Middle Relievers

mmeiselman  3/4/2013 2:35 PM

I've noticed that middle relievers are significantly higher on monster than they are on other sites...do you really buy Kenley Jansen as a top 50 player?

mbuser   3/4/2013 3:55 PM

In case this needs to be said: the first thing you have to note is the difference between a player rankings list like this and our projections. The first is a subjective list of players presented in the order of where the Yahoo! experts think they should be drafted. Our projections, on the other hand, are an objective list of expected statistical impact, based strictly on z-scores.

If you are just asking about the math itself: most of the middle relievers get their value through low ERA and WHIP, and in some cases it is truly significant. Most of the time you lose W, SV, and K in the exchange, but when a MR throws sky-high K/9 on top of great ratios, he can be a very useful player. I'll be the last person to tell you to draft/buy Jansen in the top 100, but I'll be the first to point out how sneaky-good of an impact a player like Jansen can make on a team. He finished last season 54th overall (20th pitcher) and he's currently projected as 98th overall (36th pitcher).

oscarsf  3/5/2013 2:44 PM

I've been using Baseball Monster for the past three years and believe the projected value for middle relievers is accurate for our league settings (IP, ERA, WHIP, K/9, Net Saves/Holds, QS).

Constantine9  3/17/2013 5:05 PM

I can see how middle relievers would help roto style. But do they really make that much of a difference in head to head? Or do you have to load up your team to get that much of a difference. In other words, let's say I have a two or three solid front-line starters but miss out on closers. Would I need 3 to 4 of these top middle relievers or would 1 or 2 do?

Hailfire4   3/17/2013 6:02 PM

It would depend on ur team makeup. The more starters the less middle relievers u would need. If u have zero closers u would need 2 RP elig guys just to fill ur roster. But in HTH a reliever throwing 4 innings a week is not going to make much difference over ur 2 start starter who hopefully gets u at least 13 innings. Basically if u have few reliable starters and few closers u will need more good middle relievers instead of scrubby starters like Hochevar or Ubaldo Jiminez.

mbuser   3/17/2013 7:16 PM

Generally speaking, they don't make much of an impact in h2h. And definitely not a consistent impact, given the inconsistencies of appearances. Let's take something of a best-case scenario where a shut-down MR racks up 6.0 IP in a week, gets you a 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 8-9 K. That's as valuable as one great start, but you can't plan on a win being attached and that's really just a best-case. Now two elite MR in your RP slots (if you have no closers) can help smooth out the edges of your starters, but wouldn't dedicate too many active roster spots to them.

Constantine9  3/17/2013 7:52 PM

In this league, sometimes the strategy of not paying a premium for closers means you wind up with no closers. But of my 5 keepers, one is Kimbrel (the other pitcher keeper is Strasburg; the rest are hitters). So I will have at least one closer. Often I wind up with 9-10 starters in a bid to overpower opponents. Would it be wise to avoid a couple of those marginal SPs for a couple of ace middle relievers in h2h?

mbuser   3/17/2013 8:06 PM

What is the league depth? If it's standard league, I like the idea of streaming two-start pitchers and/or playing the matchups with Ease Rankings more than planning to roster 9-10 SP at all times. If you are going to roster MR, concentrate on the highest possible K/9 with those good ratios.

Constantine9  3/18/2013 2:43 PM

16 team league (universal, both AL and NL) with roster sizes of 21 players. You can keep up to 7 players, but for each player you keep, you lose an early round draft. So if you keep 4, you don't draft till the fifth round, keep 3 you can draft in the 4th round, etc.

Sometimes you can find streamable options. Sometimes not.

oscarsf  3/18/2013 5:40 PM

We use Net Saves/Holds so you don't need a closer. You just need solid relievers who can earn saves or holds. They also make a difference in our K/9 stat.