RotoGraphs Consensus Ranks: Relief Pitchers

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February 28, 2014

I think we’re the last ones to finish up. We’re so slow, Eno apparently already dropped the full spreadsheet. But, really, don’t you just want a thread where you can bag on how the Rockies claim that LaTroy Hawkins may open the season ahead of Rex Brothers on the depth chart?

Reliever rankings come courtesy of the guys (Alan, Ben, and Colin) who’ll once again be on Bullpen Report duty. You aren’t going to quibble with the top six or so (although you might want to shuffle up the order). Where things get really interesting is wading into the quagmire of guys past RP20 or so. As always, relievers look to be a volatile breed. Do you look for guys with weaker peripherals but have the tentative “closer” tag or do you draft for peripherals and assume your guy will float to the top as the season grinds along? And who knows who Houston is going to tab as their next closer? Are you going to be the one rolling the dice on Josh Fields, Chad Qualls, or (insert reliever X here)? (Aside: it’s not me.)

Sidenote: Starters who may qualify as relievers (so no Alexi Ogando, Brett Anderson, Hector Santiago, or Drew Smyly) were not ranked. In particular, a couple of my leagues have decided to implement a starting “penalty” for getting “GS” out of your “RP” slot, so you’re on your own if you see a couple SP/RP guys and think they can be helpful for your team.

Rankings based on 5×5 roto, 12 teams with 9 pitchers. Each ranker had their own mix of projections and intuition.

EDIT: There were some formatting issues with the table when first published that caused some of the players to not be aligned with their correct ranks. Should be fixed now.

Player Ben Colin Alan
1 Craig Kimbrel 1 1 1
2 Aroldis Chapman 2 2 3
3 Kenley Jansen 3 3 2
4 Greg Holland 4 5 4
5 Trevor Rosenthal 5 4 6
6 Koji Uehara 6 6 5
7 David Robertson 7 7 8
8 Glen Perkins 8 8 7
9 Sergio Romo 9 10 10
10 Jason Grilli 10 9 12
11 Joe Nathan 12 12 9
12 Addison Reed 11 13 11
13 Jim Henderson 15 11 14
14 Jim Johnson 13 19 13
15 Casey Janssen 17 15 16
16 Grant Balfour 14 17 21
17 Bobby Parnell 19 18 15
18 Jonathan Papelbon 16 16 23
19 Fernando Rodney 20 20 19
20 Huston Street 21 22 17
21 Ernesto Frieri 18 24 18
22 Neftali Feliz 24 14 24
23 Rafael Soriano 22 23 23
24 John Axford 27 21 26
25 Steve Cishek 23 29 22
26 Nate Jones 25 25 27
27 Tommy Hunter 26 27 25
28 Rex Brothers 29 26 28
29 Jose Veras 28 30 29
30 Joaquin Benoit 33 28 36
31 Joakim Soria 31 31 31
32 Tyler Clippard 32 32 37
33 LaTroy Hawkins 30 42 32
34 Luke Gregerson 35 33 38
35 Mark Melancon 34 34 39
36 Brian Wilson 37 38 34
37 Sergio Santos 38 35 43
38 Cody Allen 41 36 42
39 Josh Fields 40 39 41
40 Carlos Martinez 36 43 30
41 Jesse Crain 39 46 40
42 Luke Hochevar 42 40 44
43 Edward Mujica 48 44 35
44 Ryan Cook 44 41 45
45 Junichi Tazawa 49 52 33
46 Darren O’Day 43 45 51
47 Pedro Strop 45 48 47
48 Danny Farquhar 52 37 52
49 J.J. Putz 46 47 48
50 Chad Qualls 47 49 46
51 Francisco Rodriguez 50 51 49
52 Tanner Scheppers 51 50 55
53 Brad Ziegler 54 53 50
54 Kevin Siegrist 56 54 54
55 Heath Bell 53 55 56
56 Jason Motte 55 56 53





 

There are few things Colin loves more in life than a pitcher with a single-digit BB%. Find him on Twitter @soxczar.

36 Comments
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Vic
11 years ago

I think everyone’s too low on Frieri.

-1
quinceleather
11 years ago
Reply to  Vic

dotn let the cat out of the bag…there are others–wait until my drafts are done

1
czar
11 years ago
Reply to  Vic

Actually, while I am low on Frieri, some of the ranks ended up offset by a line in the table.

That has been corrected now (Frieri jumps up slightly to 18, 24, 18 among the three rankers).

Thanks for pointing that out so I could catch it!

0
RotoworldModsAreNazis
11 years ago
Reply to  czar

He’s still way too low. I’d put him ahead of the 5 guys in front of him along with Henderson.

0