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I wish filling out your fantasy roster with middle relievers was as easy as plop-plop, fizz-fizz.  But I’m sure it isn’t, because not everyone is using the same model of success.  I can dig that, I mean, I come from a long line of Smokeys that like the art of shoveling.  Listen, I get it if you don’t wanna help your team-rates and ratios by adding guys that are stout in production for basically free at the end of your draft.  Streaming relievers is a real thing, I didn’t make it up.  It does exist, and it lives in the house between Nessy and Sasquatch.  It’s not for the faint of heart and is probably not for everyone.  It is about optimizing your free innings (very useful in RCL leagues that have games started limits, which everyone wants to win).  It’s a basic theory and the patent is pending, so stick around as I get into the art of streaming relievers. And as an added bonus, I have broken down the MR corps into four separate groups.  These groups are broken down by usefulness.  We have one for straight cuffs, one for rates and holds, a straight holds, and then some stone cold sleepers for you deep-leaguers.

So the art of streaming will be performed using the groups below.  It doesn’t require a ton of roster space, only two max.  That second spot, if done right with the right guys, will net you between 120-130 free innings of calculated RP stats by my estimation (and the use of round numbers for easy comprehension).  The average relief pitches 70 innings a year.  The guys you want to stream are the upper-part of that average and in-season trends will lead you in the right direction.  I will get into them during the year, but since you are here, they are appearances with the lead and Inherited Runners (IR) and Inherited Runners scored(IRS).  These two stats are prime indicators if a guy is going to take a dump on your stats.  So here is my theory and cheat below.  You are going to own one of the Cuff or K/9 (Man’s Best Friend) dominant group at all times, think Wade Davis/Andrew Miller last year.  Then basically add another guy from that same category (I listed 25) to start the season.  So Davis is the pivot and the other rostered guy is the swinging gate, think Jimmy Chipwood.  As soon as that guy pitches two consecutive days or a scheduled team off day, you switch to another of the group. Then rinse and repeat.  Best of all, all you need to do is read, because I will be providing weekly Closer Reports and Bullpen Reports.  And you can always slide over to Razzball Soccer and drop me a line there.

 

Cuffs

The cuffs are the macrame’d version of jean shorts, but in a closer type world.  These are the guys you want to draft when you get stiffed in a draft, or even the guys you should put on your watch list for future FAAB usage.

Andrew Miller

Ken Giles

Brett Cecil

Joakim Soria

Luke Gregerson

Jordan Walden

Bobby Parnell

Danny Farquhar

Kevin Quackenbush

Darren O’Day

Edward Mujica

Sergio Romo

Jason Motte

 

Man’s Best Friend

It’s the K/9 crew.  The best thing is you don’t have to feed it, walk it or clean up after it.  Just sit back and if your league allows, stream the piss out of this group.

Wade Davis

Will Smith

Tony Watson

Kevin Jepsen

Neil Ramirez

Jake Diekman

A.J. Ramos

Adam Ottavino

Pedro Strop

Nick Vincent

Rex Brothers

Jeurys Familia

Cam Bedrosian

 

Hold Me Now

Holds are basically the Thompson Twins of the fantasy stat community.  All that needs to be said is… So I’ll sing you a new song, please don’t cry anymore

Brad Ziegler

Joe Smith

Casey Fien

Pat Neshek

J.P. Howell

David Carpenter

Justin Wilson

Kelvin Herrera

Jason Grilli

Adam Warren

Zach Putnam

Tommy Hunter

Bryan Shaw

Jumbo Diaz

Zach Duke

 

Straight Sleepers

The Serta sleeper of hold format type stuff, do you feel comfortable…ehhh in a few months it will feel a whole lot better.

Aaron Barrett

Dominic Leone

Bruce Rondon

Christian Friedrich

Heath Hembree

Roman Mendez

Chasen Shreve

John Holdzkom

Sam Tuivailala