Who do you think are the best middle relievers in the game?

Question

Starters and closers get all the hype, but who's your favorite middle man?
Sub question: Do you think managers should have to pick a few middle men for the all-star game every year? It rarely happens... I can only think of is Dusherer (A's) and I think Stanton (yanks) made it once.

Answer 1

Zumaya (30 Holds, 10.48 K/9) and the underrated Rodney (18 Holds, 8.16 K/9, 7 Saves) form the best setup combination in baseball. However Zumaya blew 5 of 6 save opportunities last year which is a more important stat for a middle reliever than his gaudy strikeout numbers.

Shields led the AL with 31 Holds. While he won 7 games, he converted only 2 of 8 save opportunities.

Linebrink from San Diego led the majors in Holds last year with 36. The above poster who claimed Shields had the major league lead was incorrect. He looks promising but blew 9 of 11 save opportunities last year.

Another good young set up man was in LA. Broxton had 12 holds in limited time after being brought up last year. The Dodgers started with Gagne as closer then Baez then Saito and the setup men moved up each time. Broxton didn't get his chance setting up until near the end but showed his great promise and held opposting batters to a .216 average.

Both Linebrink and Broxton should have even better years next year as they get more comfortable in the majors.

If Saito had stayed the set up man for Baez or Gagne, he would have had the best hold and save conversion stats in baseball. By the end of the year he had converted 24 of 26 opportunities. Cy Young voters recognized how well Saito pitched by giving him votes.

Heilman from the Mets was far better than Pedro Feliz Navidad Feliciano and had 26 Holds to have the second most in the NL. Heilman converted none of his 5 save opportunities.

The Yankees Scott Proctor was the next best setup man and highly underrated.

The very underrated Solomon Torres ended the year as a closer but was a middle man for most of the year and appeared in 94 games!


Timiln is over-rated by the east coast bias. He had an ERA of 4.36. He gave up 115 total bases, which is more than the Cubs Bob Howry gave up in 20 more innings. Opposing batters hit .305 against Timlin. He blew 8 of 17 save opportunities last year. His stats only seem to be of value to a Red Sox homer or an employee of ESPN.

Duchscherer was tied for 29th in baseball in Holds which was not very impressive considering the A's were a winning playoff team. That was less than players like Tankersley, Speier, Mesa, both of the Astro's middlemen Wheeler and Qualis, both of the Cubs' middlemen Howry and Eyre, both of the Diamondbacks middlemen Lyon and Vizcaino, and three of the Yankees other middle men Proctor, Farnsworth and Myers.

Regarding Hudson Street, he led baseball with 11 blown saves last year (37 saves in 48 opportunities). If he had two more blown saves he could have tied for fifth in all time most blown saves in a season. I would not call Street a great closer last year.

Middle men should be picked for the All Star Game only if they particularly stand out. However if you notice the number of blown saves and the conversion rates of these middle relievers, they probably do not merit being in the All-Star game. If many of the posters felt Zumaya (blew 5 of 6 save ops) and Shields (blew 6 of 8 save ops) are the best, this does not say much for the quality of middle relievers in general. If a relief pitcher was of All Star quality, they would be the closer.

I remember the Nasty Boys Reds Bullpen (Dibble, Charlton, and Myers) being All Stars together in their peak although they all could close.

Answer 2

Joel Zumaya and Scott Shields are the best around at the moment. If Mike Gonzalez gets traded and leaves his closer role then he'll join them. I have no problem with setup men going to the A/S game if their #'s are deserving.

Answer 3

Duscherer is a great setup guy. He gets the job done, doesn't get a lot of recognition, but he's one of the big reasons Street's a great closer. Zumaya is tops though, he gets K's, and hardly ever lossed last season (6-3 in '06). Scott Shields is also not a bad setup, he led the MLb with 31 holds last year.

Answer 4

Zumaya was the best last season but I think he might be starting in the near future... Shields is likely the best pure middle-reliever and has been for a few years now.

Answer 5

a center reliever is someone who can pitch 2 good innings interior the approach a pastime, holding the game close for the setup pitcher and in direction of end it off, many times those are pitchers with good things yet are not okay to commence (there are releif pitchers who by no skill commence and that i recognize that yet i'm being usual)

Answer 6

I would have to say that Scott Shields is the prototype of middle relief, the guy has a rubber arm is effective and can also give you a start if need be.

Answer 7

Matt Capps or Soloman Torres of the Pirates

Answer 8

Tom Gordon is the best reliever in the game

Answer 9

Duchscherer is good, rodney and zumaya are good, donnelly and shields are good, rafael soriano is good, feliciano from the mets is good, mike timlin is good, theres more too