FANTASY BASEBALL 2022 – RELIEVERS
In the least surprising news of the week, it appears that the meeting between the MLB Players Association that took place on Tuesday February 1 ‘got heated’ and now a delayed season looks distinctly possible. Honestly, baseball fans should band together like WWE fans do. Whenever Vince McMahon & co. try to put over an idea that the fans hate (Roman Reigns’ initial run as a babyface, sexist women’s matches, etc.), WWE fans let them know loud and clear that they ain’t havin’ it. They boo relentlessly, chant mercilessly (and crudely) and create social media campaigns that force Vince and his corporate lemmings to change direction because ultimately, he has to acknowledge that the fans are the only reason that his company exists. Baseball fans should get together and do the same. The owners and players’ inability to divide up billions of dollars properly during a time of real struggle for a lot of people is unbecoming at the very least and probably shameful, too. Fans should threaten to just walk away if the season doesn’t start on time. I’ve seen enough MLB ‘labor strife’ where that is starting to become a distinct possibility. We’ll see how these next two months go.
Until that time arrives, here are my Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher rankings for 2022. I’ve ranked them from 1-30, based on 1) if they are their teams’ current closer – a reliever who doesn’t get saves isn’t much use, especially in Roto leagues, 2) the stranglehold they have on the position as we head into the season – guys who might lose their job by late April are not much use to you in Fantasy and 3) who’s in line to take the job from them if they falter a bit. Almost every closer has a wobbly point in the season. If your guy does, is there someone waiting in the wings to replace him right away or does he have some wiggle room? Sometimes it’s nice to have a reliever who’s not necessarily a top-end guy but doesn’t have an immediate replacement breathing down his neck, either. I’ve also listed the guy who’s probably likely to be next in line for saves on each team, so if your league has big enough rosters and you want to draft both guys from a team to cover your butt, you can use that strategy, too. Butt-covering in the preseason is sometimes a savvy approach.
(Mea culpa – I just realized that somehow I accidentally left Tampa’s Shane Baz off of my list of 2022’s top starting pitchers. If you go back and read that list of the top 64, put him somewhere around 43-45. Sorry about that but there are a lot of names to keep track of!)
RANK TEAM CLOSER NEXT IN LINE
1 CHW Liam Hendricks Craig Kimbrel
2 MIL Josh Hader Devin Williams
3 LAA Raisel Iglesias Aaron Loup
4 NYY Aroldis Chapman Jonathan Loaisiga
** Loaisiga might be the better pitcher now, but he’ll be a multi-inning guy again.
5 HOU Ryan Pressly Ryne Stanek
6 ATL Will Smith Tyler Matzek
7 NYM Edwin Diaz Trevor May
8 CLE Emmanuel Clase James Karinchak
** once Clase took the job from Karinchak midseason, he ran away with it
9 ARI Mark Melancon J.B. Wendelken
** Melancon might only get 30 save chances all year, but he’ll make them count
10 TOR Jordan Romano Julian Merryweather
11 MIA Dylan Floro Anthony Bass
12 MIN Taylor Rogers Tyler Duffey
13 STL Giovanny Gallegos Alex Reyes
** Reyes had more saves last year, but Gallegos was/is the better pitcher.
14 BOS Matt Barnes Garret Whitlock
** Barnes had better hope Whitlock’s conversion to starting works out
15 DET Gregory Soto Michael Fulmer
** like last year, the Tigers may use both guys equally in save situations
16 KC Scott Barlow Josh Staumont
17 LAD Blake Treinen Daniel Hudson
** where Kenley Jansen signs (or re-signs) is a huge factor here
18 PHI Corey Knebel Jose Alvarado
19 CIN Lucas Sims Tejay Antone
20 SEA Ken Giles Paul Sewald
** this is all about Giles’ health – if he’s ok, he’ll have a long leash
21 SF Jake McGee Tyler Rogers
** Camilo Doval pitched well in late relief last year, too. Keep an eye.
22 OAK Lou Trivino A.J. Puk
23 COL Carlos Estevez Daniel Bard
24 BAL Cole Sulser Tyler Wells
25 SD Pierce Johnson Craig Stammen
** hard to believe a Padres team that wants to win it all won’t add to this mix
26 TEX Joe Barlow Spencer Patton
27 CHC Rowan Wick Codi Heuer
28 PIT David Bednar Chris Stratton
* *Bednar might be a top 15 reliever – I’m just not sure he’ll get many save chances.
29 WAS Kyle Finnegan Tanner Rainey
30 TAM Andrew Kittredge Pete Fairbanks
**…and Nick Anderson and JP Feyereisen and Jeffrey Springs and…you get the idea. The Rays will have 60 games saved in 2022, but they will be divided up between 24 different pitchers, half of whom no one has heard of yet.
