Set-up men for the longest time have been somewhat lost in the fold of fantasy baseball players with no value. There are only 30 closer jobs available, with some teams having a loaded bullpen. A solid bullpen can translate to championships in the real world. But for fantasy, there’s more to relief pitching than just saves. Sure, in shallower leagues you may only require saves of your relievers if there are enough to go around. But even in a 12-team league, saves may run thin no matter how often you pick up the next guy in line for a closing gig off waivers. Sure, there are 30 closer jobs, but players lose their job all the time. Ergo we now utilize set-up men to accumulate holds.
Unfortunately we no longer have Josh Hader at our disposal. Hader, and rightfully so, took over the closing duties last season for the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a situation the Brewers didn’t want to find themselves in. However, Hader has been their best bullpen arm for a few years now and he deserved the ninth inning responsibilities. Watching him waste away in the seventh and eighth innings or for long relief would be like watching Tiger Woods play mini golf for a living. Sure, it’s awesome. But it’s not where he belongs.
So with Hader accumulating more saves than holds, we usher in a new breed of set-up men to be looking at in your 2020 fantasy baseball drafts. Some of these players did appear in last year’s Draft Guide article. But low and behold, they proved themselves last season to once again make it in this edition.
Ryan Pressly – Houston Astros: While the Astros open camp apologizing for their cheating scandal, perhaps Pressly should be apologizing for absolutely embarrassing opposing hitters in wake to an 11.93 K/9. That’s one of the added bonuses with set-up men. The really good ones boast otherworldly strikeout and walk ratios. Pressly only averaged about 2.00 BB/9 so if your league incorporates ratio categories and holds then set-up men can help even more. The Astros have one of the best bullpens in baseball and Pressly is a marquee set-up man. He won’t earn many saves unless there’s an injury to Roberto Osuna . But in terms of pure set-up men, Pressly’s one of the more elite pitchers. He tied for the league lead last season with Craig Stammen (also a worthy set-up man) of the Padres as they each accumulated 31 holds, however, Pressly recorded his in 21 fewer appearances.
Giovanny Gallegos – St. Louis Cardinals: Gallegos, somewhat of a career minor league player, got a huge opportunity out of St. Louis’ bullpen last season and he didn’t let it go to waste. He had similar strikeout and walk rates as Pressly (11.31 K/9 and 1.95 BB/9), but only 19 holds in 74 innings of work. However, 13 of those holds came after the All-Star Break when the Cardinals made a stronger push for the postseason and Gallegos was used in higher-leverage situations. Gallegos is listed behind Andrew Miller (and possibly Carlos Martínez ) on the Cardinals’ bullpen depth chart so he is the presumed eighth-inning man when called upon. Miller still boasts elite strikeout numbers, but he’s now seen back-to-back seasons of a BB/9 over 4.00 and subsequently an ERA over 4.00 as well. That’s far from ideal for a reliever. Martinez accumulated a healthy amount of saves last season for St. Louis, but looks to be contending for a spot in their starting rotation. Don’t be too surprised of Gallegos finds himself in the closer’s role at some point this season.
Pick Your Yankee: The subtitle is meant to be somewhat tongue in cheek, but let’s be honest, the Yankees have one of the best bullpens in baseball and they should have an abundance of leads for the bullpen to come in and lock down the victory. The Yankees had three pitchers last season with at least 27 holds (Tommy Kahnle , Zack Britton , and Adam Ottavino ). Pick your poison, really. They all come with their up’s and down’s. Kahnle had the best K/9 of 12.91 of the group, but also had the highest HR/9 (1.32) of the trio. Ottavino also had an elite strikeout rate (11.94 K/9) but had a 5.43 BB/9. That’s not great for a reliever and he’s fortunate he maintained a 1.90 ERA all season. And lastly, Britton will be reliable for holds, but he didn’t have the greatest strikeout numbers last season. Alas, the New York bullpen is loaded with talent and if they stay healthy they’re in great shape to rack up a ton of holds this season while aiding a few other categories as well.
