Fantasy baseball relief pitcher outlook for 2027: Louis Varland takes flight as Edwin Diaz’s stock crashes

The last part of our State of the Position series is certainly the least. It's not that relief pitchers aren't important for Fantasy – it's not impossible to win in a Roto league without getting at least a decent number of saves, but you're putting yourself in a real hole if you aren't competing there. The problem is that "competing" in saves doesn't necessarily mean "investing a lot in the position."

Of the 11 relievers who were drafted in the top 100 on average in 2026, you could make a very good argument that only Mason Miller, Cade Smith, Jhoan Duran, David Bednar, and Aroldis Chapman really paid off. Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, Daniel Palencia, and Jeff Hoffman all either lost their jobs or dealt with injuries (or both in some cases), while Andres Munoz just kind of slogged through the season; 28 saves is okay, but not for the premium you paid for him. And the next few off the board weren't much better – Raisel Iglesias had a typically effective season. Still, Pete Fairbanks, Carlos Estevez, Ryan Walker, and Dennis Santana were all pretty much disasters at a pretty costly price point.

And the thing is…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/