X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

JB's Bullpen Method for 2022 - Building FrankenAces with Relief Pitchers

Devin Williams - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Relief Pitchers, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News Updates

Two years ago, I finally published an article breaking down my favorite fantasy baseball strategy I have been using for years. It's really less of a strategy and more a state of mind. No, the Bullpen Method is a lifestyle. I always speak about the importance of balance on a fantasy team. For your pitching staff, I find this even more important.

You need steady and consistent balance, and to be frank with you, that is not possible with a bunch of starting pitchers on your roster. Sure, you can attack Wins and Strikeouts, but your ERA and WHIP have no chance at survival. There are like 20 starting pitchers in all of baseball that I would trust with my team's ERA and WHIP, and people want to fill your roster with them?

When your draft day arrives before the start of the 2022 MLB season, I encourage you to try my bullpen method for roster construction.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and weekly lineup resources:

 

Breaking Down JB's Bullpen Method

In a standard league, I will roster ~13 pitchers. Of the 13 pitchers I draft, six will be starters, and that usually drops to five during the season. That means the other seven or eight are relief pitchers, and I don't care if they are closers right now or not. For years, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller were anchors, then Josh Hader emerged before taking the closer role, and every year, a new crop of setup studs emerge like Giovanny Gallegos in 2019, Devin Williams in 2020, or Jonathan Loaisiga in 2021. This is the Bullpen mentality, realizing that starting pitchers are heavily overrated in fantasy and subsequently, relief pitchers (especially setup men) are heavily underrated. Once you come to this epiphany, you can immediately take advantage of the common industry mistake and instantly witness improvement in your teams.

*Disclaimer - Please do not attempt this method in Points Leagues. Points leagues are made for heavy-volume starters and elite closers. This method absolutely crushes Roto leagues, where balance is king - and in H2H leagues where you can easily beat your opponent in 3 of 5 pitching categories (5 of 5 if you are a talented SP streamer). 

 

Past Examples

Daily Roto

Example 1 is the 2019 RotoBaller Expert Roto League. Now, this was a daily roster-move league, not weekly. Daily leagues almost make it unfairly easy to use this method. Replacing non-starting starters with relievers every day maximizes your IP and puts you much higher in the standings for W and K than you would be in weekly leagues.

I finished the season with 13 pitchers on the roster. As is custom, five of those were starters: Homer Bailey, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Ryan Yarbrough, Tyler Glasnow, and Dylan Bundy. Typically in a vacuum with that rotation, I should have had no business being in even the top half of the league's standings, right? What if I told you I won the league with over 100 roto points? Bullpen Method to the rescue! Since I told you just five of my 13 pitchers were starters, that means the other eight were obviously relievers. The eight RP on my roster were:

How hard do you think it was to draft this group of relievers in 2019? Extremely easy and very cheap. All below 2.80 ERA and all below 1.09 WHIP. Sprinkle in all the saves you pick up along the way as they change roles in the bullpen and you've just won three of five pitching categories handily.

Daily H2H

Let's look at another daily lineup winning example from 2019 - this time in an H2H league. This time, my five starters looked much better with Gerrit Cole, Clayton Kershaw, Charlie Morton, Robbie Ray, and Ryan Yarbrough. Again, I went with 13 total pitchers, meaning once again I had eight relievers. Those eight relievers were:

  • Alex Colome (4 W, 30 SV, 55 K, 2.80 ERA, 1.07 WHIP)
  • Trevor May (5 W, 2 SV, 79 K, 2.94 ERA, 1.07 WHIP)
  • Drew Pomeranz (2nd half - 57 K, 1.96 ERA, 0.82 WHIP)
  • Chad Green (2nd Half - 55 K, 2.89 ERA, 0.96 WHIP)
  • Taylor Rogers (2 W, 30 SV, 90 K, 2.61 ERA, 1.00 WHIP)
  • Keone Kela (29.2 IP - 2 W, 1 SV, 33 K, 2.12 ERA, 1.01 WHIP)
  • Ross Stripling (4 W, 93 K, 3.47 ERA, 1.15 WHIP)
  • Julio Urias (4 W, 4 SV, 85 K, 2.49 ERA, 1.08 WHIP)

As you can see with the added boost I had at SP and it being an H2H league, I cared even less about finding Saves and focused more on the extra K from my bullpen while still nailing down the ERA and WHIP categories on a weekly basis. This is why I said earlier that the Bullpen Method is more of a mentality than an actual black and white strategy - you can tweak it based on the league and your roster build. We will look at some of the different drafting techniques within the method a little later.

Weekly Roto Overall

Okay, enough living in the past, even though they are beautiful examples. And enough with the low-hanging fruit daily roster-move leagues. Now let's look at 2021 The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational.

This league is an overall contest, weekly lineups, with 15 team leagues. There were 435 total teams in this contest. Now, weekly lineups do change the strategy a bit with the Bullpen Method. It becomes all about your RATIO. When I refer to the ratio, I am talking about how many starters versus how many relievers you have in your weekly lineup. There is no set answer unfortunately for the optimal ratio. It takes some focus and hard work to determine your weekly ratio based on two things: your standings in each pitching category and your pitchers' schedules/upcoming matchups.

