Holding off on info during the height of draft time is just not my M.O. So I am bringing the goods and the reliever rankings a week earlier than anticipated. Why go into battle with a water pistol when you can go with the boomstick? At this point in the preseason, having a few teams with committee situations is normally a bad thing, except when you get to grab the right guy in that committee. Having multiple draftable options from one team is more of a benefit than a detriment on draft day, because inevitably one person is going to be wrong in that selection process and it is usually the guy who gets drafted higher. So looking at the situations with the White Sox, Rangers, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks as they sit today committee’s exist. Whether we want to believe it or not, each team has no clear cut closer and if you are skimming, this is still a good thing. Let someone else draft Gregerson, Soria, Parker, and Claudio. While you can sit back and wait a few picks or even rounds and scoop up Leone, Jones, Bedrosian, and Kela. As the season draws closer, this advantage will dwindle down to nothing, but for now use it to your advantage. Miss out on a top 8-10 closer, no worries, load up on the maybe’s and possibilities and if they don’t pan out than you can easily pivot to a more useful option on the waiver. So when someone says a committee is a bad thing, laugh and agree. Then drop the quartet of save possibilities into your team and see what happens. At worst they will cost you four out of your last seven picks. At that point in the draft, you should have an established team with all starters in place and you would be gambling on reliever talent anyways. Now you have the knowledge in your corner and a little bit of rankings goodness from ole’ Smokey. The initial installment of the Closer report with rankings is here, get excited!
$12 Salads
You know that restaurant your girlfriend/wife/what-have-you likes to go to that charges, like, $12 for a salad? Every time you go there, you have a thoroughly solid meal. No complaints, except you just paid $12 for a salad when you could’ve went to McDonald’s and stuffed you and your woman for ten schmools and had $2 in quarters left over to make the hotel bed vibrate. These closers are $12 salads.
1. Kenley Jansen – (Scott Alexander, Josh Fields)
2. Aroldis Chapman – (David Robertson, Dellin Betances)
3. Craig Kimbrel – (Joe Kelly, Carson Smith)
Donkeycorns
Imagine you’re following a donkey, who’s wearing a wool cap, through a desert for 1700 miles. Why are you following a donkey? Because he promises you something wonderful and you just need to trust him. Does the donkey talk? Yes. Yes, he does talk. So when you and the donkey in the wool cap arrive at his destination, he removes the wool cap to reveal a horn. The donkey is a unicorn and his gift to you for your trust is saves. These closers are Donkeycorns.
4. Roberto Osuna – ( Ryan Tepera, Seung-hwan Oh)
5. Cody Allen – (Andrew Miller, Nick Goody)
6. Corey Knebel – (Jacob Barnes, Josh Hader)
7. Ken Giles – (Chris Devenski, Will Harris)
8. Felipe Rivero – (George Kontos, Michael Feliz)
9. Brad Hand – (Kirby Yates, Craig Stammen)
10. Sean Doolittle – (Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler)
11. Edwin Diaz – (Juan Nicasio, David Phelps)
12. Wade Davis – (Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee)
13. Raisel Iglesias – (Michael Lorenzen, David Hernandez)
14. Alex Colome – (Daniel Hudson, Sergio Romo)
15. Mark Melancon – (Sam Dyson, Tony Watson)
16. Brandon Morrow – (Carl Edwards Jr., Steve Cishek)
17. Blake Treinen – (Liam Hendriks, Yusmeiro Petit)
18. Kelvin Herrera – (Brandon Maurer, Wily Peralta)
Employed
These guys are the men that make the save market go round. They punch in, punch out. Have the job, no real threat to speak of, and are basically just there to collect great benny’s so they can take care of their crippled brother. Who is only really crippled because he is scared of the sun.
19. Hector Neris – (Pat Neshek, Tommy Hunter)
20. Shane Greene – (Alex Wilson, Joe Jimenez)
21. Arodys Vizcaino – (A.J. Minter, Jose Ramirez)
22. Jeurys Familia – ( A.J. Ramos, Anthony Swarzak)
23. Brad Brach – (Mychal Givens, Darren O’Day)
24. Fernando Rodney – (Addison Reed. Trevor Hildenberger)
Brain Freezes
I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples, bananas and Carlos Marmol– Wait, he just gave up 12 earned runs and hit Castro in the head with a pick-off throw. Brain freeze! Make it stop! Use the following closers at your own risk.
25. Cam Bedrosian – (Blake Parker, Kenyan Middleton)
26. Brad Ziegler – (Drew Steckenrider, Kyle Barraclough)
27. Dominic Leone/Luke Gregerson
28. Archie Bradley/Brad Boxberger/Yoshihisa Hirano
29. Alex Claudio/ Keone Kela/ Matt Bush/ Jake Diekman
30. Joakim Soria/Nate Jones/Juan Minaya