Matt Barnes – Boston Red Sox: Brandon Workman is the early-training camp favorite to emerge as the closer. But take that with a grain of salt. We saw the Red Sox bullpen struggle mightily last season and do basically nothing at the trade deadline to address their bullpen woes and they didn’t really make a splash in the offseason to address that need either. Barnes is similar to Adam Ottavino mentioned above. The strikeout rate was very high (15.39 K/9, second among qualified relievers in 2019), but he also allowed too many free passes (5.32 BB/9). Barnes was burned a little more by the long ball and finished the year with a 3.78 ERA. But that’s not too awful compared to his 3.28 FIP and 2.93 xFIP. Additionally, Barnes finished with 26 holds last year. Now there are a lot of questions surrounding Boston. They just shipped off the face of their franchise, Mookie Betts , but they still have a good offense and possibly an above-average rotation, but that’s very dependent on the health of Chris Sale . The playoffs may be out of the picture, but there will be an opportunity for holds and it wouldn’t surprise me if Barnes found himself in the closer role at some point in 2020.
Will Smith – Atlanta Braves: Smith is coming off a 34-save campaign with the Giants last season and slides into a set-up role with Atlanta. That’s assuming Mark Melancon doesn’t relinquish the closer’s job and we’ll enter the 2020 season assuming he has a firm hold on that job. Similar to other pitchers in this Draft Guide article, Smith had a lot of strikeouts with 96 in 65.1 innings of work, and his walks were less frequent than other players listed with a respectable 2.89 BB/9. A year ago, the Braves had a lot of questions surrounding their bullpen. Unlike Boston, they actually addressed said weakness and now have one of the better bullpens in the National League. Smith likely lines up as the go-to eighth inning arm and the Braves have a fantastic lineup that can get them plenty of leads. 28-32 holds could be in the cards for Smith and he could be due for a handful of saves as well.
Nick Anderson – Tampa Bay Rays: Anderson’s kind of like Chris Sale . Both are tall, kind of lanky, and throw really hard. Now, Anderson is a righty while Sale is a southpaw, and Anderson also finds himself in the bullpen instead of in the rotation. I’m also not ruling it out that the Rays may hand him the ball in the ninth inning. It’s still too early to tell, but he’s a set-up guy that is definitely worth keeping your eye on. Anderson ranked fourth among qualified relievers with a 15.23 K/9 and featured a stellar 2.49 BB/9 for an impressive 6.11 K:BB. The Rays are a Wild Card both literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, they’re probably in play for a Wild Card spot in the American League. But it’s hard to tell what they’re going to do with their rotation every week. They’re the innovators of the “opener” and while it would be a waste of Anderson’s talents to use him for an inning or two of work so early in the game, the door is still open for saves. Tampa would be well-served to give him a shot at the ninth inning, but for now he’s a set-up man worth keeping an eye on.
Andres Muñoz – San Diego Padres: Munoz is one of my favorite young pitchers to target for holds. He only had eight last season, but he didn’t pitch at all before last season’s All-Star Break. He does have his growing pains, but he throws hard. When he settles into his groove his fastball can hit triple digits. He’s definitely not going to close for the Padres and he probably won’t even be in there during the eighth inning. He does need to get the free passes under control, but he’s capable of averaging well over a strikeout per inning. His 2019 season was cut short after he allowed six runs in 1.2 innings of relief work in back-to-back appearances last September. However, In his first 20 appearances he had a 1.69 ERA so don’t let the inflated 3.91 ERA on the season scare you away.
Michael Lorenzen – Cincinnati Reds: Lorenzen’s ratio statistics aren’t as sexy as some of the other players listed above, but he was solid all around as a set-up man last year and there’s plenty of reason to expect better results for the Reds and Lorenzen in 2020. To be fair, he wasn’t the best at home with a 4.46 ERA, but luckily his 1.60 road ERA helped balance things out. He still contributed 21 holds and seven saves while averaging a strikeout per inning. With confidence waning just a little bit in Raisel Iglesias , it’s possible Lorenzen is elevated for even more save opportunities. But regardless, he’s a fine set-up pitcher for fantasy baseball.
Trevor May – Minnesota Twins: May cracked this article last season and while he did miss some time, he rewarded those that drafted him. He collected 17 holds last season with a pair of saves while touting a 2.94 ERA. He’s a big boy. He’s 6’5” and 240 pounds and he has a good enough fastball that sits around 95-96mph. Taylor Rogers has a pretty firm grip on the closer job in Minnesota. So draft May with the assumption he may get a few saves, but he still has value in saves + holds formats. He’s one of the better bullpen arms who allowed just 11 walks in 69.0 innings of work last season to aid his 8.18 K:BB.