If you fell a few spots in W and K last week, you might go six SP: three RP for the next week. After your 6:3 week, if you fell a few spots in ERA and WHIP, then you might go 5:4 next week. Say you have a 5:4 setup but pull up your SP's matchups and one of them has a one-start week in Coors, and one of them has a one-start week against Toronto, you might even benefit by a 3:6 ratio for a week. You will often find yourself comparing the possible effects of a starter's ~five IP, six K, 5.40 ERA, 1.40 WHIP week versus a reliever's ~three IP, five K, 3.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP week. Again, it is a LOT of work, but man is it fun.

Okay, so back to my 2021 TGFBI team. Since we can not benefit from daily RP swaps into the lineup in a weekly league, I carry slightly fewer RP on my roster. I finished the season with six SP and six RP. The six SP were Zack Wheeler, Kevin Gausman, Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez, Andrew Heaney, and Kwang Hyun Kim. The six relievers were:

  • Josh Hader (4 W, 34 SV, 102 K, 1.23 ERA, 0.84 WHIP)
  • Giovanny Gallegos (6 W, 14 SV, 95 K, 3.02 ERA, 0.88 WHIP)
  • Tyler Rogers (7 W, 13 SV, 55 K, 2.22 ERA, 1.07 WHIP)
  • Chad Green (10 W, 6 SV, 99 K, 3.12 ERA, 0.88 WHIP)
  • Diego Castillo (5 W, 16 SV, 75 K, 2.78 ERA, 0.98 WHIP)
  • Jake Diekman (3 W, 7 SV, 83 K, 3.86 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) *Didn't use Diekman much 2nd Half, did not need 3:6 Ratio after falling back a bit in W/K by ASB.

Hader (fifth), Wheeler (seventh), and Gausman (ninth) were my only pitchers drafted in the first 12 rounds. Needless to say, the offense was rowdy. Gallegos and Castillo were not taken until rounds 17 and 18 and then rounds 27-30 were all RP. I drafted one "Closer" and finished with 83 Saves (12.5 Roto Points). As far as the results, I finished 26th overall out of 435 teams. My pitching roto points were as follows: W (10.5), SV (12.5), K (nine), ERA (12), WHIP (14). And of course, as is the way of the Bullpen Method, the offense results were also tasty: R (nine), HR (9.5), RBI (15), SB (13), BA (12).

 

Building Franken-Ace Relievers

The first question most people ask when they see my drafts is - "How can you win without drafting aces?" Well, there are two answers. First, draft the sleepers that become aces. Duh, right? Like the 2019 example above, I was able to get Ryu and Glasnow for very cheap, and for chunks of the season, they were bonafide aces. In 2020, I got Lance Lynn and Ryu again for a good value. In 2022, I got Wheeler and Gausman at draft spots they blew out of the water. That certainly helps. But the second and most important answer is YOU BUILD THEM WITH RELIEVERS.

Like Frankenstein, you can put together a stud ace with unwanted scraps you find on the waiver wire or late in the draft. This is the heart of the Bullpen Method.

Past FrankenAces

Let's do some hindsight FrankenAce building. We will once again start in 2019, and take Brandon Workman and Emilio Pagan into our lab. Both were for the most part undrafted in leagues in 2019, or at-best late stashes because Boston's bullpen situation was sketchy. So now we have our unwanted scrap parts. Now let's combine their end-of-season stats. We get 14 W, 200 K, 2.10 ERA, and 0.93 WHIP. Now let's compare. Clayton Kershaw finished 2019 with 16 W, 189 K, 3.03 ERA, and 1.04 WHIP. Our Franken-Ace easily had him beat. "Pagman" FrankenAce was a five-category monster that only took two relief pitchers to build, and I carry six of these relievers at a minimum, meaning I can build at least three of these FrankenAces.

The FrankenAce I want to point out from the 2020 season was one built by my colleague and long-time friend Nick Mariano. He is hands down the second-best FrankenAce builder on the planet and we have bounced relief pitcher strategies back and forth for years. He handily won the RotoBaller Expert League in 2020 and he did it with the help of a lethal "Willianthal" FrankenAce built by two undrafted relievers: Devin Williams and Trevor Rosenthal. When we combine their stats from 2020, we get 5 W, 91 K, 1.07 ERA, and 0.73 WHIP. Now, let's compare the stats of fantasy golden boy Lucas Giolito: 4 W, 97 K, 3.48 ERA, 1.04 WHIP. Thanks to Rosenthal's 11 saves, undrafted Willianthal FrankenAce just beat Gioltio in four of five categories, losing strikeouts by only six.

For our 2021 FrankenAce, let's use a guy I drafted at 432 overall in TGFBI, and another that I picked up in FAAB after Aaron Bummer got injured. Chad Green + Tyler Rogers = "Greegers"? Their combined 2021 stats were: 17 W, 19 SV, 154 K, 2.68 ERA, 0.97 WHIP. The first SP off the boards, Gerrit Cole, finished with 16 W, 0 SV, 243 K, 3.23 ERA, 1.06 WHIP. 

