Saves are king when it comes to the value of relievers in fantasy baseball, but in the right type of league, top middle relievers can be very useful. In leagues with start limits, top middle relievers can help with ratios and, maybe more importantly, they can help you rack up strikeouts, which is a category than can be a tight race in start limit leagues.

To determine who the most valuable relievers have been so far, I took the top 100 relievers from ESPN’s player rater and stripped out the categorical contributions from wins and saves. I took out saves because most closers are owned, and you probably don’t need help chasing saves. I took out wins because they’re even harder to predict for relievers than they are for starters. Below is a list of the relievers with the greatest combined contributions in ERA, WHIP and Ks on the player rater so far this year along with their ESPN ownership percentage. Read the rest of this entry »

• J.J. Putz is off of the DL and back on the Diamondbacks bullpen. He threw a scoreless inning last night but he’s still behind Brad Ziegler as the Addison Reed handcuff. Reed had been diagnosed with a “tired arm” previously but he returned to the ninth inning in this afternoon’s game and struck out two Astros en route to his 16th save of the season. Reed’s fly ball tendencies and previous struggles this season should keep Ziegler on your roster a bit longer for speculative saves but the job is firmly in Reed’s hands.

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• Colin did  a great analysis of the Rays bullpen situation after Grant Balfour’s meltdown last night and the Rays are now looking at a bullpen by committee approach for the near future. Madden wants Balfour to regain the job but his problems might run deeper than anything a few days removed from the ninth inning can solve. For now I’d expect Joel Peralta, Jake McGee and Juan Oviedo to see the first chances with Brad Boxberger (12.63 K/9, 2.47 SIERA xFIP) as a potential sleeper. Balfour isn’t injured or on the DL but I’ll place him there on the grid for the time being as he lingers in the background.

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• Vic Black figured to be a fixture in the late innings for the Mets this year and although he gave up a solo shot tonight he’s starting to work his way there. On the season Black has thrown 7.2 innings with 12 strikeouts against five walks with a 1.17/3.58/2.23 ERA/FIP/xFIP. Obviously it’s a small sample size but if he can keep his walks in check while getting whiffs he could start seeing higher leverage innings in Queens. Meanwhile Jenrry Mejia had a forgettable evening, allowing three base runners and two earned runs, entering the eighth inning down a run to the Cubs. Mejia has been pretty effective during his brief Mets tenure and this one outing shouldn’t have him looking over his shoulder but I’m not yet ready to make him green on the chart below.

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• Cody Allen converted his fifth save of the year tonight and his second save in a row, getting four outs on only 12 pitches. It’s the fourth save opportunity in a row that Allen has nailed down and he’s definitely the guy in Cleveland. Bryan Shaw, Scott Atchison  and John Axford are still lingering in the Indians bullpen and are effective relievers but it’s Allen’s job to lose and considering he’s the best reliever in the pen, the chances are he’ll hold on tight. Of more interest tonight might be Nick Hagadone who also recorded four outs in relief, three via the strikeout. Hagadone is a relic from the Victor Martinez to Boston trade and has been largely unsuccessful in the majors but he can get whiffs from the left side and could see some higher leverage innings against left handed batters if he keeps pitching like he did tonight.

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With roughly a third of the 2014 mLB season in the books, our reliever tiers deserved to be examined. In an effort to develop said tiers for those in holds or solds leagues, I looked for pitchers who appeared in about 15 or more games, accumulated a minimum of three holds, owned a worthy K-BB% and posted fine ratios. Mind you, like everything else in life, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, Brian Matusz, Jared Burton and Brian Schlitter don’t have the greatest K-BB% or ratios, but they do have seven holds a piece. Therefore, they were included. Also, I felt obligated to write the name Schlitter a few times, which is probably the real reason I included him.

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• Matt Lindstrom was placed on the 15-day Disabled List with an ankle injury. We will know more soon about his recovery timeline but in the meantime, Javy Guerra was called up from AAA. The White Sox haven’t anointed a closer as replacement so this is going to be by committee until Lindstrom returns or someone else runs away with it. In the committee should be Daniel Webb, Ronald Belisario, Scott Downs and maybe even Zach Putnam and Jacob Petricka. In tonight’s game, Petricka pitched a clean seventh, and Downs and Frank Francisco had a forgettable eighth inning that Putnam came in to clean up. Eno Sarris pointed us in Belisario’s direction earlier in the day and I happen to agree with his assessment. I would look to add Belisario first if he’s still available in your league and grab Webb as a consolation prize. Unless you are in the deepest league or in dire straits for saves I might stop there as the third or fourth option for saves in Chicago might not be worth the roster spot. Even after throwing two innings last night Belisario is warming up for the save this evening. Published before game ended.

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• Aroldis Chapman blew his first save of the year tonight against the Nationals. It’s tough to glean anything from Aroldis over just five innings pitched but he’s averaging 100 mph on his fastball and has nine strikeouts against three walks. Also, for what it’s worth Chapman didn’t blow tonight’s save in spectacular fashion, he gave a lead-off double that ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly. I wouldn’t be concerned about tonight’s blip, Chapman looks like himself after his unfortunate comebacker in spring training and should be a top three closer from here on out this season.

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A few quick updates from Monday:

• Addison Reed blew his second save on the year and now holds a 1-3 record and is 11/13 on save chances. Kirk Gibson squashed any closer controversy rumors but the fact remains that Reed has not pitched well this year. The Diamondbacks gave up some value in a trade for Reed so he should have a long leash but a 5.03 ERA and 5.49 FIP certainly isn’t pretty. Reed is actually striking out more guys (26.7%)  and walking fewer batters  (4.7%) than last year but the long ball has killed him. A 21.4% HR/FB ratio isn’t sustainable but Reed allows many balls fly through the air with a mere 32% career ground ball rate. I’ll take Gibson at his word and not sound the alarm on Reed but Brad Ziegler is someone to take a look at.

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Today we’ll be digging deep into the depths of the middle reliever player pool to identify some lesser owned middles that could positively impact your fantasy baseball team, for now. There is one exception to rule noted above, 15% owned Jean Machi, who has been off to an incredible start to the season for the San Francisco Giants. I felt obligated to toss him into today’s discussion since we haven’t talked about him yet.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.
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