Top 5 Overall Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide 2009

There are very few closers that should be chosen with high picks in the draft because of how little they contribute outside of the saves category. But if you are going to draft a closer with a high draft pick then make sure it is one of these five relief pitchers.

#1 Overall Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball 2009: Francisco Rodriguez, New York Mets

2008 Stats: 2 - 3, 2.24 ERA, 62 saves, 77 K's, 1.29 WHIP

2009 Projection: 4 - 1, 2.30 ERA, 49 saves, 83 K's, 1.10 WHIP

The notion that Francisco Rodriguez has lost a step is nuts. So Francisco Rodriguez no longer has inhuman velocity on his fastball. Instead it's only the best a human could possibly have. That's still good enough.

#2 Overall Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball 2009: Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees

2008 Stats: 6 - 5, 1.40 ERA, 39 saves, 77 K's, 0.66 WHIP

2009 Projection: 4 - 2, 1.98 ERA, 40 saves, 63 K's, 0.88 WHIP

Everyone keeps wanting to push Mariano Rivera out the door in favor of Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Rodriguez but Mariano River had the best stats of any closer again last season.

#3 Overall Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball 2009: Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins

2008 Stats: 1 - 2, 1.33 ERA, 39 saves, 74 K's, 0.90 WHIP

2009 Projection: 2 - 2, 2.10 ERA, 39 saves, 65 K's, 1.00 WHIP

Not only did Jonathan Papelbon not out play Mariano Rivera last season but he didn't play any better than Joe Nathan either.

#4 Overall Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball 2009: Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox

2008 Stats: 5 - 4, 2.34 ERA, 41 saves, 77 K's, 0.95 WHIP

2009 Projection: 4 - 2, 2.34 ERA, 41 saves, 81 K's, 1.10 WHIP

Eventually Jonathan Papelbon will probably be the number one closer in Major League Baseball but he's not there yet.

#5 Overall Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball 2009: Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies

2008 Stats: 2 - 0, 1.95 ERA, 41 saves, 92 K's, 1.22 WHIP

2009 Projection: 1 - 1, 3.00 ERA, 36 saves, 86 K's, 1.35 WHIP

Don't expect anything like last season from Brad Lidge, but at least we know he's back after that rough patch he had.

Sources: All 2008 baseball stats were found at www.baseball-reference.com.

Other player informatino was found at www.mlb.com.