Pretty simple, no? So we are not only making FrankenAces out of late-round picks/ free-agent pickups but at the same time, our offense is STACKED because while the rest of the league was wasting picks on their starting pitchers in the early rounds, we were grabbing the elite bats. That is the soul of the Bullpen Method and why it is so deadly. You are stacking your offensive categories and then winning/catching up on pitching categories on the back end without breaking a sweat.

 

JBullpen Method Drafting Strategy

As I have said numerous times already in this article, and will probably say a few more times - this is not a black and white strategy. You can't say "I drafted James Karinchak because JB said relievers were better than starters and he sucked so I lost." That's why it is more of a state of mind, where names and roles don't really matter. All you care about is numbers. If one guy isn't getting it done, move on, even if he is getting saves.

With that being said, I have noticed over the years that the drafting strategy, specifically how you handle starting pitchers and closers, really doesn't matter with the Bullpen Method which is what makes it so cool. You can get five true aces as your starting pitchers, or you can get one ace and four mid-late round starters, or you can wait until Round 10 to get your first starter. Names don't matter. Those ~five arms are there to get you IP, W, and K to keep you afloat in those categories while your bullpen does the rest.

I ran a mock draft with my most common draft technique to show how little you need to focus on pitching early, especially starting pitchers. *I used FantasyPros for the mock with 12 teams, 5x5 Roto categories, 29 roster spots, 2C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CIF, MIF, OF x 5, UTIL, P x 9, Bench x 6.

 

HITTERS! (1 x SP, 3 x RP in first 15 Rounds)


This draft technique is my most common with the Bullpen Method. I get one top-100 overall SP after some elite bats, in this case, Justin Verlander. Then I might grab some stud relievers that happen to fall into my lap for those elite ratios, in this case, Ryan PresslyBlake Treinen, and Taylor Rogers. But other than that, the first half of the draft is all about the bats. I can get basically whatever hitters I want and really blow the league away offensively. Then, hit the pitching fast and furious in the second half until I have filled my six-man rotation. In this mock, I got my SP2 in Round 16 in Mike Clevinger. Then I filled out the rotation with Joe Ryan, Patrick Sandoval, Alex Cobb, and Andrew Heaney. The final bullpen was Pressly, Treinen, Rogers, Andrew Kittredge, Paul Sewald, and Chad Green. Let's see how the projections look:

This is the prototypical league roto rankings layout for my teams. My offense is competing for the top spot in all categories because of the number of first-half picks on the stud hitters. Saves, ERA, and WHIP are GRAVY- despite only having four pitchers after Round 15. That is the power of the Bullpen. Some successful SP-streaming throughout the season can vastly improve the W and K totals for some extra first-place padding, especially in daily-roster move leagues.

 

2022 Drafts

Mock drafts are fun and all, but computers are not SB and saves-thirsty humans. The RP landscape has changed drastically, you can no longer get a "for-sure closer" in the middle rounds so easily. So I will now show how I conducted NFBC50, DC150, and TGBFI drafts this season.

NFBC50

Since these leagues have no waivers and 50 rounds, obviously you attack it differently. In the first 29 rounds, I ended up with seven SP and five RP. Since I knew I had 21 rounds remaining, I didn't need all of my ~seven RP at this point. In the top-10 rounds, I took two pitchers, both SP (Jacob deGrom-third, Kevin Gausman-sixth). I'm not paying up for a top closer with a 50-round roster. I ended up with nine RP total, and I guarantee you at least four of those will be locked into a closer role for the majority of the season, and I assume all nine will come across saves. Those nine RP were as follows: Blake Treinen (11), Scott Barlow (12), Camilo Doval (15), Andrew Kittredge (21), Rowan Wick (24), Tyler Wells (29, boo on the reports of him being stretched out), Pierce Johnson (33), Pete Fairbanks (37), and Chris Stratton (41). The offense was absolutely loaded (I'll spare you further draft board pics), and the "analysis" was quite promising.

DC150

Now we are up to a 15-team league, which obviously increases the level of difficulty in avoiding weaknesses, which for me and my method are typically always going to be W and K. In the DC, I had to take three pitchers in the first 10 rounds: Julio Urias-fourth, Kevin Gausman-fifth, and Scott Barlow-10th. I still avoided missing an elite bat for a top closer but also was forced to grab Scott Barlow in the top-10 rounds because of this. Still rocking 50-round rosters, I ended up with 11 RP (10 if you don't count Garrett Whitlock but we all know the Boston bullpen will need him at some point). Those 11 RP were as follows: Scott Barlow (10), Andrew Kittredge (15), Rowan Wick (17), Garrett Whitlock (19), Devin Williams (24), Pierce Johnson (30), A.J. Puk (34), Drew Pomeranz (38), Tanner Scott (43), Steve Cishek (47), and Scott Effross (49). Would you look at that....W and K weakness. That is where the smart RATIO planning comes into play!

