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2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Relievers (RP)

By Arturo Pardavila III from Hoboken, NJ, USA (Royals vs. Yankees: 5/26/2015) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It's 'bout that time, eh chaps? The Winter Meetings have come and gone. With it, some of the biggest offseason dominoes have already fallen. The 2017 fantasy baseball draft board is beginning to come into focus. Now it's time to delve into player rankings. We'll continue with our 2017 relief pitcher fantasy baseball rankings for December.

This first round of rankings features picks from Kyle Bishop, Nick Mariano, Bill Dubiel, and Brad Johnson. I know I've had my initial lists in place since mid-October, and my colleagues here weren't too far behind me.

This year, we'll begin by presenting our rankings then share a few thoughts round table style.

Editor's note: Be sure to also check out our 2017 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. It's already loaded up with tons of great rankings articles and draft analysis. Aside from our tiered staff rankings for every position, we also go deep on MLB prospect rankings, impact rookies for 2017, and dynasty/keeper rankings as well. Bookmark the page, and win your drafts.

 

2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Relievers

Ranking Tier Player Brad Kyle Nick Bill Composite
1 1 Kenley Jansen 2 1 2 2 1.75
2 1 Aroldis Chapman 1 2 1 3 1.75
3 1 Zach Britton 3 3 3 1 2.5
4 2 Craig Kimbrel 4 7 4 5 5
5 2 Seung Hwan Oh 10 4 5 4 5.75
6 2 Edwin Diaz 7 5 6 6 6
7 2 Roberto Osuna 6 6 7 7 6.5
8 2 Andrew Miller 8 11 9 8 9
9 2 Mark Melancon 11 8 8 10 9.25
10 2 Kelvin Herrera 5 9 10 13 9.25
11 3 Dellin Betances 13 13 12 11 12.25
12 3 Cody Allen 9 12 13 9 10.75
13 3 Alex Colome 12 10 14 15 12.75
14 3 Ken Giles 15 14 11 14 13.5
15 3 Wade Davis 17 15 15 12 14.75
16 4 David Robertson 14 16 17 16 15.75
17 4 Francisco Rodriguez 16 17 18 17 17
18 4 Jeurys Familia 19 18 21 18 19
19 4 A.J. Ramos 20 20 16 19 18.75
20 5 Cam Bedrosian 25 19 23 21 22
21 5 Sam Dyson 23 21 22 22 22
22 5 Tony Watson 21 30 20 20 22.75
23 5 Addison Reed 18 24 19 35 24
24 5 Adam Ottavino 22 27 24 23 24
25 5 Brandon Maurer 26 23 26 27 25.5
26 5 Shawn Kelley 24 26 25 29 26
27 6 Felipe Rivero 29 29
28 6 Raisel Iglesias 39 22 39 25 31.25
29 6 Jim Johnson 27 31 29 38 31.25
30 6 Arodys Vizcaino 30 40 30 31 32.75
31 6 Joaquin Benoit 28 25 37 42 33
32 6 Ryan Dull 39 36 24 33
33 6 Brandon Kintzler 34 42 28 28 33
34 6 Glen Perkins 32 32 32 37 33.25
35 6 Sean Doolittle 38 28 35 34 33.75
36 6 Nate Jones 31 33 31 43 34.5
37 6 Fernando Rodney 29 37 27 47 35
38 6 Corey Knebel 35 35
39 7 Carter Capps 33 36 33 39 35.25
40 7 Ryan Madson 43 34 34 36 36.75
41 7 Hector Rondon 44 38 38 30 37.5
42 7 Hector Neris 42 44 40 26 38
43 7 Kyle Barraclough 45 35 41 40 40.25
44 7 Jeanmar Gomez 40 45 43 33 40.25
45 7 Matt Bush 37 41 44 41 40.75
46 7 Andrew Bailey 36 43 47 44 42.5
47 7 Tyler Thornburg 50 47 42 32 42.75
48 7 Keone Kela 47 46 45 46
49 7 Liam Hendricks 46 48 45 46.33
50 7 Huston Street 41 49 49 46.33
51 7 Luke Gregerson 48 50 46 48
52 7 Tony Cingrani 52 46 49 49
53 7 Will Harris 49 50 49.5
54 7 Santiago Casilla 51 48 49.5
55 7 Derek Law 54 48 51
56 7 Brad Ziegler 53 50 51.5
57 7 Trevor Rosenthal 55 55

Are there any picks you want to defend?

Brad: Honestly, I see nothing that merits a defense. I have the fifth through 10th relievers as very comparable in value. So while it looks like I'm down on Oh, that's not really true.

Kyle: There's not a ton of variance in our rankings here, with a few exceptions. I'm the low man on Watson and the only one to rank Rivero. Obviously, I feel Rivero has a pretty good chance of finding his way into the Pirates' closer role at Watson's expense.

Bill: I have Zach Britton as my number one mostly because I think he'll still get enough save opportunities to finish at the top. I certainly am not going to get in a shouting match with my colleagues who took Jansen and Chapman--their upside is perfectly obvious.

Nick: I'll briefly defend having Giles a few spots higher than the rest of y'all, as I'm totally on board with that 2.48 SIERA behind the 4.11 ERA alongside his 19.9% swinging-strike rate. That's 1.3% higher than Aroldis Chapman! Interestingly enough, the only qualified RP with a higher mark was teammate Luke Gregerson (20.1%, maybe I should give him a value next time around). I believe Giles' second-half improvements will be what we see in 2017, as he increased his groundball rate by over 15% with a wild 41.9% strikeout rate. I'll jump a bit to chase the upside.

Which picks by others look overly bullish/pessimistic?

Brad: My colleagues and I have mirrored rankings for Oh and Herrera. They're both very good pitchers and closer in value than my rankings of fifth and 10th imply. I'm just surprised to see so much doubt about Herrera. I also suspect we're all a little too high on Familia. Since Reed is a better pitcher, there's uncertainty as to who will remain closer after Familia's looming suspension.

Kyle: I understand that uncertainty over his role is baked into the rankings, but feel like Nick and Brad are too low on Iglesias. Personally, I expect him to be closing sooner rather than later. If he gets the job outright in spring training, I'd actually bump him up a few spots. Love the talent, especially in a relief role.

Bill: I don't have much to disagree about for now--lots of roles still to be settled. I have absolutely zero faith in Jim Johnson despite his hot finish to 2016. I imagine we'll see someone else closing for the Braves by early June at the latest.

Nick: I know relying on Rodney feels like putting on a wet sock, but he was signed by Arizona to be the closer. He doesn't have any real competition there and the D-backs have established that they have a pretty low bar for the ninth inning. Brad is with me, and even Kyle's ranking is high enough to reflect a current closer. However, Bill's #47 is too low, unless you really believe in Randall Delgado or Enrique Burgos that much more than Rodney. Hating all of them is okay, but opportunity alone should be worth a top-40 spot.

 




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