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The biggest question I get regarding the Hold stat is: “How long should I hold onto a stud holds reliever if he isn’t getting the precious stat?”  Well, the stat is fluctuation between the sublime and the superfluous.  It is usually as explainable as binary calculus.  Take, for example, the story of the San Francisco Giants bullpen.  They have all the right pieces there to be a successful bullpen.  A stud closer and an excellent mix of RH and LH set-up men.  Now look closer at the stats.  Hunter Strickland is by all intents and purposes the 8th inning guy.  He has 12 appearances, 11 of which have come in the 8th inning or later in ball games.  He checks every other box for stats, low ERA, K/9 right about where you want it, but the inevitable stat faux pas is he has zero holds.  On a team that only has 9 holds collectively, what is going wrong?  He isn’t doing anything wrong, he isn’t vexed by a succubus or anything bad.  hell I bet he helps old ladies cross the street and then steals their groceries.   The simple answer is that the hold stat is an ever flowing team driven ideal.  Doesn’t mean I hate it, one bit.  i love the secondary save.  It just comes out of the blue sometimes and people who sometime deserve to be the beneficiary aren’t that’s all.  Hunter will finish the year with his share, but right now in holds leagues he is almost unownable.  So look elsewhere for good match-ups, good form in pitching, and the ever important stat with relievers is when did they pitch last.  That is the best determinant in acquiring a waiver wire darling.  If he pitched yesterday, odds are he won’t today.  Be smart as picking reliever for holds is a dumb game, don’t over-think it.  Here are some other deets, in the game of set-up…

  • Colorado’s pen continues to pace the eague with 24 Holds.  This, even with Mike Dunn on the DL for a bit.  If Dunn is sitting out in waiver land, grab him up as he should be back soon.
  • I know it’s setup guys, but Cody Allen is perfect 8-8 this year in saves and amazingly has one BS in his last 44 save appearances.  OKAY, I lied, it was a giant setup question.  Andrew Miller has 1 in his last 41 appearances, Boone Logan has one in 36, Bryan Shaw has 1 in his last 57!  Remember what I just typed up above Cleveland is a good place to look for some goods.
  • Doolittle to the DL makes Ryan Dull a viable option in most leagues because of the flux with saves and he has 5 Holds on the year pacing the sort-of-athletics.
  • Trevor Rosenthal is almost all the way back. Probably your last warning for investment.
  • Corey Knebel leads all relievers who aren’t a closer with 12 appearances with the lead.  Easily the number one stat for determining the Hold stat, hence why he has 8.
  • Sleepy reliever of the week is Yusmeiro Petit, totally should have named this the re-re-re-tread reliever O’the week.
Player Holds/BS App with Lead IR Runners/IR Scored
Adam Ottavino 10/1 11 5/1
Corey Knebel 8/1 12 6/3
Joaquin Benoit 7/1 10 1/0
Matthew Bowman 7/0 8 9/2
Heath Hembree 7/0 7 11/5
Felipe Rivero 7/0 7 2/1
Daniel Hudson 7/0 7 2/2
Brad Brach 6/1 12 0/0
Luke Gregerson 6/1 11 1/1
Carlos Torres 6/2 11 2/0
Justin Wilson 6/0 10 6/1
Jose Alvarez 6/0 10 12/0
Jorge De La Rosa 6/0 8 7/0
Taylor Rogers 6/1 8 6/2
Andrew Miller 6/0 7 6/3
Mike Dunn 6/0 7 5/2
Bryan Shaw 5/0 7 3/1
Dellin Betances 5/1 7 7/2
Danny Farquhar 5/0 7 8/1