All-Decade Team: 2000s – Relief Pitchers

[Freakshow]

I realize that the Current Events Forum has recently run polls on this. However, those ballots appeared to be drawn up somewhat unsystematically, the OF were all thrown together, and they weren’t even in alphabetical order. I think we can do this a bit better. Here’s my format:

• We’ll create a 25-man team, which will be the ballot for the final election.
• We’ll have ten preliminary polls, one for each position.
• We’ll vote for two players at each position (16 players total), plus five starting pitchers, plus four relievers. DH will not be listed separately, since only a handful of significant players played a majority of their games there.
• Data will be provided: total Win Shares 2000-2008 plus top 3 seasons in the decade; total WARP3 2000-2009 plus top 3 seasons; Cy Young award top 3 finishes in the decade. Other stats (OPS+ allowed; ERA+; etc.) are as of the 2009 all-star break.
• Players will be ranked only on their play in the decade 2000-2009; performance before 2000 should be ignored. Active players should be projected only to the end of this season; what you think they might do after this season is irrelevant.
• I’ll try and get the ten polls up fairly quickly. They’ll stay open for about a month.

We'll vote for four relief pitchers. If a pitcher is one of the Top 4 in a stat among these pitchers it's highlighted below.
Player 3CY ASG ERA+ OPS+ SV IP WHIP G WARP3 Top 3 WS Top 3
Armando Benitez x-x-x 2 136 74 230 487.1 1.209 478 29.5 (7.3-6.1-4.3) 83 (18-17-14)
Franci Cordero x-x-x 3 148 81 232 593.1 1.328 558 40.9 (7.9-5.4-5.3) 86 (17-12-12)
Keith Foulke 7-x-x 1 153 64 178 542.2 1.052 471 34.7 (8.5-8.1-6.9) 90 (21-18-17)
Eric Gagne 1-4-7 3 116 80 187 613.2 1.159 397 27.7 (9.4-6.3-6.3) 83 (25-20-19)
Trevor Hoffman 2-x-x 5 141 78 346 505.1 1.059 517 43.0 (5.7-5.3-5.2) 84 (14-13-11)
J. Isringhausen x-x-x 2 143 67 284 556.1 1.210 541 33.7 (4.7-4.7-4.6) 92 (15-14-13)
Joe Nathan 4-5-x 4 173 62 222 560.1 1.051 480 45.5 (7.6-7.1-6.9) 102 (20-19-17)
Jon Papelbon x-x-x 4 254 71 136 269.0 0.989 241 26.7 (8.4-5.8-5.7) 53 (19-15-15)
Mariano Rivera 2-3-5 8 210 50 376 684.0 0.962 621 71.0 (10.4-9.2-8.5) 146 (20-19-19)
Franc Rodriguez 3-4-4 4 192 68 231 494.1 1.125 449 38.7 (7.3-6.9-5.9) 89 (17-17-16)
Billy Wagner 6-x-x 5 182 50 284 565.0 0.989 541 40.7 (7.4-6.6-5.5) 113 (19-18-16)

[PVNICK]

I thought it was five and went Hoffman, Rivera, Nathan, K-Rod and (Wagner who got cut off). I guess K-Rod would have been cut if I had mastered reading comprehension.

[nerfan]

Nathan, Hoffman, Mo, Billy.

Cordero surprisingly good.

[dgarza]

Rivera, Wagner, Rodriguez, Nathan

[jjpm74]

Mariano Rivera
Trevor Hoffman
Billy Wagner

For #4 it was a toss up between Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez and Francisco Cordero. I ended up going with Cordero, though I see a significant drop off from Wagner to any of the 3 I considered for #4.

[Senor Octobre]

Hoffman
Nathan
Rivera
Wagner

[Jsquared83]

Rivera, Nathan, Hoffman, Wagner.. in that order

[Fielding Marshall]

In no particular order:

Wagner
Rivera
Nathan
Foulke

I was expecting to debate Hoffman, Papelbon, and K-Rod, but Foulke's statistics took me off guard. And it's surprising how pedestrian Hoffman looks in WARP3 and Win Shares.


For #4 it was a toss up between Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez and Francisco Cordero. I ended up going with Cordero, though I see a significant drop off from Wagner to any of the 3 I considered for #4.

Cordero? He of the 1.328 WHIP? Over Nathan and K-Rod? Are you sure?

[Francoeurstein]

Rivera, Nathan, Hoffman, and K-Rod.

[Edgartohof]

No particular order:

Mo Rivera
Joe Nathan
K-Rod
Trevor Hoffman

[Freakshow]

I think we have our four winners...amazing that two voters left out Rivera.