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The first bullpen report of the year is always league-dependent, so read this with a grain of salt.  Some of the top-chaps will be and should be rostered in most normal scoring leagues, while some are strictly reserved for Holds only leagues.  For those of you with the ever trending upward Saves+Holds leagues (NSVH), (a trend I have tried for a few years that seems to work) the process isn’t really a groundbreaking formula where you need a calculator watch and/or an abacus to figure out.

My formula for those NSVH leagues goes something like this:

  1. Grab a top-10 closer… which, if you pay attention, was posted here last week.
  2. Then, grab his top-two set-up guys.  So, for example, if you draft Koji Uehara, your next draft target for later in the draft should be Edward Mujica and Junichi Tazawa.
  3. After that feat of justice, add a top-20 saves guy and then stream the 4th RP.  Streaming the 4th RP gives you tons of flexibility.  You can try to obtain guys with RP/SP eligibility or add a 2-start pitcher or just keep a RP that’s got some juice.

On average, the goal number for NSVH is 8 on a weekly basis.  This is not really a theory of relativity, but it seems to work.

So let’s get into the sexiness known as ratio savers.  These guys are the glue of your pitching staff.  Whether you realize it or not, they really do help more than you (or your friends who steal your lunch money) realize.  I come bearing examples, so get ready. Using last years numbers, Jeff Samardzija was universally owned in most leagues.  His numbers were 8-13, 4.34 ERA in 213 innings pitched.  Not great, but bearable if you add a little dash of RP help.  In this case, say you rostered Neal Cotts in the same league all of last year. His numbers were, 8-3 1.11 ERA in 57 innings.  So, for theory’s sake, say you had a Jeff Cotts or a Neal Samardzija on your team, the conjoined player would look like: this 16-16 with an ERA of 3.66 and only 213 of those innings would count in starts leagues.  It’s like free money, and the roster spot isn’t dead space.  Cotts won the same amount of games and added a K/9 over 10.  And for giggles, Cotts was owned in less than 5% of all leagues last year.  So there is always value in the little guy, so find one and pair him with a ratio-wrecker SP that has value with K’s.  It’s like the guy who figured out it was a great idea to put peanut butter and jelly in one container.  This theory is just an example of bundling your pitching options, it’s not for everyone… but you should prolly stop meeting your girlfriends on Chaturbate is all I am saying.

So there’s that.  And for even more giggles, I added a list below for you to peruse some RP for the upcoming year that will help in Holds… granted, if you’re not busy.   Some have mixed league appeal for their handcuff ability and some are strictly for Holds only leagues.  That’s why they are in list form, so take a look and maybe it can help you.

 

Handcuffs To Own: (Should be owned everywhere)

1. Mark Melancon

2. Joaquin Benoit

3. Rex Brothers

4. Joakim Soria

5. Edward Mujica

6. J.J. Putz

7. Tyler Clippard

8. Heath Bell

9. Cody Allen

 

Holds: (Holds league value, with mixed league appeal)

10. Joel Peralta

11. Joe Smith

12. Tanner Scheppers

13. Brandon Kintzler

14. Luis Avilan

15. Ryan Cook

16. Brad Ziegler

17. Sergio Santos

18. Sean Doolittle

19. Darren O’Day

20. J.J. Hoover

21. Junichi Tazawa

22. Santiago Casilla

23. Neal Cotts

24. Jared Burton

25. David Carpenter

26. Pedro Strop

 

Deeper Holds: (Strictly Holds league)

27. Shawn Kelley

28. Chris Perez

29. Kevin Siegrist

30. Jake McGee

31. Matt Belisle

32. Seth Maness

33. Tim Collins

34. Sergio Santos

35. Vinnie Pestano

36. Ronald Belisario

37. James Russell

38. Luke Gregerson

39. Drew Storen

40. Tony Watson

41. Antonio Bastardo

42. Brian Wilson

43. Jordan Walden

44. A.J. Ramos

45. Dane de la Rosa

 

Super Deep Holds: (Some sneaky guys)

Daniel WebbRob WootenNick VincentMichael TonkinMike DunnVic BlackAdam OttavinoJean MachiBrad Lincoln.