We break from the usual 12 dollar salads, donkeys, and hypothermia to breakdown, in basic fashion, the relief rankings for the final 70-plus games. Why is this helpful you may ask? Because for trade target reasons or chasing saves for points, you may want guy A over guy B. With the relief ranks it is as fluid as a clogged sewer drain, because on any given week, the middling type closer can hit bumps in the road and be removed from contention. So if you are using this as a trade commodity in your quest to add saves, my advice is this add the elite only. Nothing lower than the top-12. These guys are all nailed on and in an impressive state, barring an injury obviously. Now with that, we also have to realize that trades will happen… and take one reliever from a good situation to a better one, then on the reflexive of that, it can turn one with a job into a set-up situation. Regardless, here is my stab at the top relief pitchers for the second half of the Fantasy Baseball season. Cheers!
Ever played Fantasy Soccer? Wanna try? The Fantasy Premier League Season is about to begin, check out Razzball Soccer for all your Fútbol needs!
| Rk | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Kenley Jansen |
| 2 | Craig Kimbrel |
| 3 | Aroldis Chapman |
| 4 | Ken Giles |
| 5 | Roberto Osuna |
| 6 | Wade Davis |
| 7 | Alex Colome |
| 8 | Corey Knebel |
| 9 | Zach Britton |
| 10 | Andrew Miller |
| 11 | Greg Holland |
| 12 | David Robertson |
| 13 | Brandon Kintzler |
| 14 | Raisel Iglesias |
| 15 | Seung-Hwan Oh |
| 16 | Edwin Diaz |
| 17 | Cody Allen |
| 18 | Fernando Rodney |
| 19 | Kelvin Herrera |
| 20 | Felipe Rivero |
| 21 | Tommy Kahnle |
| 22 | Bud Norris |
| 23 | Mark Melancon |
| 24 | Jim Johnson |
| 25 | A.J. Ramos |
| 26 | Brandon Maurer |
| 27 | Santiago Casilla |
| 28 | Trevor Rosenthal |
| 29 | Keone Kela |
| 30 | Dellin Betances |
| 31 | Justin Wilson |
| 32 | Addison Reed |
| 33 | Bruce Rondon |
| 34 | Joakim Soria |
| 35 | Kyle Barraclough |
| 36 | Jose Leclerc |
| 37 | Sam Dyson |
| 38 | Matt Albers |
| 39 | Hector Neris |
| 40 | Brad Brach |
| 41 | Jeurys Familia |
| 42 | Arodys Vizcaino |
| 43 | Sean Doolittle |
| 44 | Cam Bedrosian |
| 45 | Matt Bush |
| 46 | Luis Garcia |
| 47 | Phil Maton |
| 48 | Jose Ramirez |
| 49 | Will Harris |
| 50 | Juan Nicasio |
- There aren’t many contending teams looking for an immediate closer, and the only one that comes to jump up the list is David Robertson or Kelvin Herrera. The Nationals seem to be the only team that has an immediate “Okay, you are our closer situation”.
- Which makes Tommy Kahnle the cuff with flair for right now in Chicago.
- Which gives Joakim Soria some intrigue as well.
- Teams that could trade their closer to contenders that could become set-up men are: A.J. Ramos, Jim Johnson, and Justin Wilson. Making all their second fiddles in play, Kyle Barraclough (because I think Phelps gets traded even before Ramos), Arodys Vizcaino, and Bruce Rondon are the buy candidates there.
- You then get to guys that didn’t make my list because they will be late season call-ups for teams that are seeing what they have out of their youth. Guys like Jimmy Herget, Zack Burdi, Ricardo Rodriguez and John Curtiss are ones that jump out.
