Fantasy Baseball Today - Early 2026 Relief Pitcher Rankings! (12/2 Fantasy Baseball podcast)
Episode Date: December 2, 2025Are we sure Mason Miller will be a closer in 2026? How concerned are we about Josh Hader's shoulder? Will Aroldis Chapman maintain his control gains? Will Jeff Hoffman be the Blue Jays closer next se...ason? The Mets just signed Devin Williams but remain interested in Edwin Diaz. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Let's rank relief pitchers here in early December.
Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome in to FBT Express on Tuesday, December 2nd.
I am, for example, joined by Scott White.
An early look at 2026 relief pitcher rankings.
Granted, many things can still change.
So keep that in mind.
We will start off with your top three, Scott.
You have Mason Miller, Edwin Diaz, and Josh Hader.
How about we just start right at the top?
Mason Miller, is he?
a closer. Nobody knows. Nobody knows, but we have time to adjust if it turns out he's not. I'm pretty
sure he will be because the Padres obviously made a huge investment in him at the trade deadline
last year giving up a consensus top five overall prospect. He has years of control left. You don't do
that if you're not expecting that guy to have a central role.
on your team.
Now, I think the most likely reason Mason Miller
want to be the Padres Closers is because they move him to the rotation.
But there isn't a lot of evidence to,
there isn't a lot of reason to think that's a serious consideration.
Yes, A.J. Preller hasn't totally shot down the idea.
And yes, many analysts have speculated on.
it, but it seems like a long shot.
It seems pretty far-fetched.
I'd say 90 to 95% chance.
Mason Miller is the Padres closer.
And if it turns out, he's not,
we'll know him plenty of time to adjust before draft day.
But I will point out, as part of the Padres last year,
0.77, the IRA, 0.73 whips, 17.4K per 9 and 22 appearances.
He's the best reliever.
And so if he is closing, I think Mason Miller would be the best closer.
Any concern with Josh Hader's shoulder?
His season ended with a capsule sprain in his throwing shoulder.
Do you worry about that at all?
Enough that I slot him behind Edwin Diaz.
Because I think just statistically, those two are neck and neck.
And you need some reason to distinguish between the two.
Okay, Hater ended the season injured.
I don't think it's a serious injury.
Obviously, surgery hasn't been brought up.
The expectation is that he'll be full go in spring training.
so it's not a major concern,
but it's enough to break the tie there with Edwin Diaz,
who himself is a free agent,
but I fully expect him to sign as a closer somewhere.
Four, five, and six in your relief pitcher rankings,
you have Andres Munoz, Cade Smith, and Aroldish Chapman.
No class A, no problem.
Cade Smith is ridiculous.
He's been arguably the best reliever in baseball over the past two seasons.
Might shock some people to see him this high,
but he really is that good.
and with our oldest Chapman, Scott,
arguably the best year of his career,
a Hall of Fame career.
How much do you trust the control gains
that we saw from a world as Chapman?
Yeah, I trust it.
He's obviously was one of the most dominant closers
in baseball history until he wasn't.
And the reason he stopped being so dominant
is because he control,
which was never great for him,
but it became a huge liability.
during his years with the pirates and really began with his time during the Yankees,
where he first fell out of the closer rule.
But he made an adjustment, a mechanical adjustment.
He gripped to the ball not as tightly.
He was gripping it too tight.
And that was contributing to his control problems, apparently,
because he went on to be a better control pitcher than he's ever been before.
His best season of this borderline Hall of Fame career for a worldist Chapman,
117 E or a 0.70 whip because he's learned what works.
I expect him to continue with it.
Now it'll be 38 next year.
And so it's possible for that reason he just drops off a cliff.
But I don't presume that's going to happen until I see some evidence of it.
And we certainly didn't see any evidence of it in 2025.
All right.
Let's take a quick break.
And we'll be back right after this.
Welcome back into FBT Express continuing on with Scott's early 2026 relief pitcher rankings.
7, 8, and 9 we have Yohan Duran, Robert Suarez, and David Bednar.
So Suarez is a free agent coming off a great season.
He led National League with 40 saves.
We're hoping for fantasy that he signs as a closer once again.
And David Bednar Scott, a roller coaster season, got demoted in April last year.
