EFB DRAFT RANKINGS

Monday April 14th, 2008

Shootin' the Bull: The 5 Step Foundation to Maximizing Your Relief Pitching

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Overall Top 25 Drafts

Top 10 rankings by Scoring Category

League by League Breakdown

by Tarrell Graham

A NY-PENN - Rankings

A SOUTH ATLANTIC - Rankings

A NORTHWEST - Rankings

AA FRONTIER - Rankings

A APPALACHIAN - Rankings

A CALIFORNIA - Rankings

A FLORIDA STATE - Recap  Rankings

A MIDWEST - Rankings

A CAROLINA - Recap  Rankings

ELITE - Rankings

AA TEXAS - Recap  Rankings

AA EASTERN - Recap  Rankings

AA SOUTHERN - Recap  Rankings

AAA PACIFIC COAST - Recap  Rankings

AAA INTERNATIONAL - Recap  Rankings

The internet is saturated with fantasy content these days and there are a ton of articles highlighting relievers. I don’t want to simply rehash stuff you can read everywhere else so this article will focus on deep sleepers and will be tailored for the Elite league's format. I am not going to dissect every bullpen situation or make any depth charts, instead I am going to focus on strategies, pick ups, and trends that will help you win your Elite leagues.

Before we continue I would like let you all know my home computer has officially given up the ghost, so I am using my phone to type or, more accurately, text this article - that’s how commted we are here at EFBL. Needless to say, this first article will be a learning experience for me and the format will be a work in progress, but hopefully the advice will be helpful and we can grow together. I don’t want to spend too much time talking about myself, but it’s important that I take a moment to lay out my basic pitching philosophy so you guys will know where I am coming from when I start to make recommendations.

1. Pay for saves. I know this runs counter to the prevailing thinking out there in fantasy land - especially with the obnoxious Mr. Berry pretending he invented the idea of not drafting closers in the first 5 rounds and screaming 'don’t pay for saves' like he has a copyright to the phrase. But the truth of the matter is that failing to draft or trade for a couple of reliable closers is a great way to lose your league. I would never select a pitcher of any kind before the 8th round of a standard draft but there is no way I am waiting 16 rounds and drafting Todd Jones or Percival and making do with that riff-raff and waiver wire pickups all season. I am a firm believer in the Matt Capps and Sorias of the world and think that you should pay to ensure you have at least two solid closers on your roster.

2. Don’t pay for holds. Maybe I should copyright that phrase, and once I lose all my hair, ESPN will pay me to repackage already ubiquitous clichés and pawn them off as my own intellectual property and invention. Hmmm...Anyway, there will be dozens of holds on your waiver wire - trust me on this. Middle relievers have a ton of value and are great late round picks but don’t pay for them in trades. Do not trade a good bat or a closer for a middle reliever - period. I know most of you think that seems pretty obvious, but many members are new to leagues that use holds and based on the offers and conversations I have seen people are way over valuing middle relievers. Despite what some will tell you, Manny Delcarmen is not worth trading a solid hitter - just don’t do it.

3. Start as many relievers as you can every single day. In Elite leagues there are ten active pitching spots and you should have at least 7-8 relievers on you roster to try to get value from every single pitching spot on a daily basis. Personally, I try to keep 9 at a minimum and on most of my teams I can actually fill out all ten spots every single day regardless of whether I have any starters pitching. Also, I believe in carrying no more than 5 starters and the using relievers to fill out the rest of my innings. It is better to pick up 3 or 4 quality innings a week from a guy like Marmol than to plug in Bronson Arroyo and hope for a quality start.

4. Look for K/9 and whip - ignore ERAs this early in the season. Since relievers get fewer innings one bad outing can really skew their numbers and be really misleading. The flipside is true as well, and just because a guy has good ERA doesn’t mean anything if his peripherals are garbage.

5. Only draft or trade for closers who have clear back ups. I am a firm believer in insurance and try to hand cuff every closer I carry, but that’s impossible if you are drafting someone without a talented arm setting him up. You need to look no further than JJ Putz and the carousal of mediocre relievers backing him up to see what can happen if the your closer is the only quality arm in his teams pen. Do you really want to carry Rowland-Smith and Lowe on your roster? I always think it is wise to assess a closers value by looking at him and his set up man as a single unit. Look to acquire tandems in which both pitchers can help you – Wood/Marmol, Corpas/Fuentes, Rivera/Chamberlin – I actually rank them higher than “better” closers that have no bookend.

Don’t worry, you won’t have to wade through so much minutia normally, but I really feel like it is important to lay down a context for the recommendations and advice you will read in future articles. Once I get a feel for this I envision the format as very straight forward, simple, and much more concise. I have a brand new laptop in route from Guangzhou, China as we speak so I will have a full article up later this week.