Brian’s Top 30 Closer Rankings and Projections for ’12
by rotobrian
Craig Kimbrel is head of the class. But do you trust him to repeat last year's success?
Relief pitchers are often thought of as the “Kickers” of baseball, and there is a reason for this theory. For one, there are 30 closers in the league (maybe even more if you count “by committee” bullpens). If you’re in a 10 team league, there will be a throng of closers to be had, even into the late rounds (not every closer will be owned by the end of the draft). Closers also only fulfill one stat category (Saves), which means if you draft a closer with one of your top 10 picks, you’re going to be losing out on a lot of other categories.
That being said, I like to own one of the more renown closers as to avoid the headache of “chasing saves.” I won’t ever go out and draft the best closer, or the second best for that matter, but I like to have a guy on my team who is going to get me at least 30 saves and won’t be in jeopardy of losing his job.
There’s a reason I leave these rankings until last: without fail, every year, one or two closers lose their starting gigs in spring training due to injury or ineptitude. Already Joakim Soria and Ryan Madson are out for the year. Drew Storen is injured (hence his low ranking; he would be number five on this list otherwise). The jury is still out on guys like Jason Motte and Javy Guerra. The reason most leagues hold their drafts at the end of March is to avoid wasting picks on dead end closers.
