Fantasy Baseball RPV Breakdown: Sweet Relief

The value of a reliever varies greatly league to league, format to format. In a points league that counts a save at nearly the same amount as a win, they’re pretty important. If that same league is 20 teams deep and has two mandatory RP slots active, relievers become extremely valuable. It’s just simple math. 30 teams, 30 closers (roughly speaking) for 40 active relief spots. That means there aren’t enough closers to go around and some teams are going to have to get creative.

In the roto game, the save category can be targeted in different ways. Certain leagues have 9 pitcher slots open for interpretation by the owner with mandatory RP’s. Some owners may choose to target the save category and neglect their starting staff in favor of streaming starters. This strategy falls short in most leagues where there are more than 10 teams in play. Usually a balance between the categories is the best course of action with a strength in a few specific ones to create an advantage.

The volatility of the closers’ role has driven most fantasy owners mad over the last few seasons. Their collective reaction has been to shy away from investments in ninth inning guys in favor of playing the waiver wire. While this strategy has some merit, it also has its drawbacks. You can spend a whole season throwing FAAB at guys that hold a closer role for a short period of time, or worse miss out on them altogether by being outbid. I believe a targeted investment in at least one upper echelon reliever on draft day is worth the price. When stability is at a premium, it warrants a certain level budget to build a foundation.

The real swing in some leagues in the “reliever eligible” arm that is now in a rotation full time. In head to head leagues (especially points leagues), these players can drastically swing a week in favor of an owner if utilized properly. They also significantly change the value of the reliever pool as a whole when applicable.

Here’s the Relative Position Value (RPV) of the top 25 relievers that includes RP eligible starting pitchers:

Four of the top 11 producers are starters with RP eligibility. Aaron Sanchez and Tanner Roark haven’t pitched quite as well as Drew Pomeranz, but they’ve benefited from the support of their teams a bit more in the win category. As the negative RPV hits the 25^th overall relief pitcher, it’s only a mere -17 percent with Andrew Miller making it a pretty strong position as a whole entity.

Now let’s see the RPV of the same position without those starting pitchers:

Jeanmar Gomez at the top shoots up +8 percent more points and the upper tier becomes more top heavy. Conversely, the bottom of the position drops out further at -28 percent. This starker contrast illuminates how important the RP eligible starters are not only to their owners, but to the position of reliever as a whole. In leagues where those RP eligible starters are allowed, owners are allowed more philosophical choices with their strategy and approach. There’s also significantly more meat on the bone in the middle of the position. Once they’re stripped away, you may be left picking at the scraps of the leftovers.

Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) is the seven-time best-selling author of the Fantasy Black Book Series for baseball and football. He hosts Fantasy Sports Tonight on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and the Dear Mr. Fantasy Podcast.