Strangle-Hold : Dirty Secrets of MFMB’s Most Contentious Category

Is the holds category still viable?  It’s a question as old as time, a complex issue with more layers than Shrek.   While the holds category has been reluctantly incorporated into the league scoring system, the issue seems to have been laid to rest this season, at least partly because Sukadapeepee, (traditionally the most outspoken critic of the holds category), has kept his bitching to a minimum (perhaps because he owns two top holds-guys in Daniel Bard and Joba Chamberlain).  However, in light of the category’s unappealing evolution and the glaring side effects it has on league transactions, perhaps it is time to reexamine the pros and cons of “the hold” as a category in our beloved league.

The ‘hold’ is a fickle and idiosyncratic statistic, but it has its obvious benefits as a category in a fantasy league.  First, the category rewards more dynamic general managers by promoting resourcefulness and out-of-the-box thinking.  As set-up men are far less identifiable than closers, a greater depth of analysis is required to keep up to date with middle relief trends.  Any idiot can draft Mariano Rivera.  However, it takes a very special kind of idiot to plug and play the likes of Tyler Clippard.  Secondly, and most importantly, a league without the holds category effectually ignores an entire demographic of players— the middle reliever.  If the purpose of fantasy baseball is to mimic reality baseball, then we simply can’t afford to pretend that the Kyle Farnsworth’s of the world don’t exist, as much as we may want to.

However, after three seasons of mostly successful experimentation, this season has been different.  The hold category has had the unintended yet not so surprising side effect of diluting the market for relief pitchers.  For example, two teams have astutely forsaken the saves category altogether in 2010, choosing not to spend precious draft picks in the annual middle-round closer run; instead these teams chose to plug and play the cheap waiver wire middle relief flavors of the week.  Conversely, two teams have forsaken the holds category altogether. 

In light of this alarming trend, basic economics dictate the inevitable devaluation of even the finest relief pitchers.  With only eight teams competing to roster mlb’s thirty closers, there are that many more closers to go around.  For instance, only in our league would a top three consensus closer (Papelbottom Jeans) get dropped.  However, the shocking aspect of that transaction was not so much the drop, but the fact that a number of teams passed on claiming him, choosing instead to preserve their all-but worthless priority numbers.  To those teams, Papelbon’s services were either worthless to them, or of so little value that it wasn’t worth the click of the mouse to add him.  With the demand for relief pitchers down, and the supply of serviceable relief pitchers at an all time high (thanks to the holds category), why would anyone pay top dollar for something they can get for free?  If Mike Adams and Joakim Soria have essentially the same value, why pay more for the brand name?

You may be asking yourself—why does any of this matter?  It maters because negatively effects the ability to make trades.  Trades have become few and far between, and the holds category (along with three-year long bromance-wannabe man-crushes) has proven to be a contributing factor.  But how?  There was a day when even a holds-guy or low level closer could have been a ‘pot sweetener’ in a two for one deal.  In those days, a closer could have even been the centerpiece of a deal.  Now relief pitchers don’t move in trades because teams either have no use for them or, managers know that comparable arms can be more easily acquired by going to the free agent pool and sorting by holds or saves.  With an entire player demographic effectively eliminated from the trading block because of lack of demand, deals have become much harder to get done than in years past. 

Recently in a negotiation, I had one grouchy GM ask me: “What the fuck do I care about Arthur Rhodes?”  People used to care about All Star pitchers; but in a world where Papelbottom Jeans, Leo “High” Nunez, Brian Fuentes, Chris Perez, or Matt Lindstrom, may be dropped at any moment, why bother?