Most fantasy baseball owners put a lot of stock in starting pitchers. And they should. Lots of innings mean lots of strikeouts (unless you choose pitchers with low strikeout numbers) and a chance at some decent win totals as well. In contrast, there is also a lot of emphasis placed on closing pitchers. Again, for good reason, not the least of which is the fact that they are the sole contributors to an entire stat category (Saves, of course).

The forgotten men of the mound are the relief pitchersfantasy baseball roster. If you are in a deep league (I currently participate in a 20 team mixed league), relief pitchers can make some decent contributions to your fantasy team. out there. Funny thing is, there are a lot of them to choose from and you know what? They just might be able to help your

They have a few things going for them after all. First, they are often used in favourable situations. Managers will commonly use relievers while playing the odds with lefty-righty matchups. The benefit to you is that the relievers are often put in a position to succeed. Let’s face it, that’s never a bad thing in fantasy baseball. If you find yourself in a week where your starting pitchers have had less-than-stellar outings, a few gems from middle relievers can help ease the pain.

A second thing relievers often have in their favour is that they are often given the opportunity to jump into the starting rotation for spot starts. With baseball Managers loving to play the matchups, these spot starts can often be very favourable spot starts for you to take advantage of. Not only will you be taking advantage of a decent matchup, but most other Major League baseball teams have not had the opportunity to see a great deal of middle relievers in action and as such may not have a detailed “book” on them. This could lead to another small thing weighing in the favour of the relief pitcher. As we all know, every little thing helps in baseball as well as fantasy baseball.

The final (and perhaps most important) factor to consider in favour of relief pitchers is the possibility of them being able to step into the closers role for their team. This could pay off big time for you if you have a particular reliever on your roster. Be sure to keep a close eye on teams which have a shaky closer situation out of the bullpen and you might just be able to snag yourself a closing pitcher (and some much-needed Save stats in the process). There are more than a few examples of teams with precarious closing pitcher situations around Major League Baseball at any given time (think St. Louis, Toronto, Oakland and Houston just to name a few). There are examples every year of relief pitchers settling into the closing role for their teams even when they did not start out the year in that role. Some recent examples include John Axford, Jon Rauch, Ryan Madson, Chris Perez and Brandon League.

Keep watching the box scores and follow the daily team notes. You may be surprised at the gems you can dig up.

Next time out, I’ll take a look at some good relievers to target for your fantasy rosters. Do you have any in mind? Please add your thoughts to the comments section below.

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