After getting started with a look at the top starting pitchers available on the offseason market, the B/R MLB Offseason 100 will now continue with a look at the top relief pitchers.
Our list includes 15 relievers. Most of them will be available on the free-agent market, but a couple are trade candidates plucked from rumors and/or highly plausible speculation.
For starting pitchers, we used a scoring system that added up to 100. Since relief pitchers are baseball’s ultimate part-time players, their scoring system only goes as high as 85:
- Talent Outlook: Out of 60. The idea is to look at how guys have performed recently, how they’ve gone about doing it and the outlook of their skills going forward. Think of 30 out of 60 as being a league-average reliever and 60 out of 60 essentially being Wade Davis.
- Durability Outlook: Out of 15. The idea here is to scan guys’ track records and injury histories. Think of 15 out of 15 as signalling no worries whatsoever, with eight out of 15 signaling a toss-up as to whether a guy will remain durable.
- Value Outlook: Out of 10. The idea is to project what kind of contract or trade package it’s going to take to acquire each reliever and determine whether it would be a good or bad deal. Think of five out of 10 as being a fair deal, with zero being a megabust and 10 being a megasteal.
In the event of ties, the nod will be given to the reliever we’d rather sign or trade for.
Along the way, you’ll find plenty of links to relevant data at Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs and Brooks Baseball. Also, a shout-out is owed to Baseball Prospectus for keeping such detailed injury histories.