Closer Rankings (7/20/19)

by
July 20, 2019

Not much movement this week compared to my last report. I figured some bullpen trades would have occurred by now, but it looks like it will be a busy last 10 days before the traded deadline.

Note: These rankings are based on chances of getting Saves, not pitcher talent.

Closer Rankings – Save Focused
Rank Tier Name Notes
1 Studs (won’t be replaced) Craig Kimbrel
2 Kenley Jansen
3 Aroldis Chapman
4 Roberto Osuna
5 Josh Hader
6 Carlos Martinez
7 Studs who may be traded Brad Hand I moved him into this group following some trade rumors.
8 Kirby Yates
9 Will Smith
10 Felipe Vazquez
11 Edwin Diaz
12 Decent but team could add a stud Sean Doolittle
13 Shawn Kelley
14 Luke Jackson Spreads out the blowups just enough to keep the role.
15 Hector Neris
16 Liam Hendriks The closer’s role looks to be his.
17 Emilio Pagan
18 Raisel Iglesias
19 Hansel Robles
20 Taylor Rogers
21 Uhhh … they have a job for now Greg Holland
22 Wade Davis
23 Brandon Workman
24 Roenis Elias
25 OK and likely to be traded Shane Greene
26 Ken Giles
27 Alex Colome
28 Ian Kennedy
29 Sergio Romo
30 Mychal Givens
31 Top of the queue if the closer is traded Daniel Hudson This group and the next one can be intermixed
32 Aaron Bummer
33 Joe Jimenez
34 Kyle Crick
35 Nick Anderson
36 Reyes Moronta
37 Knocking on the door for a job Nathan Eovaldi
38 Scott Oberg
39 Hunter Strickland
40 John Gant
41 Seth Lugo
42 Adam Morgan
43 Michael Lorenzen
44 A.J. Minter
45 Craig Stammen
46 Stud backups with good ratios Chris Martin
47 Ryan Pressly
48 Ty Buttrey
49 Adam Ottavino
50 Dart throws Jose Leclerc
51 Matt Barnes
52 Diego Castillo
53 David Robertson
54 Pedro Strop
55 Trevor May
56 Fernando Rodney
57 Tony Watson
58 Miguel Castro
59 Sam Dyson
60 Joakim Soria
61 Oliver Drake
62 Joe Biagini
63 Yoan Lopez
64 Amir Garrett
65 Kevin McCarthy
66 Jose Alvarado
67 Nick Wittgren
68 Colin Poche
69 Adam Cimber
70 Blake Treinen





 

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.

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feslenraster
5 years ago

Edwin Diaz is stil a stud?

5
DDD
5 years ago
Reply to  feslenraster

Yeah, he’s had a bad, roller coaster season thus far.

1
Jeff ZimmermanFanGraphs Staff
5 years ago
Reply to  feslenraster

He’s a tough one to rank, maybe he should be in his own class. “Was Good but Team Too Stupid to Trade or Demote Him.”

5
shaned23Member since 2018
5 years ago
Reply to  feslenraster

Edwin Diaz is still a stud. 3.51/2.98/2.74 (FIP, xFIP, SIERA). 0.407 BABIP with the league’s worst defense behind him. Yes, the HRs are a problem and his Hard hit rate is way too high but the dude is still amazing.

0