TGFBI

Once again a 15-team league overall contest, but this time only a 30-man roster instead of the deep 50. I went back to just two pitchers drafted in the first 10 rounds (Justin Verlander-seventh and Sean Manaea-10th), and even without the deep roster, I chose not to pay up for an elite "closer" since at this point I had a great feel for the ADP of some of my favorite RP targets and knew I was going to find plenty of saves. As I have said a million times, the bullpen method is fluid. I got chopped pretty hard on my SP depth in this draft, Bailey Ober and Carlos Carrasco were my SP4 and SP5. Because this happened and I knew Spring Training battles and injuries would produce some extra SP options, I chose to go heavy on SP fliers while only drafting five RP, with the intention of swapping one or two via FAAB for RP once the MLB rotations were settled. Reiver Sanmartin and Tyler Beede are the two I am referring to here, and look at that, SFG has already added like 43 new SP, which should bump Beede out of a spot. So very soon, I will be up to six RP. If Sanmartin somehow doesn't make the Reds rotation, I will be right back up to my comfy seven. The five RP were as follows: Scott Barlow (11), Lucas Sims (14), Andrew Kittredge (16), Cole Sulser (27), and Jorge Alcala (28). Wouldn't you know it, there are my W and K friends again.

 

2022 RP Targets

This season, once I reach the second half of the draft and start filling my rotation and bullpen, these are some late-round relievers I'm targeting to build some FrankenAces:

Andrew Kittredge, TBR - 284 ADP

There is only one player that I have drafted in 100% of my drafts in 2022, and it is Andrew Kittredge. His ADP is one of the greatest gifts of the 21st century. I do not believe he will repeat his fantastic 1.88 ERA from last year (see his low BABIP and high LOB), but the 32-year-old has increased his velocity and should serve as the backbone of Kevin Cash's deep bullpen. As is the case with most of my favorite relievers, Kittredge possesses a fine blend of weak contact-generating and bat-missing ability with his nasty slider-sinker combo and allows very few free passes. Saves projections for Kittredge are all over the place due to the Rays "Raying" but without Diego Castillo and Nick Anderson (for a while), it's hard to imagine less than 15 with great ratios and volume. Behind Kittredge, the Rays have other names you will want to keep on your watchlist after your draft such as Pete Fairbanks, Brooks Raley, and Matt Wisler.

Lucas Sims, CIN - 255 ADP

I know Sims is a little behind this offseason and likely won't be ready for Opening Day, but since this is causing his ADP to drop further every day, it's really just making it easier to target him. After breaking out in his first full season out of the bullpen in the shortened 2020 season, it might've appeared he took a step back in 2021 with his 4.40 ERA. If you look under the hood of the surface stats, however, Sims made some pretty eye-popping progress. Among relievers with at least 40 IP, he owned the sixth-highest K% and his xERA was almost two full runs lower at 2.49.

He struggled at the beginning of the season and then missed time with an elbow injury, but after the All-Star break, he boasted a ridiculous 42.0 K-BB%, 1.90 xFIP, and 0.76 WHIP. That's Liam Hendriks-level stuff and shows the ceiling for Sims once he gets up to speed sometime in April. In the meantime, Art Warren is a name to target in those deep leagues or a guy to pick up after you place Lucas Sims on the IL.

Devin Williams, MIL - 300 ADP

After a dominating 2020 performance, regression hit Williams right off the bat in 2021. But after the first two months, he settled in very nicely with a 1.74 ERA over the second half of the season, including just two ER allowed over 30 (!) IP from June to August. His xERA, K%, HardHit%, and EV all finished in the top 6% of the league, thanks in part to the most devastating changeup in the game which registered a 47.2 Whiff rate and a measly .161 BAA.

The saves will obviously be minimal behind Josh Hader but there isn't a better setup man in the league to help boost your teams' ERA while still getting you the same amount of W and K as some starters on your league-mates' rosters. He has been working on a cutter-slider this season (struck out the side on Friday unsurprisingly), which has the potential to raise DWill to demi-god status.

Chad Green, NYY - 368 ADP

I think it is public knowledge if you've ever read any of my work or follow me on Twitter that I LOVE drafting Chad Green in standard leagues to help form some hellacious FrankenAces. The high-leverage volume, the ratios, the ninth-inning appearances, the extra-inning wins, Green sees it ALL. He led all "true" relievers in innings in 2021, was one of only four to reach 10 W, ranked sixth in strikeouts, AND boasted a 0.88 WHIP.

I'm not in the business of trying to predict RP wins, but again, when you get this level of high-quality, high-leverage volume, only good things follow. Teammate Jonathan Loaisiga is another great late-target for W and ratios but lacks the strikeout upside of Green.

Anthony Bender, MIA - 382 ADP

This one is probably going to be slightly tougher to grab now that Dylan Floro looks doubtful to be ready by Opening Day, but I think his ADP was way off to begin with so will gladly pay a slight premium for some possible early-season saves. He is by far the Marlins' best reliever, and even once Floro is back, he should see a decent share of save opportunities.

Armed with a Sinker/Slider combo like Kittredge above, Bender finished 2021 with an impressive 28.7 K% and a lowly .311 xSLG. The sinker usage provides healthy groundball rates, and a 45.2 Whiff% on his slider proves its effectiveness to put away hitters. The fact that he threw 61.1 innings in his first big league season shows how heavily Don Mattingly is going to rely on the 27-year-old going forward.

