Major League baseball made save opportunities an official stat in 1999, but I've seen little done with it. Aside from Greg Gagne's incredible record of 55 saves in 55 opportunities in 2003, save opportunities have been mostly ignored. It would seem to me it should be used to calculate save percentages. Since we have almost 10 years of stats to use now, here's my list of best relievers in converting save opportunities since 1999:
92.57% Eric Gagne (187/202)
90.24 Mariano Rivera (379/420)
90.23 Trevor Hoffman (351/389)
89.95 Joe Nathan (179/199)
87.74 Joe Papelbon (93/106)
87.39 Billy Wagner (312/357)
87.29 Bobby Jenks (103/118)
86.47 Bob Wickman (230/266)
86.14 Francisco Rodriguez (174/202)
85.78 Keith Foulke (187/218)
85.71 Troy Percival (222/259)
85.07 Jose Valverde (114/134)
84.21 Chad Cordero (128/152)
83.93 Brad Lidge (141/168)
83.77 Jason Isringhausen (289/345)
83.72 Armando Benitez (252/301)
83.04 J.J. Putz (93/112)
81.75 Todd Jones (215/263)
79.50 Francisco Cordero (190/239)
Had John Smoltz stuck with closing, he'd rank 2nd with 91.67% (154/168)
Gagne's was even more impressive before his struggles the past two years (was 161 for 167, an incredible 96.41% through 2006).
There are a lot of guys bunched around 85-87 %, all quality relievers. Guys like Nathan, Hoffman and Rivera are a notch even above them in dependability in nailing down saves. Guys below 85% are only marginally effective in my opinion, costing their teams several games a year.
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