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The Hold Up 6/27: Ranking the Top 90 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday

Rick Graham ranks the top pitchers to own for holds.

[holds_list_2019 list_id=”33074″ include_stats=”1″]
  • Jose Alvarado is returning to the Rays bullpen soon, and with MLB bullpens across the league being in complete disarray this year, his upside is worth taking a chance on in any leagues that count holds. In St. Louis, the Jordan Hicks injury fallout to go with John Gant’s disastrous four-hit, two-walk outing Sunday should lead to a big opportunity for Giovanny Gallegos, who’s just been killing it this year. I’ll give him the slight edge over Gant and Andrew Miller for now, but all three will factor into the Cardinals’ hold chances moving forward.

  • With Liam Hendriks filling in for Blake Treinen as the A’s closer, Yusmeiro Petit has since jumped up into a prime setup role position, and so far the results have been rewarding. For those in SV+HD leagues who own Treinen and missed out on Hendriks, Petit makes for a solid fallback option. Blake Parker is still factoring into the Twins’ late-inning situations, so despite some ugly numbers (5.63 FIP), he still carries value in fantasy leagues. Austin Adams has been a revelation for the Mariners bullpen since the Nationals gave him away for cash considerations, featuring a great fastball/slider combo that screams late-inning reliever.
  • As a Red Sox fan, I don’t even want to talk about Matt Barnes or the Red Sox bullpen too much, but obviously, big changes are needed if the team wants to compete in October. I’ve not completely given up on Tanner Rainey, but Wander Suero is the guy to chase for now as Sean Doolittle’s handcuff. Both look like they could carry some long-term upside, so long as the Nationals don’t give up on them early like they tend to do with talented relievers. Joe Jimenez just hasn’t been able to figure things, out and it doesn’t look like he’ll be putting it all together this season, when he very likely would have gotten a chance to close in a month. There’s still time, but he needs to make some rapid improvement in July.

Rick Graham

Rick resides in the Boston area and has experience as a player and coach at the collegiate level. He has been covering relievers for Pitcher List since 2017.

5 responses to “The Hold Up 6/27: Ranking the Top 90 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday”

  1. Jim says:

    Baez and Watson have been free agents in my SV+HD league all season mainly because we use K/9 in a 6×6 format. Your rankings have them both above Minter, which I am holding onto for upside but at this point would you swap Minter for either one of these guys mentioned?
    Ty!

  2. Rick Graham says:

    For K/9, I think I’d hold Minter, especially over Watson. Baez is a toss up.

  3. Ryan says:

    Who would you take ROS for mainly holds and maybe an occasional save? They’ve been near identical all season. I’ve got to let one go with Kimbrel being activated and can’t decide. I’m maybe leaning towards keeping Adam, but his xstats point at regression.

    – Ty Buttrey
    – Adam Ottavino

  4. Scott says:

    Barnes cant pitch on back to back days or in the 9th inning. His k rate is great but he is hurting me. He has been used a lot. At one point he pitched in 12 out of 22 days. Some days off coming up will help, but I dont know if the risk is worth it. In a s+h league, would you rather own kahnle or pagan? I weigh s+h the highest priority with k and ratios a very close second. Thanks

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