Relief Pitcher Rankings

Here are your top 75 relief pitchers from last year.  Excluded are any pitchers that are expected to be starting.

1. Fernando Rodney (10.42)
2. Craig Kimbrel (10.01)**
3. Jason Motte (7.81)**
4. Ryan Cook (7.74)
5. Kenley Jansen (7.45)*
6. Jim Johnson (7.44)**
7. Grant Balfour (7.29)**
8. Jonathan Papelbon (7.14)**
9. Sergio Romo (7.14)**
10. Rafael Soriano (6.79)
11. Tom Wilhelmsen (6.61)
12. Ernesto Frieri (6.55)
13. Vinnie Pestano (6.35)*
14. Mitchell Boggs (6.33)
15. Joel Peralta (6.07)*
16. Tyler Clippard (6.01)**
17. Joe Nathan (6.00)
18. Santiago Casilla (5.75)
19. David Hernandez (5.69)**
20. Luke Gregerson (5.65)
21. Ronald Belisario (5.59)
22. Jake McGee (5.47)
23. Sean Marshall (5.34)**
24. Glen Perkins (5.20)*
25. Joel Hanrahan (5.19)**
26. Joaquin Benoit (5.11)*
27. Jason Grilli (5.02)
28. Jonathan Broxton (4.97)
29. David Robertson (4.90)**
30. Darren O'Day (4.86)
31. Jared Burton (4.84)
32. Casey Janssen (4.62)*
33. J.J. Putz (4.60)**
34. Kelvin Herrera (4.59)
35. Eric O'Flaherty (4.59)**
36. Wilton Lopez (4.53)
37. Chris Perez (4.43)*
38. Edward Mujica (4.33)*
39. Sean Burnett (4.29)
40. Bobby Parnell (4.23)
41. Steve Cishek (4.21)
42. Rafael Betancourt (4.21)**
43. Huston Street (4.16)*
44. Greg Holland (4.15)**
45. Pedro Strop (4.01)
46. Joe Smith (3.95)
47. John Axford (3.85)**
48. Jose Valverde (3.83)**
49. Craig Stammen (3.75)
50. Brad Ziegler (3.74)
51. Matt Thornton (3.72)
52. Darren Oliver (3.63)*
53. Dale Thayer (3.55)
54. Jerry Blevins (3.49)
55. Francisco Rodriguez (3.34)**
56. Boone Logan (3.15)
57. Ryan Mattheus (3.12)
58. Mike Adams (3.10)**
59. Matt Belisle (3.08)*
60. Scott Downs (3.01)**
61. Jon Rauch (2.93)
62. Aaron Crow (2.92)
63. Antonio Bastardo (2.80)**
64. Sean Doolittle (2.69)
65. Addison Reed (2.63)
66. Tony Watson (2.56)
67. Jose Mijares (2.56)
68. Steve Delabar (2.53)
69. Josh Lindblom (2.50)

Of the top 30 pitchers in 2011, nine (30%) did not finish in the top 75 this year.  Those names are Jonny Venters, Drew Storen, Mariano Rivera, Fernando Salas, Francisco Cordero, Daniel Bard, Heath Bell, Koji Uehara, and Alfredo Aceves.  I have full confidence in Storen and Rivera bouncing back, and less confidence in the others.  ** indicates a player was in the top 30 last year and * indicates a player was in the top 75 last year.  What's clear to me is that you can't trust previous performance as a solid indicator of future  success.  All we can do is make an educated guess based on previous track record and expected opportunities and keep a close eye as the season progresses.  It's entirely possible your best reliever will come as a mid-season pick-up like Ernest Frieri and Mitchell Boggs were last year.

Tier 1 - Craig Kimbrel
  I don't think there's any legit argument that he's the best closer in the league and there's no one else that's close, outside of a younger Rivera.

Tier 2- Kenley Jansen, Mariano Rivera, Jason Motte, Fernando Rodney, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Rafael Soriano
  One elite set-up guy and the best group of closers in the game.  You'll have to pay a dear price on draft day and it might not be worth it because more than likely at least two of these pitchers won't finish in the top 30.

Tier 3 - Jonny Venters, David Robertson, Greg Holland, John Axford, Huston Street, Ernesto Frieri, Sergio Romo, Jim Johnson, Drew Storen
  The difference between these guys and the next group of guys is simply my confidence level.  All these guys have had more than one solid year in their career and are in a great position to continue their success.

Tier 4 - Vinnie Pestano, Glen Perkins, Ryan Cook, Tom Wilhelmsen, J.J. Putz, David Hernandez, Andrew Bailey, Grant Balfour, Mike Adams, Addison Reed
  Cook, Wilhelmsen, and Reed have one solid year on their resume.  There's also some age and injury concerns here, but there's enough talent and opportunity that this group needs to be separated from those below.  Hernandez would easily have made the tier above if it wasn't for Heath Bell; I just don't know what's going to happen there.

Tier 5 - Jonathan Broxton, Tyler Clippard, Luke Gregerson, Sean Marshall, Chris Perez, Joel Hanrahan, , Brandon League, Kyuji Fujikawa, Koji Uehara, Rafael Betancourt, Jason Grilli, Sergio Santos, Bruce Rondon, Casey Janssen, Steve Cishek
  In an auction league, this is the group of guys I'm targeting to nab for a dollar or two.  None of the closers here have great job security, but should still provide solid value.

Tier 6 - Ryan Madson, Jared Burton, Santiago Casilla, Eric O'Flaherty, Bobby Parnell, Brian Wilson, Carlos Marmol, Jake McGee, Kelvin Herrera, Joel Peralta, Matt Thornton, Jose Veras, Joaquin Benoit, Stephen Pryor, Frank Francisco, Heath Bell, Jose Valverde, Carter Capps, Dale Thayer, Jon Rauch, Joba Chamberlain
  On a year-to-year basis, there's going to be a lot of variance in the value of these players.  There's potential to get a solid amount of saves or holds, but also risk that they could struggle or not be in a good enough situation.

Once the season starts, we plan on updating our relief rankings every week to account for the constant fluctuation in value that happens at this position.