2008 Rankings: Top relief pitchers for the rest of the season
Our May-to-the-end rankings are the first of several re-rankings we'll bring you this season. The methodology? Simple. Nine of our fantasy staffers were tasked with ranking the 340 players they see as the most valuable from this point forward: that means April numbers don't count in this exercise. Only what a hitter or pitcher will do from this day forward.
In order to give you the most accurate consensus, the highest and lowest rank for each player were thrown out, with the remaining seven averaged out to the score you see. However, we kept the high and low mark in play in bringing you the name of the staffer who liked each player the most or the least.
The rankers (in alphabetical order): Matthew Berry (whose personal ranks were published Monday), Tristan Cockcroft, Jason Grey, Christopher Harris, Will Harris, Eric Karabell, AJ Mass, Nate Ravitz and Brendan Roberts.
You can see rankings filtered for each position by using the drop-down menu below.
| Reliever rankings | ||||||
| Rank | Name | Team | Qualifies | Average | Highest | Lowest |
| 1 | Jonathan Papelbon | BOS | RP | 49.3 | W. Harris | Grey |
| 2 | Joe Nathan | MIN | RP | 65.3 | W. Harris | Grey |
| 3 | Francisco Rodriguez | LAA | RP | 71.7 | W. Harris | Mass |
| 4 | Mariano Rivera | NYY | RP | 82.0 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 5 | Billy Wagner | NYM | RP | 90.0 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 6 | Takashi Saito | LAD | RP | 95.4 | Ravitz | Berry |
| 7 | J.J. Putz | SEA | RP | 102.6 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 8 | Joakim Soria | KC | RP | 117.7 | Mass | Berry |
| 9 | Matt Capps | PIT | RP | 124.6 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 10 | Bobby Jenks | CHW | RP | 125.6 | W. Harris | Mass |
| 11 | Brad Lidge | PHI | RP | 130.0 | W. Harris | Grey |
| 12 | Huston Street | OAK | RP | 140.1 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 13 | Francisco Cordero | CIN | RP | 147.1 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 14 | Jose Valverde | HOU | RP | 153.3 | W. Harris | Mass |
| 15 | Jason Isringhausen | STL | RP | 153.6 | Cockcroft | Mass |
| 16 | Joba Chamberlain | NYY | RP | 173.9 | Mass | W. Harris |
| 17 | George Sherrill | BAL | RP | 176.1 | Ravitz | Mass |
| 18 | Trevor Hoffman | SD | RP | 187.6 | Ravitz | Grey |
| 19 | B.J. Ryan | TOR | RP | 207.4 | W. Harris | Karabell |
| 20 | Brandon Lyon | ARI | RP | 207.9 | Karabell | W. Harris |
| 21 | Brian Fuentes | COL | RP | 216.7 | W. Harris | Karabell |
| 22 | Brian Wilson | SF | RP | 216.7 | C. Harris | Mass |
| 23 | Todd Jones | DET | RP | 220.7 | C. Harris | Mass |
| 24 | Kevin Gregg | FLA | RP | 226.4 | W. Harris | Mass |
| 25 | Carlos Marmol | CHC | RP | 229.3 | Mass | Karabell |
| 26 | Jon Rauch | WAS | RP | 231.1 | Mass | Roberts |
| 27 | Troy Percival | TB | RP | 232.7 | Mass | Grey |
| 28 | C.J. Wilson | TEX | RP | 237.1 | W. Harris | Mass |
| 29 | Eric Gagne | MIL | RP | 238.9 | W. Harris | Mass |
| 30 | Kerry Wood | CHC | RP | 243.1 | Mass | Grey |
| 31 | Rafael Betancourt | CLE | RP | 254.4 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 32 | Jonathan Broxton | LAD | RP | 259.3 | Mass | Berry |
| 33 | Jonathan Sanchez | SF | RP | 270.0 | Grey | Cockcroft |
| 34 | Joe Borowski | CLE | RP | 289.3 | Mass | W. Harris |
| 35 | Rafael Soriano | ATL | RP | 292.6 | C. Harris | Berry |
| 36 | Hideki Okajima | BOS | RP | 293.1 | Mass | Karabell |
| 37 | Santiago Casilla | OAK | RP | 320.7 | Mass | Karabell |
| 38 | Pat Neshek | MIN | RP | 323.1 | Grey | Berry |
| 39 | Manny Parra | MIL | RP | 327.4 | C. Harris | Berry |
| 40 | Manny Corpas | COL | RP | 327.6 | C. Harris | Berry |
| 41 | Heath Bell | SD | RP | 328.6 | Ravitz | Berry |
| 42 | Scot Shields | LAA | RP | 330.4 | Mass | Berry |
| 43 | Bob Howry | CHC | RP | 333.0 | Mass | Berry |
| 44 | Tony Pena | ARI | RP | 337.0 | C. Harris | Berry |
| 45 | Jeremy Accardo | TOR | RP | 339.4 | C. Harris | Berry |
| 46 | Chad Qualls | ARI | RP | 340.9 | Mass | Berry |
| 47 | Chad Cordero | WAS | RP | 341.7 | Cockcroft | Berry |
| 48 | Luis Ayala | WAS | RP | 342.0 | C. Harris | Berry |
| 49 | Dan Wheeler | TB | RP | 342.6 | Mass | Berry |
| 50 | Justin Duchscherer | OAK | RP | 342.7 | W. Harris | Berry |
| 51 | Joaquin Benoit | TEX | RP | 345.6 | Grey | Berry |
| 52 | Damaso Marte | PIT | RP | 347.4 | Mass | Berry |
| 53 | Carlos Villanueva | MIL | RP | 348.4 | Grey | Berry |