Diego Castillo, SEA - 384 ADP

Another JB favorite in all leagues, Castillo is about as solid as they come. After a surprising trade last season, he now finds himself in one of the most loaded bullpens in the league in Seattle. Paul SewaldKen Giles, and Drew Steckenrider join Diego in forming one hell of a late-inning squad. His xBA and xERA have been top 10% for three seasons now, but in 2021, we finally saw the jump in his strikeout rates that I've been waiting for. He threw his slider at a 66% clip, and it boasted a .130 BAA and a 40.1 Whiff rate. He is now officially the whole package.

Cole Sulser, BAL - 429 ADP

Since the recent news of Tyler Wells being potentially stretched out as a starter this spring, I have been hammering Sulser late in drafts. Regardless of who gets the "majority" of Baltimore's saves in 2022, Cole Sulser is the most effective and heavily utilized bullpen arm on the team (again). In his first extended big league appearance during the COVID season, things looked pretty ugly for Sulser. But there was one bright spot, and that was a pretty nasty changeup.

Sulser not only threw his best pitch more often in 2021, he found a way to make it even better by adding over SIX inches of vertical drop. His K% jumped from 19 to 28.4. He should also be one of the many Orioles pitchers who benefited from the new left-field dimensions at Camden Yards. Four of his five HR allowed in 2021 were to RHB at home.

Jorge Alcala, MIN - 430 ADP

Last year, I predicted that Jorge Alcala would finish the season as the highest-ranked Twins reliever in fantasy. Obviously, he didn't wind up seeing as much ninth-inning work as I expected, but he definitely earned a very important role in Minnesota's bullpen. Things started out pretty ugly, as Alcala limped to the ASB rocking a 4.67 ERA and a sad 23 K%. But the potential was fully released in the second half as the 26-year-old boasted a 2.88 ERA and 32 K% over the last 25 innings to include just two ER over his last 18 IP.

His stuff is electric, and his command is equally impressive. Due to the past usage of Taylor Rogers, whom I love very much, I do believe Alcala is going to be on many standard league waiver-wire lists at some point this season. Get ahead of the game now.

Josh Staumont, KCR - 438 ADP

I am not going to lie, I definitely expected Staumont to be the closer in Kansas City by now, but the fact that he has a 438 ADP still in 2022 is more of a testament to Scott Barlow rather than a knock on Staumont. He is prone to giving up some hard contact, but he did take a step forward in that department from 2020. Staumont increased his sinker usage and saw his HardHit%, EV, LA, and FB% decrease. Staumont is also carrying some serious momentum into 2022 after a stellar second half in which he owned a 2.03 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and 21.1 K-BB%. The inevitable 5-10 saves are a nice little bonus as well.

Hector Neris, HOU - 457 ADP

Despite being 32 years young, Neris might've had the most effective season of his career in 2021, depending on how you look at the effectiveness, of course. He doubled his sinker usage from 2020, which led to a career-best 47.1 GB% while still boasting lofty swing and miss stuff. His xBA, xSLG, xwOBA, and xERA were all also career bests. His splitter is still the bee's knees, and he finished the year with a 2.70 ERA and 35.8 K% over his last 40 innings. Now serving as top setup-man for Ryan Pressly and the magic Astros, I'm predicting Neris to have a career year in 2022 despite the drop in save opportunities barring an injury.

Collin McHugh, ATL - 497 ADP

In one of the more underrated signings this offseason, the Braves brought in 34-year-old McHugh to join a loaded bullpen. Fact: you do not realize how effective McHugh was in 2021. After 64 innings with the Rays, the veteran finished in the top 5% in xERA, BB%, wOBA, xwOBA, and xSLG, all while still rocking a 30 K%. After not pitching in 2020, McHugh drastically increased his Slider and Cutter usage while only throwing his 4-seam at a 10.1% rate. He seems to have found the perfect recipe. With the back end of the Braves rotation in question, I think McHugh sees some healthy volume to help the workloads of Tucker Davidson and/or Kyle Wright.

Drew Pomeranz, SDP - 597 ADP

I can't quit the Big Smooth. We know he won't be active for the start of the season, and I have taken plenty of Pierce Johnson, Robert Suarez, and Dinelson Lamet in 2022. But there is no denying the void in the Padres bullpen with the departure of Mark Melancon, and there is no denying Pomeranz's success as a reliever. For his career, he now has 160 innings under his belt out of the bullpen. Across those 160 IP, he's sporting a 2.42 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 31.1 K%, and a measly 26.9 Hard%. Since he moved to the pen for the Pads in 2019, he boasts an absurd 1.73 ERA that is only bested by Emmanuel Clase and Aaron Loup among RP with at least 70 IP. There is no need to draft and stash a guy with this ADP outside of those 50-round leagues, but he could provide value as soon as he is activated. Keep him on the watchlists.

Aaron Bummer, CWS - 630 ADP

The amount of Aaron Bummer I had in 2021 was kind of a.... bummer. But hamstring and bicep injuries can affect any man's season, and the guy still possesses my favorite arsenal amongst all relievers. Despite the ERA and WHIP being a little higher than we (or maybe just I) expected, Bummer still boasted a 2.80 xFIP. The underlying numbers looked fantastic. The xERA, Barrel%, xBA, and xSLG all finished top 4% in the league, and my favorite part of all: 76.1 GB%. Seventy-six point one percent ground ball rate. Oh, and he still had a K% north of 30.

