Dan Harris’s Updated Relief Pitcher Fantasy Baseball Rankings (2020)

I’ve adjusted my rankings this year on relief pitchers more than any other position.

For weeks, there were rumors of condensed schedules, seven-inning games, and multiple double-headers per week. Then there was likely no trade deadline given the late start. Every time some new detail leaked, it potentially had a major impact on the way managers would deploy their closers and relievers’ job security.

And now that the schedule has been set, the impact on my original set of reliever rankings is . . . minimal. The main differences, other than fewer games, of course, are the addition of a universal designated hitter and a regional schedule. Both changes have little affect on relief pitcher rankings.

To the extent I’ve allowed the delay to factor into my thought process, you’ll see that I’m generally lower on volatile relievers, even when they have high upside. Closers such as Edwin Diaz and Craig Kimbrel may be draft-day steals if they return to form. But their awful numbers and inconsistency from last year should mean they’ll have a shorter leash to hold their ninth-inning roles.

With that said, I have dropped nearly all relievers in my overall rankings (not reflected below). The season is 60 games and will span roughly two months. For the first two months of 2019, Ian Kennedy had three saves. Over the next two months, he had 17. You should heed the “don’t pay for saves” mantra even more than you otherwise would.

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Dan Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter @danharris80.