Traded over to the Yankees.
By the end of the year, the numbers look.
like one of the best relievers in baseball.
So yes, there is a floor, I guess, with any reliever.
But if Bennar's on, he could very easily be one of the best closures in fantasy as well.
Yeah, it is kind of shocking how good his numbers look, his final numbers look for as, as poorly as things were going for him at the start of 2025, getting optioned to the miners and everything.
ended with a 230 ERA, a 104 whip 12.4K per 9.
I mean, those are better numbers than Yon Duran for as good as Yon Duran was.
And by the way, Bedinar was even better at his best with the Yankees.
So he's proven himself in that high pressure environment
in the high pressure, high leverage bullpen roll.
I don't think we draft him on equal terms with Yon Duran,
but I don't think he's far behind.
He's top 10 for me.
All right, 10, 11 and 12, you have Jeff Hoffman, Rysel Iglesias, and Devin Williams.
After the season ended, right after the World Series,
the Blue Jays said they are not committed to Jeff Hoffman as the closer for next season.
Actually, I think we were talking on the full-lane podcast.
You moved Jeff Hoffman behind Riceell, Glacius.
So he's number 11 here, but still, it seems like you kind of,
based on your ranking, you lean towards Hoffman still being the main saves option for the Blue Jays next year.
Yeah, yeah, I think making that swap moving Iglesias ahead of Hoffman is easy enough because Iglesias is very proven as a closer.
He finished the year on fire.
Now he's back with the Braves, so we know his role is secure with the initial ranking.
Iglesias was still a free agent.
So yeah, I mean, I'd rather have Iglesias in my top 10 than Hoffman.
But I think Hoffman has top 10 potential.
I think he has top six or seven.
potential. He's
he had a bad year, a much worse year than expected in the
closer roll with a 437 ERA.
But the stuff graded out similarly.
It's not like he became a markedly worse pitcher after two
dominant years in Philadelphia.
Mainly what happened is he gave up a bunch more home runs.
He was outrageously vulnerable to the long ball.
two home runs per nine.
It was a ton of home runs.
And that was the only difference.
That given Hoffman's track record seems like something he could address.
And for what it's worth, he had a very good postseason run with them.
A very long postseason run, a very good postseason run.
That unfortunately didn't end well with the game tying home run in the ninth inning of game seven to Miguel Rojas.
But other than that, like he helped guide.
the Blue Jays two game seven with his performance for the rest of the postseason.
He lasted all year in the role despite his struggles.
He still signed for two more.
Unless they bring in an Edwin-Diaz type,
I think Jeff Hoffman's obviously the best reliever in the Blue Jays bullpen.
And even though they are at least floating the idea of making a change there for 2025,
I think once everybody reports for spring training, again, barring a major signing,
I think it'll be obvious to the Blue Jays as well that Hoffman is their best bet.
Let's wrap up with the last name on this list.
Devin Williams number 12.
He actually just signed with the New York Mets.
We can't truly evaluate it for fantasy yet
because there are multiple reports right after this
that said they're still pursuing Edwin Diaz.
So if that happens, Diaz would be the closer
and Devin Williams is a setup man.
So it's kind of hard to evaluate until we know
where Edwin Diaz winds up.
Yeah.
But, you know, the Mets may be pursuing him.
I'm sure a lot of teams are pursuing him
because he is the best reliever on the market.
So hardly a guarantee that the Mets bring back Edwin D has.
And if they don't, then I imagine Devin Williams would be their closer.
I think the safer bet right now is that Devin Williams will be their closer.
And I think he's a good bet to bounce back.
Even more so than Hoffman, the pitches graded out.
Similarly, it's just specifically he said he was rushing his delivery in August.
And after making that change in August, Devin Williams had a 250 ERA.8.89 whip 17K per 9 in his final 19 appearances.
That's more like it.
But even the full season number, swinging strike rate was similar.
The ERA estimators were much better than the ERA.
It just seemed like Devin Williams deserved better than he got even before you account for that change he made in his
delivery. And if he's back in a closer role for a contending team, I think he'd be a steal
where I rank him at 12th. All right, for more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to
our full-lane podcast, Fantasy Baseball today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts
are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express. And we will be back again later this
week. Bye-bye.