pretty quick hook last year, so there are definitely plenty of innings to go around. Iglesias, Garrett, Lorenzen, Stephenson, and Simms also spent full seasons as starters, so they can handle a bigger workload than many reloievers. Lastly, other than Simms and Strop, they were really good last year.
Are you prioritizing skills or likelihood of getting saves for the non closers?
Not sure I’d draft Seranthony, his season could be in jeopardy with the renewed elbow issues (he was supposed to have an MRI on Thursday, but there’s been no further word). On the other hand, the postponement probably makes Clase a little less risky since his return from a back injury is expected sometime in May.
I would jump Kirby Yates over Edwin Diaz into the first tier … he just seems like far more of a sure thing than Diaz.
Agreed. If price is no object, I would think Yates would be the second off the board.
That’s totally fair, I’m not quite sure where my Yates trepidation comes from. Looking back at his stats, he’s a monster
was just gonna ask about the Yates hate. He was invincible last year.
Is it really “hating” on a guy to rank him 5th?
It kinda is when you nestle him behind a guy that had a 5.59 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP last season.
Yeah, not in the sense that I think other than Diaz’s results last year were a huge outlier. They were. But anyone can have a bad week, and if Diaz does, he might not get the job back after last season. His leash is definitely shorter than all the other top guys’.
Oh, and why are some rows in blue?
The blue lines indicate new tiers, I believe. I think he usually puts that explanation in the leading paragraph and just forgot to this time.
I’m uncomfortable that 2 of the top 3 are poor examples of human beings. Yes, I know sports and good behavior are separate spheres, but it still bugs me that we are somewhat forced to ignore their lack of character when looking at their sports contributions.
Hader was flagged for racist and homophobic tweets. Don’t forget about him
He was a teen and expressed remorse, you have to give people a pass sometimes.
I don’t think we necessarily have to “give people a pass,” but I do think his situation is different than some others’. It was a long time ago and he was a teenager and his apology seemed to be remorseful and reflective and not filled with the usual “I’m sorry if you were offended” stuff that goes in many nonpologies.
I definitely wouldn’t lump him in with Osuna and Chapman, who may not be entirely horrible people but have committed some pretty horrible acts of violence and threats against women. And neither one’s apology was very good, in contrast to Hader’s. Osuna’s wasn’t even really an apology at all, and it makes him seem easily the worst of the three.
Re dl80: I said ‘sometimes’ as in you look at the context and decide case by case. The same context you left out when quoting and replying to me, however I’ll give you a pass for that 🙂
Then we should D person him and make him a hermit for the rest of his life because Twitter said so
Will Smith is waaaaaaaay too low. He’s easily top 15, and I’m not even a Braves/Giants/Brewers fan
melancon is still closer atm correct? if smith gets 75% of the save opportunities for the season, then yea, he needs to jump way up there
How is Jose Urena even on this list?
I assume these are for Saves leagues only, because in Saves/Holds leagues, Pomeranz is probably top 15.
Why? The strikeout rate last year was entirely out of character for his career, and even if the move to the bullpen makes it stick, he is a flyball pitcher with shaky control and tons of homers. Meh.
Tyler Duffey is the guy to own if anything happens to Rogers
I assume the list is based on saves. How would the list changed if holds were as valuable as saves?
From what I saw in spring training, I would not draft edwin diaz as my first reliever off the board.
As a Mets fan I watched almost all of his implosions as well as his lockdown saves, and I believe you are correct, it was not all statistical anomaly. He still has the gas and swing-and-miss stuff, but unless he gets his slider right even with 100 mph heat he’s a one-pitch pitcher. (How does Doolittle get by on all fastballs?). He didn’t have a chance to show it in ST so we don’t know, which makes him very risky as your #1, but at best he should be a backend #1. I’d drop him to the top of tier 3 with Iglesias.
Where would Luzardo fall on this?
Into the starters?
Why is Stephenson so low? he has pretty good K-bb% and SwStrk%…
No Soria?
Or Greene?