You might remember him trying out his new slider in 2020, he threw it to five batters and all five struck out. Well, it appeared as though that was enough of a test to bring the pitch forward into 2021, as he threw the filth 282 times. Against the slider, opponents hit .094 (that's kind of good, right?) and whiffed at a 52.2 rate. Just imagine the results as that usage increases again in 2022.

Alex VesiaLAD - 679 ADP

Now that Kenley Jansen has moved to Hotlanta, there is a large void for late-inning opportunities in LA. Blake Treinen and his black magic is the easy favorite for the closer job but it may not be that simple and Treinen himself said he prefers the non-closer role.


The next man up would be seasoned vet Daniel Hudson or possibly Brusdar Graterol but we still have a lot of blank relief space on a winning club. This is where Alex Vesia fits in.

In his first big taste of the big leagues last year, Vesia looked extremely impressive for a 25-year-old. As the season went on, Dave Roberts started entrusting him with more and more high-leverage situations and this kid sure looked like he thrives under the pressure. He pitched five innings that qualify as  "High-Leverage," according to FanGraphs and gave up one hit. He threw 8.1 innings with runners in scoring position and gave up a total of three hits.

He's got ice in his veins and lives the dangerous lifestyle as he tight-roped around a 13.7 BB%. Obviously, that's a terrifying amount of free passes, but it was encouraging to see the walks drastically decrease as the season went on (20 BB% first 12.2 IP v 10.4 BB% last 27.1 IP). Being the top lefty in the pen, he should find himself a sprinkle of saving ops along the way to some big strikeout numbers.

Deep League Sleeper: Scott Effross, CHC - 798 ADP



Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!



More Fantasy Baseball Advice




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Austin Eckroat25 mins ago

Heads To The RSM Classic After Win
Harris English27 mins ago

Finding Form Heading To The RSM Classic
Ben Griffin29 mins ago

Continues Playing Well Heading To The RSM Classic
Denny McCarthy30 mins ago

Returns to The RSM Classic
Patrick Williams35 mins ago

Likely To Miss At Least One Week
Kyle Anderson43 mins ago

Available For Matchup With Hawks
Victor Wembanyama45 mins ago

Out Again On Thursday
Jusuf Nurkic53 mins ago

Available On Wednesday
Stephen Curry58 mins ago

Will Play Against Atlanta
De'Anthony Melton1 hour ago

To Undergo Season-Ending ACL Surgery
Tre Mann1 hour ago

Probable For Thursday Night Matchup Against Detroit
Mike Conley1 hour ago

Appears On Injury Report For Thursday With Toe Injury
Donte DiVincenzo1 hour ago

Questionable Heading Into Thursday
Josh Jacobs2 hours ago

Limited With Multiple Injuries
DeVonta Smith2 hours ago

Misses Practice On Wednesday
Isaiah Hartenstein2 hours ago

To Make Season Debut On Wednesday
Tyrese Maxey2 hours ago

Active On Wednesday
Jarace Walker2 hours ago

Available On Wednesday
Ben Sheppard2 hours ago

Ruled Out For Wednesday
Myles Turner2 hours ago

To Play On Wednesday
Jalen Green3 hours ago

Available On Wednesday
Vince Williams Jr.3 hours ago

Out Versus 76ers
Wendell Carter Jr.3 hours ago

Unavailable Versus Clippers
Seth Jones4 hours ago

Expected To Miss Four Weeks
Sam Darnold4 hours ago

Limited With Foot Injury
Patrick Williams4 hours ago

Undergoing Testing On Left Foot
Max Domi4 hours ago

Placed On Injured Reserve
Jalen Hurts4 hours ago

Limited On Wednesday
Darius Garland4 hours ago

Won't Play Versus New Orleans
Connor Ingram4 hours ago

Out Day-To-Day With An Upper-Body Injury
Caris LeVert4 hours ago

Will Not Play Wednesday
Jake Ferguson4 hours ago

Picks Up A DNP On Wednesday
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen4 hours ago

