Tuesday has arrived and with it comes updated setup men rankings. This is a great day for hold leagues, and therefore the world. These rankings mostly reflect rest of season value, and are based on about 50% general ratio and strikeout potential, 50% pure hold totals. Holds are pretty volatile so in most cases your best bet is to focus on ratios, take advantage of the RP + P slots by rolling out a hefty number of setup men, and let the holds naturally trickle in. Managers should always make decisions and alter this list based on their specific league setup.
Share your questions and critiques in the comments. Follow me on twitter @HisDudenessOfNY for the rare tweet regarding secondary players most people don’t care about and the occasional timely injury news snippet.
TIER 1
1. Tony Watson (Pittsburgh Pirates)
2. Dellin Betances (New York Yankees)
3. Pedro Strop (Chicago Cubs)
4. Andrew Miller (New York Yankees)
5. Kelvin Herrera (Kansas City Royals)
6. Nate Jones (Chicago White Sox)
7. Sam Dyson (Texas Rangers)
8. Justin Wilson (Detroit Tigers)
TIER 2
9. Hunter Strickland (San Francisco Giants)
10. Seung-hwan Oh (St. Louis Cardinals)
11. Darren O’Day (Baltimore Orioles)
12. Kevin Siegrist (St. Louis Cardinals)
13. Mychal Givens (Baltimore Orioles)
14. Koji Uehara (Boston Red Sox)
15. Hansel Robles (New York Mets)
16. Addison Reed (New York Mets)
17. Will Harris (Houston Astros)
18. Joakim Soria (Kansas City Royals)
19. Drew Storen (Toronto Blue Jays)
20. Mark Lowe (Detroit Tigers)
21. Pedro Baez (Los Angeles Dodgers)
22. Daniel Hudson (Arizona Diamondbacks)
23. Hector Neris (Philadelphia Phillies)
24. Kyle Barraclough (Miami Marlins)
25. Ken Giles (Houston Astros)
26. Jake Diekman (Texas Rangers)
27. Josh Osich (San Francisco Giants)
TIER 3
28. Brad Brach (Baltimore Orioles)
29. Nick Vincent (Seattle Mariners)
30. Tony Zych (Seattle Mariners)
31. Neftali Feliz (Pittsburgh Pirates)
32. Tyler Clippard (Arizona Diamondbacks)
33. Ryan Buchter (San Diego Padres)
34. Blake Treinen (Washington Nationals)
35. Matt Albers (Chicago White Sox)
36. Junichi Tazawa (Boston Red Sox)
37. Joel Peralta (Seattle Mariners)
38. David Hernandez (Philadelphia Phillies)
39. Trevor May (Minnesota Twins)
40. John Axford (Oakland Athletics)
41. Bryan Shaw (Cleveland Indians)
42. Jim Henderson (New York Mets)
43. Shawn Kelley (Washington Nationals)
44. Oliver Perez (Washington Nationals
45. Felipe Rivero (Washington Nationals)
TIER 4
46. Justin Grimm (Chicago Cubs)
47. Pat Neshek (Houston Astros)
48. Mike Morin (Los Angeles Angels)
49. Jerry Blevins (New York Mets)
50. Brandon Maurer (San Diego Padres)
51. Zach Duke (Chicago White Sox)
52. Brett Cecil (Toronto Blue Jays)
53. Fernando Salas (Los Angeles Angels)
54. David Phelps (Miami Marlins)
55. Antonio Bastardo (New York Mets)
56. Tony Cingrani (Cincinnati Reds)
57. Tyler Thornburg (Milwaukee Brewers)
58. Michael Blazek (Milwaukee Brewers)
59. Boone Logan (Colorado Rockies)
60. Enny Romero (Tampa Bay Rays)
61. Adam Warren (Chicago Cubs)
62. Zach McAllister (Cleveland Indians)
63. Jose Alvarez (Los Angeles Angels)
64. Kevin Quackenbush (San Diego Padres)
65. Greg Mahle (Los Angeles Angels)
66. Andrew Chafin (Arizona Diamondbacks)
67. Chris Hatcher (Los Angeles Dodgers)
68. Ross Ohlendorf (Cincinnati Reds
69. Vidal Nuna (Seattle Mariners)
70. Xavier Cedeño (Tampa Bay Rays)
71. Jim Johnson (Atlanta Braves)
INJURED SETUP MEN
TIER A
– Carson Smith (Boston Red Sox)
– Sergio Romo (San Francisco Giants)
– Joaquin Benoit (Seattle Mariners)
– Yimi Garcia (Los Angeles Dodgers)
– Miguel Castro (Colorado Rockies)
TIER B
– Jason Motte (Colorado Rockies)
– Corey Knebel (Milwaukee Brewers)
NOTES
– Dellin Betances has more value in standard 5x5s if you want quality innings, Ks, and dubs but Tony Watson is still the king in hold leagues.
– Pedro Strop, Kelvin Herrera, and Nate Jones are my ponies in daily rotos. Combine all three and you basically have a Cy Young pitcher.
– Buying Justin Wilson and his improved BB rate. Still no runs allowed, tied with Koji Uehara with a league leading 8 holds.
– Not bailing on Hunter Strickland or Kevin Siegrist yet, Hunter is struggling a bit and Siegs has zero holds but the potential is still there.
– Joakim Soria and Drew Storen look terrible. Still think they figure it out and the hold upside is nice, but don’t hesitate to bail if the wire isn’t bare.
– Mychal Givens and Hansel Robles are carrying pretty inflated WHIPs at the moment but they have immense upside especially in the strikeout department.
– Will Harris is overtaking Ken Giles in the Houston pen. Harris quietly posted a 1.9 ERA and .9 WHIP in 71 innings last year. Sub 1 ERA and WHIP at the moment and the dominance will likely continue.
– Felipe Rivero and Tony Zych have youth, hype, and quality numbers but the holds aren’t there yet.
– Neftali Feliz makes my heart beat like Alexi Ogando once did. We all fell in love after a hot start but I’m officially selling.
– Embrace the Hector Neris and Kyle Barraclough hype.
– Josh Osich is also moving up with Romo hurt and Strickland scuffling.
– Ryan Buchter and Nick Vincent deserve some love, we’ll see if they can keep it up.
– Joe Smith was removed from the list while he handles the 9th with Huston Street on the DL.
– Carson Smith, Sergio Romo, Joaquin Benoit have upper tier 2 upside. I don’t have patience for injured setup men, but if you have an open DL slot and depth is an issue those are the stashes.