Reliever Rankings: RotoGraphs Consensus
Consensus Ranks: OF, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, and RP and SP.
Tiered Ranks: C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, NL OF, AL SP, NL SP, Holds.
The main hullabaloo will probably be about the relievers-turned-starters. There’s a bit of a damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t thing going on. If you don’t rank the reliever/starters because they won’t be traditional relievers getting saves, then those pitchers will fall out of the player ranking universe for the most part. Most of them don’t have ‘starter’ eligibility. Add to that the difficulty of projecting a dominant reliever into a new role, and, well, you get a difficult situation. So that’s what happened with Matt Moore, Chris Sale, Daniel Bard, Neftali Feliz and Cory Luebke.
As for the traditional relievers, there’s a lot of agreement. Well, Zimmerman thinks the magic will run out for Mariano Rivera this year, Podhorzer hates Heath Bell, half of us thought J.J. Putz would stay healthy and half of us thought he’d crap out again, Zimmerman put Kenley Jansen right into the closer’s role while the rest of us were more cautious, and Carlos Marmol inspired some differing opinions.
The relievers!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Player Name | Eno Sarris |
Mike Podhorzer |
Jeff Zimmerman |
Zach Sanders |
Staff Consensus |
FantasyPros All Experts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Kimbrel | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | view |
| Jonathan Papelbon | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 2 | view |
| Mariano Rivera | 3 | 3 | 17 | 3 | 3 | view |
| John Axford | 7 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 3 | view |
| Joel Hanrahan | 9 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | view |
| Drew Storen | 8 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 5 | view |
| Ryan Madson | 10 | 6 | 15 | 10 | 6 | view |
| Rafael Betancourt | 12 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 7 | view |
| Heath Bell | 11 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 8 | view |
| Sergio Santos | 13 | 11 | 10 | 16 | 9 | view |
| J.J. Putz | 18 | 7 | 19 | 7 | 10 | view |
| Brian Wilson | 16 | 14 | 11 | 17 | 11 | view |
| Joakim Soria | 15 | 10 | 12 | 23 | 12 | view |
| Carlos Marmol | 25 | 15 | 3 | 19 | 13 | view |
| Cory Luebke | 5 | 9 | – | 2 | 14 | view |
| Jason Motte | 20 | 22 | 16 | 12 | 15 | view |
| Jordan Walden | 14 | 23 | 21 | 13 | 16 | view |
| Jose Valverde | 21 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 17 | view |
| Huston Street | 19 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 17 | view |
| Kenley Jansen | 22 | 26 | 7 | 24 | 18 | view |
| Matt Moore | 4 | 2 | – | 28 | 19 | view |
| Andrew Bailey | 17 | 12 | 27 | 29 | 19 | view |
| Neftali Feliz | 26 | 34 | 5 | 21 | 20 | view |
| Brandon League | 24 | 25 | 24 | 14 | 21 | view |
| Joe Nathan | 23 | 20 | 23 | 31 | 22 | view |
| Kyle Farnsworth | 28 | 28 | 25 | 20 | 23 | view |
| Chris Sale | 6 | 24 | – | 27 | 24 | view |
| Matt Thornton | 32 | 13 | 14 | 56 | 25 | view |
| Jim Johnson | 29 | 31 | 26 | 36 | 26 | view |
| Tyler Clippard | 30 | 50 | 22 | 22 | 27 | view |
| Mike Adams | 31 | 29 | 38 | 32 | 28 | view |
| Vinnie Pestano | 38 | 33 | 34 | 26 | 29 | view |
| Daniel Bard | 27 | 27 | – | 37 | 30 | view |
| Addison Reed | 33 | 36 | 50 | 25 | 31 | view |
| Jonny Venters | 34 | 32 | 47 | 35 | 32 | view |
| Grant Balfour | 41 | 38 | 36 | 33 | 32 | view |
| Chris Perez | 37 | 35 | 29 | 59 | 33 | view |
| Sergio Romo | 44 | 46 | 30 | 34 | 34 | view |
| Matt Capps | 36 | 39 | 33 | 84 | 35 | view |
| Frank Francisco | 35 | 30 | – | 44 | 36 | view |
| Javy Guerra | 40 | 41 | 51 | 42 | 37 | view |
| Koji Uehara | – | 49 | 37 | 38 | 38 | view |
| Sean Marshall | – | 47 | 35 | 43 | 39 | view |
| David Robertson | – | 48 | 28 | 51 | 40 | view |
| Alfredo Aceves | – | – | 32 | 45 | 41 | view |
| Fernando Salas | 49 | – | 41 | 39 | 42 | view |
| Felipe Paulino | – | – | – | 30 | 43 | view |
| Glen Perkins | – | 40 | – | 41 | 43 | view |
| Chris Resop | – | – | 31 | 99 | 44 | view |
| David Hernandez | 39 | – | 44 | 53 | 45 | view |
| Francisco Rodriguez | 43 | – | – | 40 | 45 | view |
| Rex Brothers | 48 | 37 | – | – | 46 | view |
| Fautino De Los Santos | 42 | 44 | – | 90 | 47 | view |
| Greg Holland | 46 | – | 46 | 48 | 48 | view |
| Carlos Villanueva | – | – | 39 | 96 | 49 | view |
| Sam LeCure | – | – | 40 | 75 | 50 | view |
| Wilton Lopez | – | 42 | 59 | 79 | 51 | view |
| Mark Melancon | – | – | 42 | 69 | 51 | view |
| Brian Fuentes | – | 43 | 52 | 64 | 52 | view |
| Joaquin Benoit | – | – | 43 | 52 | 52 | view |
| Andrew Cashner | 45 | – | – | 50 | 53 | view |
| David Carpenter | – | 45 | – | 92 | 54 | view |
| Antonio Bastardo | – | – | 45 | 54 | 54 | view |
| Aroldis Chapman | – | – | – | 46 | 55 | view |
| Kerry Wood | 47 | – | – | 83 | 56 | view |
| Matt Belisle | – | – | 57 | 47 | 56 | view |
| Edward Mujica | – | – | 49 | 49 | 56 | view |
| Nick Masset | – | – | 48 | 87 | 57 | view |
| Scott Downs | 50 | – | – | 65 | 58 | view |
Fantasy Baseball Rankings powered by FantasyPros
You guys didn’t spend much time with this. Luebke and Moore are SP’s and I don’t see Brett Myers.
