Fantasy: Reliever Composite Rankings
theScore's 2015 fantasy rankings apply to standard 10-team, 5x5 rotisserie leagues. Our MLB editors - Jonah Birenbaum, Dan Toman, Greg Warren and Brandon Wile - ranked 40 relievers and the top 25 are listed below. Check out all of theScore's fantasy content for the upcoming season here.
View rankings by position: C I 1B I 2B I SS I 3B I OF I SP I RP
Analysis: 4 high/low rankings
Joaquin Benoit, San Diego Padres
Rank: 14.5 (Birenbaum: 10)
JB: Benoit quietly enjoyed another masterful season after migrating west last winter, eventually inheriting the ninth-inning job for the Padres in July after the club shipped incumbent closer Huston Street to Los Angeles. Following general manager A.J. Preller's radical offseason overhaul, Benoit is poised to receive a boatload of save opportunities in 2015 and could emerge as one of fantasy's elite relievers if he even comes close to the ridiculous numbers he posted last season. Despite turning 37 last July, Benoit managed a 1.49 ERA with a minuscule 0.77 WHIP - the second-best mark among qualified relievers - while using his elite changeup (32.2 whiff rate) to craft a 31.2 percent strikeout rate.
Fernando Rodney, Seattle Mariners
Rank: 11.5 (Toman: 7)
DT: Drafting for saves is no easy task - it's a dependent stat, which makes it difficult to predict, and reliever performance can be volatile year-to-year. But if there ever was a safe bet, Rodney is it. He won't cost you as much as the high-end options do, mostly due to his poor control and history of inconsistency, but over the last three seasons only Craig Kimbrel has recorded more saves. Rodney won't make your WHIP shine but he won't hurt you with runs, either; he's given up just eight homers since 2010 and boasted a 10.7 K/9 rate the last two seasons. The 37-year-old hasn't landed on the disabled list since 2011, he's finished more games than any pitcher in baseball over the last three years, and the Mariners appear poised to win 90 games. Pick Rodney once the elite closers are off the board and enjoy watching the arrows pile up.
Koji Uehara, Boston Red Sox
Rank: 10 (Warren: 15)
GW: Uehara is blaming physical issues for the late-season collapse that led to him being relieved of his closing duties. The Red Sox closer was touched up for 10 runs on 14 hits in a span of six appearances from August 16-September 4, so I'm very hesitant to consider him a top-15 arm in this category heading into his age-40 season. Selecting a closer is often a fantasy crapshoot. Consider scouring the waiver wire early in the season to fill this need after getting a chance to see how the various closer battles play out.
Dellin Betances/Andrew Miller, New York Yankees
Rank: 4.8/23.5 (Wile: 5/25)
BW: One of the most intriguing storylines coming out of Yankees camp - other than A-Rod - will be who closes. Manager Joe Girardi has yet to name a successor to David Robertson, but possesses two incredibly capable arms in Miller and Betances. Girardi appears ready to let the two battle it out this spring before anointing one, though the manager has also floated the idea of using both to close games. Either one has the stuff to be an elite closer, so if the Yankees choose to use one exclusively in the ninth, value him just outside the top-3. Betances posted a sublime 1.40 ERA to go with a 0.77 WHIP and 135 strikeouts in 90 innings a season ago, while Miller recorded 103 strikeouts and 0.80 WHIP in 62 1/3 innings, with a 2.02 ERA.