Returns To Action Versus Kings
CeeDee Lamb4 hours ago

Listed As Limited, Dealing With Two Injuries
Alex Tuch4 hours ago

Available Wednesday
Kevin Durant4 hours ago

Could Return Next Week
Tage Thompson4 hours ago

Remains Out On Wednesday
Sam LaPorta4 hours ago

Practicing In Full
Jordan Eberle4 hours ago

To Remain Out On Wednesday
George Kittle5 hours ago

Will Play In Week 12
Ludvig Aberg5 hours ago

Looks To Defend RSM Classic Title
Ladd McConkey5 hours ago

Does Not Practice On Wednesday
Si Woo Kim5 hours ago

An Intriguing Option At RSM Classic
Maverick McNealy5 hours ago

In Solid Form Ahead Of RSM Classic
Eric Cole5 hours ago

Chasing First Tour Victory At RSM Classic
San Francisco 49ers5 hours ago

Nick Bosa Does Not Practice On Wednesday
Christian McCaffrey5 hours ago

Does Not Practice On Wednesday
George Kittle5 hours ago

Limited During Wednesday's Practice
Brock Purdy5 hours ago

Limited On Wednesday
Alexander Mattison6 hours ago

Zamir White Not Practicing On Wednesday
Sam LaPorta6 hours ago

Trending Towards Playing In Week 12
Calvin Ridley8 hours ago

Out Wednesday With Illness
Isiah Pacheco8 hours ago

To Practice On Wednesday
D'Andre Swift9 hours ago

Won't Practice On Wednesday
Brandin Cooks10 hours ago

Cowboys Open Brandin Cooks' Practice Window
Mike Evans10 hours ago

Practicing Again On Wednesday
Connor Bedard13 hours ago

Ends Drought With Two Assists
Sam Reinhart13 hours ago

Pushes Point Streak To 11 Games
Mark Scheifele13 hours ago

Celebrates Ninth Career Hat Trick
Evan Bouchard13 hours ago

Rocks Senators With Three-Point Period
Connor McDavid13 hours ago

Nets Two Goals During Three-Point Night
TB13 hours ago

Nicholas Paul Exits Early With Injury Tuesday
Zach Hyman13 hours ago

Sits Out Third Period Versus Senators
21 hours ago

Guardians' Stephen Vogt Named AL Manager Of The Year
Milwaukee Brewers21 hours ago

Pat Murphy Named NL Manager Of The Year
Jonas Brodin1 day ago

Returns To Action
Joel Eriksson Ek1 day ago

Returns To Wild Lineup
1 day ago

Nick Pivetta Declines Boston's Qualifying Offer
Robert Thomas1 day ago

Back For Blues Tuesday
Jose Siri1 day ago

Mets Acquire Jose Siri From The Rays
Alexander Romanov1 day ago

Rejoins Islanders Lineup
Brayden Point1 day ago

Ready To Return Versus Penguins
Conor Garland1 day ago

A Game-Time Call Tuesday
J.T. Miller1 day ago

Takes Indefinite Leave For Personal Reasons
Jake Ferguson1 day ago

"Will Be Hard-Pressed" To Play In Week 12
1 day ago

Phillies To Meet With Juan Soto
1 day ago

Luis Severino Rejects Qualifying Offer From Mets
1 day ago

Willy Adames Declines Brewers Qualifying Offer
1 day ago

Teoscar Hernandez Declines Qualifying Offer From Dodgers
1 day ago

Juan Soto Declines Yankees' Qualifying Offer
Luis Gil2 days ago

Wins AL Rookie Of The Year Award
Paul Skenes2 days ago

Named 2024 NL Rookie Of The Year
Brady Singer2 days ago

Reds, Royals Discussing Jonathan India, Brady Singer
2 days ago

Sean Manaea To Reject Mets' Qualifying Offer
2 days ago

Braves Have Interest In Walker Buehler
2 days ago

Astros Interested In Willy Adames
Charles Oliveira2 days ago

Gets Back In The Win Column
Michael Chandler2 days ago

Gets Dominated At UFC 309
Karine Silva2 days ago

Suffers Her First UFC Loss
Viviane Araujo2 days ago

Gets Back In The Win Column
Mauricio Ruffy2 days ago

Extends His Win Streak To Six
Nick Martinez3 days ago

Signs Qualifying Offer With Reds
3 days ago

Luis Severino Likely To Decline Qualifying Offer From Mets
James Llontop3 days ago

Loses Clear-Cut Decision In Thrilling Fight At UFC 309
Paul Craig3 days ago

Loses Decision At UFC 309
Bo Nickal3 days ago

Remains Undefeated With Lackluster Performance At UFC 309
Stipe Miocic3 days ago

Retires After UFC 309 Loss
Jon Jones3 days ago

Gets TKO Win At UFC 309 To Defend Heavyweight Title
Grayson Rodriguez5 days ago

Orioles Optimistic Grayson Rodriguez Will Have A Full Spring Training
5 days ago

Red Sox Have Productive Meeting With Juan Soto
Michael Chandler6 days ago

Set For A Rematch At UFC 309
Charles Oliveira6 days ago

A Favorite At UFC 309
Viviane Araujo6 days ago

An Underdog At UFC 309
Karine Silva6 days ago

Looks To Extend Her Win Streak
Mauricio Ruffy6 days ago

Looks For His Second UFC Win
Jett Williams6 days ago

Suffers Sprained Ankle In AFL

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Bo Nix - Fantasy Football Rankings, QB, NFL Rookies, Draft Sleepers

Fantasy Football Matchups We Love - Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Picks for Week 12 Include Bo Nix, De'Von Achane, Quentin Johnston, Calvin Ridley, more

It seems as though fantasy managers were either incredibly disappointed or incredibly excited in Week 11. The output was modest for most players. However, if you had a monopoly on a select few players such as Cooper Kupp, Taysom Hill, or the Detroit Lions, you likely won your week. With the fantasy playoffs roughly three weeks […]


Brian Thomas Jr - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Fantasy Football Rookie Report for Week 12 - Searching for League Winners

We're getting awfully close to the fantasy football playoffs, and it's been an interesting year for rookies. Unfortunately, even some that seemed cemented into league-winner status have had huge drop-offs in production, but yet others have emerged. Extracting value wherever you can is vitally important. Unfortunately, there's an upcoming squeeze. With trade deadlines nearing in […]


George Pickens - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL injury News

NFL DFS Lineup Picks For FanDuel, DraftKings - Steelers vs. Browns TNF Showdown (Week 12)

Welcome back, RotoBallers! This will be an interesting matchup between stout AFC North defenses. The Pittsburgh Steelers (8-2) are traveling to take on the Cleveland Browns (2-8). We have no players of significance on the injury report for this game, therefore everyone is on the table! We have been pretty successful so far with these […]


Jonnu Smith - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Jonnu Smith Fantasy Football Outlook - Was His Big Game Legit or a Fluke?

