<
>
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Get ESPN+

Buster Olney's top 10 relievers: Aroldis Chapman falls, even as Yankees' bullpen rises

ESPN Illustration

The amateur draft might be the last safe haven of the starting pitcher, the last area of the game where they possess pre-eminence over relief pitchers. When given a choice, teams will almost always prefer the starting pitcher, a small reminder of those times -- not long ago -- when bullpen guys were mostly viewed as pitchers who couldn’t cut it in a rotation.

But now relievers get more respect, more innings and, most importantly, more money. In the offseason of 2011-2012, starters got about 60 percent of the money doled out to free-agent pitchers -- $299.4 million of the $465 million spent. This has changed dramatically in recent seasons. Last winter, free-agent relievers got $421.2 million and starters $194.6 million, or 68 percent to relievers. So far this winter, relievers have been paid two-thirds of the dollars devoted to pitching: $274.8 million, compared to $142 million spent on starting pitching.

When Andrew Miller signed his four-year, $36 million contract with the Yankees prior to the 2015 season, that contract was considered a shocking luxury to rival executives, the kind of deal that only a big-market team could consider. Just a few years later, a $9 million annual salary is the going rate for a good reliever, paid this winter by the Phillies to Tommy Hunter (two years, $18 million), by the Rockies to Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw (both signing for three years, $27 million) and by the Rangers to Mike Minor (three years, $28 million, with an opportunity to start).

There has been a lot of focus on the high-end position players and starting pitchers who figure to be free agents next fall: Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson and perhaps Clayton Kershaw, who can opt out of his contract. But the market of free-agent relievers might be where the big-market teams such as the Yankees and Dodgers invest their money, with Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Miller, Zach Britton, Cody Allen and David Robertson, among others, available.