[USML Announce] Roto Musings ...

[Andy Klein]

The Yu Darvish signing and publication of the Winick Magazine have my roto
juices flowing.  So here's a topic for conversation.

Should we consider changing from Saves as a category to Saves+Holds?  Of
course, we would need to do this with a year's notice to make things fair,
so likely starting with the 2019 season.

Here's my thinking ...

Saves have always placed an obvious premium on 9th inning guys over good
middle relieves.  But it seems the disparity between roto value and real
value is growing given that way that managers are using bullpens in recent
years.  More and more managers utilize top relievers in "high leverage"
situations rather than just the 9th inning.  And increasing numbers of
managers are hesitant to let starters go through a lineup for a third time,
which makes bullpen depth extremely important in real baseball.  Little of
this is captured using our rules.  We chase whoever currently has a 9th
inning gig, and do so all year with FAAB dollars.  Meanwhile, most middle
relievers -- who are in real life quite valuable -- get ignored.  There are
a few exceptions (e.g., Andrew Miller went for $16 last year), but they are
few and far between.

Saves plus holds would make a much larger universe of pitchers valuable and
reduce the dice-rolling aspect of fishing for saves. The only downside I
can think of is that the pool of valuable relievers might be too big and
could simply depress the price for all relievers.

Finally, I admit that some of this might relate to my own miserable attempt
to compete in Saves during the past few years.  I've tried everything --
buying a high-priced stud (injured or traded); buying closers-in-waiting
(never happened or injured); buying low-end closers (flame out or
injured).  Etc.

Interested in others' thoughts.  And eagerly awaiting the draft!

-Andy
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