Miami Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith had his first big game in Week 7, but he broke out in an even bigger way in Week 11 in a win against the Las Vegas Raiders. He caught six of his eight targets for 101 yards and a touchdown in the 34-19 win. His biggest play came […]


Patrick Mahomes - Fantasy Football Rankings, DFS Lineup Picks, NFL Injury News

NFL Pick'em Pool Picks (Week 12) - Targets, Avoids, Predictions for Pick'em Contests (2024)

There will be six teams on a bye for Week 12. The good news is, we still have some great matchups. That includes the Chargers hosting the Ravens and the Rams taking on the Eagles. Each week of the NFL season, I’ll share my picks for each game and rank their selections for those who […]


Jake Bates - Fantasy Football Rankings, Kicker Waiver Wire Pickups, Streamers

Week 12 Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings: Kicker Updates Include Justin Tucker, Chris Boswell, Austin Siebert, Cameron Dicker, Wil Lutz, Chase McLaughlin

If you're one of the many fantasy managers who have struggled to get production out of your fantasy kicker spot, be sure to use our Week 12 fantasy football kicker rankings for 2024 to guide you in setting optimal lineups. The kicker position has always been challenging to predict and project, so we're here to […]


Isiah Pacheco - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Running Backs

Week 12 Fantasy Football Projections: Running Backs (Half-PPR) - Chubba Hubbard, Isiah Pacheco, Tyrone Tracy, JK Dobbins, Kareem Hunt, Tony Pollard

Somehow, only three weeks of the fantasy football regular season remain in most leagues. Whether you're hoping to hold onto a top seed or need to stack a few wins together to qualify for the playoffs, our initial Week 12 fantasy football running back projections for the 2024 NFL season will help you understand where […]


Xavier Worthy - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Week 12 Fantasy Football Projections: Wide Receivers (Half-PPR) - Xavier Worthy, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jayden Reed, DeAndre Hopkins, Tank Dell

The fantasy football playoffs begin in Week 15, so needless to say, time is running out if you need wins to qualify. If you're in a must-win spot down the stretch, it's critical to read our Week 12 fantasy football wide receiver projections for the 2024 NFL season. Ahead of the all-important slate, let's dig […]


David Njoku - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire

Week 12 Fantasy Football Projections: Tight Ends (Half-PPR) - George Kittle, Hunter Henry, Zach Ertz, David Njoku, Tucker Kraft, Mark Andrews, more

We're back for another week of fantasy football coverage, and while rankings are a great place to start your weekly start-or-sit preparation, you can use our Week 12 fantasy football tight end projections for the 2024 NFL season for further assistance. Ahead of the Week 12 slate, let's navigate the numbers and see the projected […]


Bo Nix - Fantasy Football Rankings, QB, NFL Rookies, Draft Sleepers

Week 12 Fantasy Football Projections Quarterbacks: Justin Herbert, Bo Nix, Russell Wilson, Jared Goff, C.J. Stroud, Sam Darnold, Jordan Love, Jayden Daniels

It's make-or-break time for many fantasy managers, so it's time to lock in and set optimal lineups. Our Week 12 fantasy football quarterback projections for the 2024 NFL season are here to assist. Check the projections below to see how key Week 12 QBs such as Justin Herbert, Bo Nix, Patrick Mahomes, Jordan Love, Jared […]


Houston Texans Defense D/ST Streamers, Rankings, Waiver Wire - Derek Stingley Fantasy Football IDP

D/ST Strength of Schedule: Best Fantasy Football Defense Streamers and Matchups (Weeks 12-17)

Ahh, the good old Defense/Special Teams (DST) position in fantasy football. It is a controversial inclusion in fantasy lineups for some fantasy players, but strategizing around DSTs is one of my favorite aspects of the in-season fantasy football experience. In the article below, I will present the strength of schedule (SOS) for the fantasy Defense/Special […]


Video: Week 12 Must-Start Defense (D/ST) Streamers - 2024 Fantasy Football Start/Sit Analysis

We're back and dropping fire content for Week 12! Check out our top 2024 fantasy football must-start Defenses (D/ST) and be prepared to dominate your matchups! LaQuan Jones discusses his top "Must Start" Defense (D/ST) streamers that have the potential to be game-changers in Week 12, as well as some defenses that you might want […]


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injuries

Fantasy Football Trade Targets - Buy/Sell For Week 12 Including Josh Downs, T.J. Hockenson, Bucky Irving, D'Andre Swift

For many fantasy football gamers, the end of Week 11 marked the last opportunity to make trades ahead of the fantasy playoffs. However, there are plenty of leagues that have a later deadline and some that have no deadline at all. This is especially true of dynasty leagues, and while this week's column will still […]