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Ranking the 15 best relief pitchers in Major League Baseball for 2016 – CBSSports.com

It is time to wrap up our 2016 position rankings (previous rankings: C | 1B | 2B |SS | 3B | LF | CF | RF | DH | SP) with the guys pitching at the end of the game, the relievers.

As was the case with previous rankings, let’s keep these things in mind:

1. We are ranking the players based upon which ones we’d most want to have for the 2016 season only, ignoring salary. Quite simply, if money were no object and you were trying to win the World Series this season, which player would you most want to have?

2. These are subjective, as voted on by Matt Snyder, Dayn Perry and Mike Axisa. We ranked the players at each position individually and averaged out the results.

3. These aren’t fantasy baseball rankings. All-around play matters.

Wade Davis (l.) and Aroldis Chapman are the two best relievers in baseball. (USATSI)

	1. Wade Davis, Royals
Davis had an outstanding season in relief for the Rays in 2012, and after the Royals gave him one last chance to start in 2013, they wised up and put him in the bullpen full-time in 2014. The 30-year-old has a 0.97 ERA (418 ERA+) in 139 1/3 innings the last two years, with a great strikeout rate (12.1 K/9), a great walk rate (2.8 BB/9), a great WHIP (0.82), and a great FIP (1.72). Plus he has a 0.36 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP with 38 strikeouts in 25 postseason innings with Kansas City. Davis is baseball’s most dominant reliever heading into the 2016 season.
	2. Aroldis Chapman, Yankees
The hardest throwing pitcher in baseball history is now with the Yankees, where he and his annual 15+ K/9 will hold down the ninth inning. Chapman is a true freak of nature. Humans are not supposed to throw this hard. Most guys who throw 100+ lose it after two or three years. Chapman is actually throwing harder now on average than he was three years ago, per PitchFX: 2012: 98.72 mph 2013: 99.38 mph 2014: 101.07 mph 2015: 100.43 mph It seems like Chapman will be suspended some length of time as a result of October’s domestic dispute incident at his home in Miami, which takes a bite out of his 2016 value.
	3. Andrew Miller, Yankees
With Chapman now on board, Miller will slide into a setup role with the Yankees after serving as their closer in 2014. Miller had a 2.04 ERA (194 ERA+) with 100 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings last season. Bobby Valentine’s stint with the Red Sox in 2012 was nothing short of a disaster, but the one good thing to come out of it was Miller. It was Valentine who moved Miller into relief full-time and helped him simplify his delivery.
	4. Dellin Betances, Yankees
No reliever has thrown more innings the last two seasons than Betances, who is a mountain of a man at 6-foot-8 and 265 lbs. He’s thrown 174 innings from 2014-15 with a 1.45 ERA (271 ERA+) and a 13.8 K/9. Betances is prone to bouts of wildness from time to time, but no other reliever in the game throws multiple innings as often while being this dominant.
	5. Zach Britton, Orioles
Britton might be the most underappreciated elite reliever in baseball. The 28-year-old has a 1.77 ERA (228 ERA+) in 142 innings since moving to the bullpen full-time in 2014. Thanks to his bowling ball sinker, Britton posted a 79.1 percent ground ball rate in 2015, which is the highest ground ball rate recorded since batted ball data became available in 2002. (By nearly four percentage points!)
	6. Craig Kimbrel, Red Sox
Kimbrel struggled early last season, perhaps because he was traded right before Opening Day, but he settled down and was his typically dominant self in the second half. He still has that incredible upper-90s fastball/mid-80s breaking ball combination and racks up strikeouts on the regular. For now I’ll assume his homer issues in 2015 (career high 0.9 HR/9) are just a blip.
	7. Kenley Jansen, Dodgers
A foot injury delayed the start of Jansen’s season for six weeks last year, but once he returned he showed no ill-effects, pitching to a 2.41 ERA (156 ERA+) with 13.8 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings. Kenley’s rare combination of power — he works primarily off a mid-90s cutter — and precision make him one of the game’s top bullpeners.
	8. Mark Melancon, Pirates
Melancon has been untouchable in his three years with Pittsburgh, giving the team 218.2 innings of 1.85 ERA (199 ERA+) ball. His strikeout (8.4 K/9) and walk (1.4 BB/9) rates are great as well. Melancon did show some signs of decline last season, mostly in his reduced velocity, though he remains a high-end late-inning arm.
	9. Ken Giles, Astros
In his two big league seasons Giles has a 1.56 ERA (250 ERA+) with 151 strikeouts and only 36 walks in 115 2/3. His stuff is electric too. Giles has spent most of those two seasons as a setup man on a rebuilding club. Next year he figures to get a chance to close for a contender.
	10. Cody Allen, Indians
Allen is a tremendous scouting success story. He was a 23rd round pick in 2011 who reached the big leagues within 13 months. Allen has a 2.53 ERA (162 ERA+) in 139 innings over the last two seasons, as well as a sky high strikeout rate (12.3 K/9).
	11. Trevor Rosenthal, Cardinals
I’ve been hoping the Cardinals would try Rosenthal in the rotation again at some point, but after two years as a dominant closer, his days of starting are in the past. Rosenthal has some of the easiest velocity in the game and he consistently puts up double-digit K/9 rates.
	12. Jeurys Familia, Mets
Familia stepped into the closer’s role last season and thrived, saving 43 games with a 1.85 ERA (200 ERA+) and 86 strikeouts in 78 innings. He’s got an upper-90s fastball, an upper-80s slider, and a low-90s splitter with cartoon-ish movement. Video game stuff.
	13. Kelvin Herrera, Royals
Herrera is now a grizzled postseason veteran after these last two Octobers. He has a 2.52 ERA (163 ERA+) in 282 1/3 innings over the last four seasons as well. Herrera still has that triple-digit fastball and is one of the most difficult pitchers to square up.
	14. Tony Watson, Pirates
A surprise pick? He shouldn’t be. Watson is Melancon’s setup man and he has a 1.97 ERA (187 ERA+) in 224 1/3 innings over the last three seasons. Since 2013, Melancon and Watson rank 1-2 in Win Probability Added, so manager Clint Hurdle has been using his top two relievers in the most important situations. Great deployment.
	15. Darren O’Day, Orioles
ERA is perhaps not the best way to evaluate a reliever, but it’s still pretty incredible O’Day has managed to lower his ERA in each of his four seasons with the O’s. 2012: 2.28 ERA (185 ERA+) 2013: 2.18 ERA (188 ERA+) 2014: 1.70 ERA (232 ERA+) 2015: 1.52 ERA (274 ERA+) As a reward, the submarining O’Day signed a four-year contract worth $31 million this offseason.