Jay’s Note: Seeing as how Smokey’s title has put this song in my head for what will probably be the entire week, I’m happy to include this video to pay it forward.
That’s it. Shows over. Please help the rest of the Razz staff by stacking your chairs at the back of the room. So with there only the same number of days left as fingers on Jason Pierre Paul’s hand (sick football reference!), it is only fitting to do a fun wrap of lots of gimmicky things and fun factoids. I rented a cool clown horn for that moment, so if you don’t live in a one block radius of me, it was for not. For the the rest of you, put that horn in your head and add it to the the tumor hum and the slight tinnitus. So to recap the year, there were a total of 14 closer changes, and that includes teams changing multiple times. We have 21 closers with 30 plus saves, which my research tells me… this is the new record. While the overall number and percentage of saves successfully converted is in line with the norm, it just shows that teams are sticking with their guys and the committee approach is fading. Tons more are inside, it’s my last post of the year, so things might get either weirdly informative, or informatively weird. Suspense!
Just so you didn’t think this year was a complete waste of your fantasy reliever time, here is a chart with the 5 categories that dictate reliever ebbs and flow. It shows a trend that we all knew that K/9 over the last 5 years is steadily rising and everything else is pretty much in variable with the league trends.
| Year | Saves | BS | K/9 | Wins | Holds | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1250 | 556 | 8.42 | 731 | 2237 | 3.71 |
| 2014 | 1263 | 550 | 8.46 | 724 | 2297 | 3.58 |
| 2013 | 1266 | 579 | 8.29 | 773 | 2239 | 3.59 |
| 2012 | 1261 | 536 | 8.37 | 692 | 2337 | 3.67 |
| 2011 | 1243 | 576 | 7.91 | 713 | 2122 | 3.69 |
| 2010 | 1204 | 536 | 7.87 | 694 | 2109 | 3.93 |
- Dellin Bettances became the first reliever in 25 years to be a straight reliever with no games started, with back-to-back 125 K seasons. Names on the list include Rob Dibble and Dick Radatz.
- Six relievers this year had at least 10 saves/10 holds: Ken Giles, Joakim Soria, Jim Johnson, Carson Smith, Kevin Jepsen and Wade Davis. This total is down from 10 the previous year, which was the most ever.
- The Rays, with one more hold, will break the all time team record in a season with 112. They also have 5 guys over 15 Holds for the season. Which is also a record.
- Tony Watson only the 4th reliever ever with 40 holds in a season joining Luke Gregerson, Tyler Clippard, and Joel Peralta. With one more for the season he will own the all time mark of 42.
And since it’s never to early to figure out next year and the top-10 or so relievers to draft, keep or bid on, here is my top ten list and a closer chart with some educated guesses on some destinations for free agents and such.
- Kenley Jansen
- Aroldis Chapman
- Trevor Rosenthal
- Craig Kimbrel
- Andrew Miller
- David Robertson
- Cody Allen
- Mark Melancon
- Shawn Tolleson
- Ken Giles
| BAL | Britton | CHW | Robertson | HOU | Gregerson |
| BOS | Uehara | CLE | Allen | LAA | Street |
| NYY | Miller | DET | Papelbon | OAK | Doolittle |
| TB | Boxberger | KC | Davis | SEA | Soria |
| TOR | Osuna | MIN | Perkins | TEX | Tolleson |
| ATL | Vizcaino | CHC | Rondon | ARI | Hudson |
| MIA | Ramos | CIN | Chapman | COL | Axford |
| NYM | Familai | MIL | Storen | LAD | Jansen |
| PHL | Giles | PIT | Melancon | SD | Kimbrel |
| WAS | Grilli | STL | Rosenthal | SF | Casilla |
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