It’s officially the last week of fantasy baseball season which means for anyone who is out of title contention, fantasy baseball research season begins. For today’s SAGNOF, I am going to open myself up to personal torture and I will try to rank closers for next season. For this exercise, I tried to give each team a projected saves leader based on guys who I expect to be on the roster for next season. This means, either signed through 2022 at least or they have a mutual option. I also included Craig Kimbrel, Kenley Jansen, and Raisel Iglesias who all should be available in Free Agency and should get another closer gig. So feel free to mock my picks and make sure to follow this list exclusively next March when you do your drafts.
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Hader | MIL |
| 2 | Liam Hendricks | CHW |
| 3 | Ryan Pressly | HOU |
| 4 | Aroldis Chapman | NYY |
| 5 | Raisel Iglesias | FA |
| 6 | Edwin Diaz | NYM |
| 7 | Craig Kimbrel | FA-Vesting Option |
| 8 | Jordan Romano | TOR |
| 9 | Emmanuel Clase | CLE |
| 10 | Kenley Jansen | FA |
| 11 | Jake McGee | SF |
| 12 | Mark Melancon | SD |
| 13 | Will Smith | ATL |
| 14 | Giovanny Gallegos | STL |
| 15 | Dylan Floro | MIA |
| 16 | Blake Treinen | LAD |
| 17 | Peter Fairbanks | TB |
| 18 | Paul Sewald | SEA |
| 19 | Lou Trivino | OAK |
| 20 | Tanner Rainey | WAS |
| 21 | Garrett Whitlock | BOS |
| 22 | Joe Barlow | TEX |
| 23 | Scott Barlow | KC |
| 24 | Rowan Wick | CHC |
| 25 | Hector Neris | PHI |
| 26 | Mike Mayers | LAA |
| 27 | Taylor Rogers | MIN |
| 28 | Michael Lorenzen | CIN |
| 29 | Carlos Estevez | COL |
| 30 | Michael Fulmer | DET |
| 31 | David Bednar | PIT |
| 32 | Cole Sulser | BAL |
| 33 | J.B. Wendelken | ARI |
Some quick notes on guys/landing spots:
- Kimbrel has a vesting option that has not vested yet, I expect teams like the Phillies and Athletics to be active in bidding for his services
- Jansen and Iglesias will be also be highly bid on if they don’t return to their respective teams and both will be top 10 options if they land a full-time job
- Chapman has struggled most of 2021 but he has finished strong and will likely be a top 5 draft choice next season
- TB/SEA/BOS/OAK are among a subset of solid teams with big question marks who I anticipate filling the spot from within
- Some of the closing roles on bad teams appear to be filled and these end-game closers can be some of the most valuable for fantasy purposes don’t forget about them when drafting
This will certainly be a fun exercise for me to revisit at the beginning of next season as the first issue of closer rankings will likely see half of these names change. Best of luck to everyone finishing up their title runs.