Thoughts?
Relievers turned starters is explained in the second graph.
But, you’re right. No Brett Myers listed here.
this was pretty much explained in the opening…moore and luebke are currently RP or dual-eligibility in most formats, and myers only qualifies as an SP to start the season. it looks like everyone except jeff was strictly going by current eligibility in their rankings. the one ranking that confuses me is zach putting matt moore at 28–i can understand not ranking him among RPs, but it’s hard to see how he’s not top 5 at an absolute minimum on this list if you are going to rank him.
Oh, duh! It totally slipped my mind that Myers is not yet RP eligible.
Frank Francisco is the Mets closers and btw…..he’s pretty good. Was unfairly removed quickly from the closer role in Texas in favor of Feliz two years ago. He’s been a little unlucky at times, but still has good stuff. I don’t see any competition for that job.
He’s ranked 36th, and was unranked by one voter? Gimme a break.
Agreed, Francisco is way too low. Decent job security due to lack of options, and he’s better than a lot of the guys ahead of him. Matt Capps? Really?
Yea im an idiot about the Moore and Leubke comment, I didn’t read the first few grafs, I went straight to the list.
I think Zimmerman was ranking on something other than baseball ability.
Ha! I like the comments. As if these guys who write 5-10 articles about fantasy baseball a week 365 days a year don’t know that Matt Moore and Cory Luebke are starting pitchers.
Look at Mariano’s ranking and explain how much they “know” again?
I can’t believe you guys let me see your pictures.
yeah, biiiiiiig mistake.
I don’t know why this would be the year Mo gets old. Its his last year, he’ll probably throw like he’s 25 again, not give up a run, and walk off into the sunset as cherubs sing a heart melting rendition of “Enter Sandman.”
i have read the second paragraph, and i still think putting SPs like moore and luebke in these rankings is dumb. i understand the eligibility thing. but they’ll get SP eligibility after a few minutes, and nobody’s actually debating whether to draft matt moore or sergio santos. i mean maybe they are, but not as similar commodities.
it just makes the rankings harder to look at and think about. it’s distracting without being useful.
they wouldn’t fall out of the ranking universe if you just made an executive decision to put them in the SP rankings. you can make a note of the fact that they’ll be dual eligible or RP-only for the first couple weeks. but you could do it. the police wouldn’t come. it’s your website. you can do whatever you want.
for the record i feel the same way about putting napoli and santana in the 1B rankings. yes, they’re eligible there, but… who cares
and finally let me just say that i feel like the fact that luebke somehow wound up ranked higher than moore kind of proves my point here. what do those rankings even mean? nothing. literally nothing at all. they convey zero useful information, literally.
I completely agree with you. Rank starting pitchers with starters and relievers with relievers. And you’re right about Napoli, too. Who cares? The positional eligibility might theoretically come in handy, but no one in their right mind would draft him to play 1B. This is supposed to help people with their drafts, right?
srsly zach sanders got luebke @ 2 and moore @ 28
I read the opening paragraphs, and I still think it’s ridiculous to put guys like Sale and Bard and Luebke onto this list (or leave them out of the list of SPs). When I draft, I’m drafting for the season, not for the first week of eligibility. They’re going to be starters, not relievers, and that’s where they should be ranked.
it is very difficult to see why anyone, anywhere would not agree with this
My specific problem is that in the next few days (we draft over about a month-long period), I’m going to be faced with the decision whether to draft all three of those guys. I’d really like hear how people think they’re going to be. As to Luebke, I think we have a decent idea. As to Bard and Sale, I really don’t know. I’d love some guidance on that.
is this ranking based on Saves and holds too? (I am sure the saves mean they are more valuable) or Ks, WHIP, ERA, BAA? Because in my league we put holds and saves together and added the BAA category. I like the “hold” aspect of fantasy because you can manage actually manage your bullpen more realistically and not just throw a crappy closer in because he might get saves. I would rather have a better setup man than a shitty closer.
