Fantasy Baseball 2013: Top 25 NL-Only Reliever Rankings

Today marks the end of the NL-Only Position Rankings series, and today I rank my Top 20 Relievers for 2013. The National League reliever landscape includes a couple stud closers at the top of the rankings, headed by Braves elite closer Craig Kimbrel. Everyone knows he is the best closer in the game right now, but as we all know, closers are very volatile, so the guys that I rank at the top of the rankings in pre-season may not be the guys that finish at the top come October.

I have been vocal about how much I like Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen this offseason, and would be surprised if Brandon League retained the closer role in Los Angeles this season. If Jansen can wrestle the job from League, I would rank him at #2 in my rankings.

After the top four closers on this list, there is risk in almost every other closer due to injury risk, blow up risk, or just inexperience. If you draft any of Carlos Marmol, Jason Grilli, Rafael Betancourt, Brandon League, Sergio Romo, Huston Street, Steve Cishek or Bobby Parnell, make sure your grab their backups late in your drafts, or comb the waiver wire at the first signs of a blowup this season.

Onto the rankings, sans the usual tables, as I worked some OT last night and am pretty beat as I write this:

1. Craig Kimbrel, ATL

2. Rafael Soriano, WAS

3. Jonathan Papelbon, PHI

4. Jason Motte, STL

5. J.J. Putz, ARI

6. John Axford, MIL

7. Sergio Romo, SFG

8. Jonathan Broxton, CIN

9. Rafael Betancourt, COL

10. Brandon League, LAD

11. Huston Street, SD

12. Carlos Marmol, CHC

13. Kenley Jansen, LAD

14. Jason Grilli, PIT

15. Steve Cishek, MIA

16. Bobby Parnell, NYM

17. David Hernandez, ARI

18. Drew Storen, WAS

19. Tyler Clippard, WAS

20. Kyuji Fujikawa, CHC

21. Wilton Lopez, COL

22. Sean Marshall, CIN

23. Brandon Lyon, NYM

24. Mark Melancon, PIT

25. Luke Gregerson, SD