Closer Rankings (7/10/19)
Another week, another set of closer rankings. The following ranks are based on accumulating Saves with talent as a secondary consideration. The order is the ranking I would prefer to roster them. In some instances, I wasn’t sure (e.g. Ken Giles), I made a note.
I had a tough time ranking #12 to #30. Each of these pitchers has some questions surrounding them mainly be traded or being replaced by someone the team trades for. It’s a tough balance.
| Rank | Tier | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Studs (won’t be replaced) | Josh Hader | |
| 2 | Brad Hand | ||
| 3 | Craig Kimbrel | ||
| 4 | Kenley Jansen | ||
| 5 | Aroldis Chapman | ||
| 6 | Roberto Osuna | ||
| 7 | Carlos Martinez | The Cards situation is unstable | |
| 8 | Studs who may be traded | Kirby Yates | |
| 9 | Will Smith | ||
| 10 | Edwin Diaz | ||
| 11 | Felipe Vazquez | ||
| 12 | Decent but team could add a stud | Sean Doolittle | This and the next two groups form a blob of unknown |
| 13 | Hector Neris | ||
| 14 | Emilio Pagan | ||
| 15 | Shawn Kelley | ||
| 16 | Hansel Robles | ||
| 17 | Taylor Rogers | ||
| 18 | Uhhh … they have a job for now | Raisel Iglesias | He’s tough to rank/place. Must own and could see at #10 |
| 19 | Liam Hendriks | ||
| 20 | Greg Holland | ||
| 21 | Scott Oberg (Wade Davis) | ||
| 22 | Luke Jackson | ||
| 23 | Brandon Workman | ||
| 24 | Mychal Givens | ||
| 25 | Roenis Elias | ||
| 26 | OK and likely to be traded | Shane Greene | Moved this group down. The above group and it have a trade off of talent vs role |
| 27 | Ken Giles | He could be up at #12, tough rank | |
| 28 | Alex Colome | ||
| 29 | Sergio Romo | ||
| 30 | Ian Kennedy | ||
| 31 | Top of the queue if the closer is traded | Aaron Bummer | I moved this whole group up. Buy the talent. |
| 32 | Joe Biagini | ||
| 33 | Joe Jimenez | ||
| 34 | Kyle Crick | ||
| 35 | Nick Anderson | ||
| 36 | Reyes Moronta | ||
| 37 | Knocking on the door for a job | Blake Treinen | All are must own at this point |
| 38 | John Gant | ||
| 39 | Nathan Eovaldi | ||
| 40 | Wade Davis (Scott Oberg) | ||
| 41 | Michael Lorenzen | ||
| 42 | A.J. Minter | ||
| 43 | Seth Lugo | ||
| 44 | Hunter Strickland | ||
| 45 | Colin Poche | ||
| 46 | Craig Stammen | ||
| 47 | Stud backups with good ratios | Chris Martin | |
| 48 | Ryan Pressly | ||
| 49 | Ty Buttrey | ||
| 50 | Adam Ottavino | ||
| 51 | Dart throws | Jose Leclerc | |
| 52 | Matt Barnes | ||
| 53 | Daniel Hudson | ||
| 54 | Trevor May | ||
| 55 | Fernando Rodney | ||
| 56 | Tony Watson | ||
| 57 | Miguel Castro | ||
| 58 | Sam Dyson | ||
| 59 | Yoan Lopez | ||
| 60 | Amir Garrett | ||
| 61 | Richard Bleier | ||
| 62 | Kevin McCarthy | ||
| 63 | Jose Alvarado | ||
| 64 | Diego Castillo | ||
| 65 | David Robertson | ||
| 66 | Nick Wittgren |
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
Since Andrew Miller isn’t even a dart throw, is he not worth rostering at all?
He’s probably third in Stl depth chart and has good ratios but I think his chances for Saves right now are slim.