Looking for saves? Try ‘alternative’ relief pitchers
The quest for saves can be a daunting one indeed. Bullpens are unpredictable, and player roles can change ever so quickly. In an thorough study of advanced fantasy baseball leagues over the past four or so years, there were more than 35% of relief pitchers drafted for saves who were no longer saving games by the end of the baseball season.
What does this say about relievers? It simply says that this is indeed an unpredictable role. As a relief pitcher you are often asked to be either a long relief guy, an eight inning guy, a batter specialist, or a closer. These roles change like the weather for a lot of pitchers. For example, if a pitcher is starts as a long reliever, and simply struggles with right handed batters, but mows down lefties, you can expect that he may become more of a "specialist" as the season rolls on.
Closers will sometime fall out of place because of their lack of ability to retire the batters in that very daunting situation. So remember, relief pitchers are a hot commodity, and sometimes you might not get what you expect at the end of the season when it comes to them.
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[…] Mudville Gazette wrote an interesting post today on Looking for saves? Try ‘alternative’ relief pitchersHere’s a quick excerptThe pursuit of saves can be frustrating. Bullpens are volatile, and roles can change quickly. […]