The 2010’s leader in saves, Kimbrel struggled big time with the Cubs in 2019. I preview the closer position for each team and break them down into tiered rankings.The Home of Fantasy Sports Analysis© 2020 Fantrax All Rights Reserved. February 28, 2020 Below, find our tiered closer rankings for 2020. However, he’ll still get you 30-plus saves.Leclerc had a dreadful start to the season, posting an 8.44 ERA through the first month. He strikes out a ton of batters and has the stuff to be a top fantasy closer, but there’s a lot of risk.St. 2020 Closer Rankings and Tiers 1. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Kirby Yates – San Diego Padres. For a top closer, that’s not great. Reports are that they’re going to give him plenty of innings. Kirby Yates was outstanding in 2018 behind Brad Hand.
But the Cubs did invest $43 million in Kimbrel and he’ll have every opportunity to return to form for a good club.Another closer of the decade, Jansen is second on the saves list over the last ten years. I don’t suggest paying for last season’s ratios. The good news is that Neris should have a decently long leash if he struggles early as the only real threat to steal saves from him in the Philly bullpen (as of now) is Seranthony Dominguez.His ERA and WHIP shot up last season, but he also converted a career-high 34 saves. It was 1.24 last year and 1.16 the year before that. The difference between him and Chapman though is that we’ve seen a gradual decline for Jansen. He’s the top reliever off the board in drafts and is my top option as well.Now that Workman is settled as the Red Sox closer, fantasy managers should draft him with confidence (as long as you can handle the potential spike in WHIP). I think he’ll be more in the Kennedy-Jimenez group of a high save count being the only asset.If you’re willing to trade a couple saves for a handful of strikeouts, you can take Jimenez over Kennedy. If you think this projection is just a bit too harsh, you can use his 2016 season as a potential comp instead.Projecting the exact amount of saves any Ray will get is a fool’s errand. Once Hand was traded, Yates... 3. While saves are the most important stat for the position, remember that high-quality relief pitchers (especially non-closers) can still help your ratios and add a few more strikeouts to your overall bucket. His save total ceiling may not be as high as the others on this list, but you might consider him a safer option compared to a few players above him.Hader has been a premier reliever since he debuted in 2017, but he finally got enough saves to be an elite fantasy option last season.
Kimbrel didn’t sign with the club until June and had no spring training to work with. I can’t imagine he replicates those ratios, but there’s less of a threat of him being traded this year… I think.Like Giles, we’ve seen good, bad and good final results over the last three seasons. Teams are getting more creative with how they use their relievers. It’s now three straights seasons of velocity decline for Jansen and his ERA with it. Louis’ closing situation is a little up in the air.