No, these rankings, and all others, are based on the standard 5×5 categories.
Just to respond to the comments and putting Sale, Moore, etc on this list…
the problem is that Yahoo ONLY gives them RP eligibility. They are not SP eligibile right now and so the tool at FantasyPros will not allow us to rank them with the starters. They either get ranked as RPs or don’t get ranked at all. So, pick your poison!
I guess if you’re beholden to the tool at FantasyPros, that’s the way it goes. I do think it’s basically worthless to do it this way. Maybe when you do the Starter rankings, you could let us know in the intro what you think of those guys.
Eno did a good job of explaining the exclusions in his intro. We’re definitely looking at ways to make things more flexible in the future and this feedback is very helpful.
I think it’s a little harsh to call the rankings worthless though. The expert’s opinions about the relative value of the players listed in the rankings are still valid. Yank out Luebke, Moore, and Sale, and Eno still likes Riviera over Axford. That’s easy to see in the rankings.
It would definitely be cool to know where these expected starters would be drafted among the SP’s. There are also some interesting draft strategy questions that come up given how sites like Yahoo work off of current eligibility, not expected eligibility.
I wasn’t saying the rankings themselves are worthless. Just worthless as they relate to Bard, Luebke and Sale. Sorry for the miscommunication there.
Ummm, guys? I get hurt for one year and I’m no longer a relevant player on a team that should win 90+ games? Especially with Mr. Robertson’s mysterious foot injury!?
Let’s not forget, the only reason he was the 8th inning guy was because I let him be last yer – he’s just returning the favor this time around!
LOL at Rivera as the 17th ranked RP. Honestly just stupid.
Seriously. completely ridiculous
Why are Mr. Zimmerman’s picks are so far out of line? Or, stated another way, why was Frankie Frank not worthy of his list, but Nick Masset made the cut?
I based my ranking 100% off of projections. I will go more in detail later, but will give a quick summary here.
The problem with Relievers is the Saves category. I thought The Fans would have a better idea of who would be closers vice using projections based on the previous year’s numbers. I may have to change my values to some like 50% Fans, 10% for each of the other 5 systems. For example, here are 3 pitchers I seem to have off (I don’t even consider Wins in my formula):
Name: Saves (Fans),WHIP(average),Ks(average),ERA(average)
Marmol: 44,1.33,96.0,3.31
Betancourt: 36,1.04,69.5,2.87
Rivera: 36,1.03,52.8,2.61
Marmol’s Save value. from the Fans, and Ks are off the charts.
With Betancourt, his stats work out to almost be the same as Rivera’s, but with more K’s.
On Fancisco, I for some reason did not run the numbers on him. I will update him soon.
How do guys get into your rankings without “running the numbers” on them?
Completely irresponsible nonsense. Your list is pure crap.
You don’t have to read the free information.
the guy got luebke ranked so high yet moore @28… lol at that.
zach sanders is a tool.
Put Jonny Venters on the list of people ranked too low. In his case, WAY too low.
I can only assume that this whole series is a paid tie-in with FantasyPros, because otherwise I don’t know why you even bother continuing it given all the hate that has come from it.
As much as I don’t like the hatin, seems this year fangraphs is going quantity over quality. So much to read through, not so much value. Love the stats and tools still!
Perhaps job security is being undervalued by some here. I imagine guys like Betancourt and Santos are going to be on a much shorter leash than Bell and Wilson. Bell and Wilson seem like locks to stay in the role and get ~40 saves if they are healthy, but Betancourt and Santos could be yanked at any time after a few blown saves.
With the limited innings that RPs give us, I’m not interested in putting also those saves at risk for better ratios.
Even if Wilson is healthy I don’t see him getting 40+ saves. I don’t think the Giants are going to give him a huge workload this season and risk injury. Plus, there is just no reason to give Wilson a huge amount of innings this year with how loaded the Giants’ pen is right now. Romo and Casilla are both studs and more than capable of taking on the mantle of closer. Affeldt and Lopez are even capable as well.
I mean, the first sign of any sort of soreness for Wilson and I could see the Giants shutting him down for a week, maybe even throwing him on the DL just to be safe.
I know this is for fantasy baseball but even then how can anyone put Rivera 17th? That’s just asinine. Last year, Rivera was fourth among relievers and the season before that he “had a down year” and dropped to 7 due to the fact he had a low season K total. Rivera is a lock for 60+IP, 35+ saves (Probably a lot more this season due to the Yankees improved rotation), a whip below 1.00 (He’s average for the past four seasons is 0.82) and a below 2.00 ERA (1.71 ERA for past four seasons). It’s not like Rivera’s skills are declining, either. His cutter averaged 91.6MPH last season, up from the previous two seasons where he averaged 91.3 and 91.1MPH. Barring injury, which also isn’t likely since Rivera has only pitched under 60 innings once in his career, which was all the way back in 2002 when he threw 46 innings, Rivera is basically a lock to be a top five reliever in fantasy.