We profess to a certain man-crush on J.J. Putz here at Page 2 (OK, at least I do). The Mariners closer is a perfect 27-for-27 in save opportunities, has a 0.81 ERA and has held opposing hitters to a .126 average and .175 on-base percentage.

Putz is obviously having one of the most dominant relief seasons of all time. This got us to thinking. What are the best relief seasons ever? There is no correct way to answer this. Bobby Thigpen holds the record with 57 saves for the 1990 White Sox, but he actually blew eight saves, and his peripherals weren't dominant.

The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia has a "relief ranking" stat to evaluate relief seasons, based on various criteria. It lists Jim Kern's 1979 campaign for the Rangers as No. 1. Kern was 13-5 with 29 saves and a 1.57 ERA in 143 innings, but he did allow 10 unearned runs (helping his ERA), had 10 blown saves and allowed more than a baserunner per inning (thanks to 62 walks). So while he was great and carried a heavy workload, he wasn't quite lights out.

I guess I'm thinking of relievers who have a combination of several factors: low ERA, high strikeout rate, low total of baserunners allowed, lots of saves. Certainly, innings pitched and save percentage should be considered as well. What we need is some cool formula to combine all this. Until then, here's a temporary list of best relief seasons of all time:

10. Goose Gossage, 1977 Pirates
Stats: 11-9, 1.62 ERA, 26/36 saves, 133 IP, 78 H, 49 BB, 151 SO, .170/.250/.253
Back when closers were men, Goose carried a big workload and even bigger fastball.

9. Hoyt Wilhelm, 1965 White Sox
Stats: 7-7, 1.81 ERA, 20/23 saves, 144 IP, 88 H, 32 BB, 106 SO, .175/.226/.277
How well did Wilhelm control his knuckler? From '61 to '69 his ERAs were 2.30, 1.94, 2.64, 1.99, 1.81, 1.66, 1.31, 1.73, 2.19.

8. Brad Lidge, 2004 Astros
Stats: 6-5, 1.90 ERA, 29/33 saves, 94.2 IP, 57 H, 30 BB, 157 SO, .174/.254/.290
Lidge began the season as a setup guy and recorded 17 holds before becoming a lights-out closer with an incredible K rate.

7. Bruce Sutter, 1977 Cubs
Stats: 7-3, 1.34 ERA, 31/40 saves, 107.1 IP, 69 H, 23 BB, 129 SO, .183/.231/.271
In his second season, Sutter's splitter confounded hitters. Nine blown saves, but remember relievers were used differently then.

6. Billy Wagner, 1999 Astros
Stats: 4-1, 1.57 ERA, 39/42 saves, 74.2 IP, 35 H, 23 BB, 124 SO, .135/.208/.212
Wagner's strikeout rate is second all time for pitchers with a minimum of 50 innings pitched.

5. John Hiller, 1973 Tigers
Stats: 10-5, 1.44 ERA, 38/42 saves, 125.1 IP, 89 H, 39 BB, 124 SO, .198/.260/.278
Most impressive is Hiller only had four blown saves despite usually coming in with runners on base.

4. Trevor Hoffman, 1998 Padres
Stats: 4-2, 1.48 ERA, 53/54 saves, 73 IP, 41 H, 21 BB, 86 SO, .165/.232/.229

Hoffman certainly fits the role of today's coddled closer (66 games and only 73 IP), but he was nearly perfect and allowed just two HRs.

3. Willie Hernandez, 1984 Tigers
Stats: 9-3, 1.92 ERA, 32/33 saves, 140.1 IP, 96 H, 36 BB, 112 SO, .194/.252/.254
Hernandez converted his first 32 saves and won MVP and Cy Young honors as the Tigers rolled to the title.

2. Dennis Eckersley, 1990 A's
Stats: 4-2, 0.61 ERA, 48/50 saves, 73.1 IP, 41 H, 4 BB, 73 SO, .162/.173/.226

Eckersley's ERA and runners per 9 innings are the lowest ever for 50 or more innings pitched.

1. Eric Gagne, 2003 Dodgers
Stats: 2-3, 1.20 ERA, 55/55 saves, 82.1 IP, 37 H, 20 BB, 137 SO, .133/.199/.176

One of two relievers with at least 20 saves to not blow a save (Rod Beck was 28 for 28 in '94), Gagne's 14.98 K's per 9 is also best ever for 50 IP.

David Schoenfield is an editor for Page 2.