Relievers are the trickiest group to rate. There just aren’t any standards developed yet.

W L Sv IP K ERA LgERA AS SvL CyYo
Bruce Sutter 68 71 300 1042 861 2.83 3.85 6 5 1979
Lee Smith 71 92 478 1289 1251 3.03 3.99 7 4 --
Rich Gossage 124 107 310 1809 1502 3.01 3.78 9 3 --

First off, Lee Smith holds the career saves mark because of usage. The modern pattern of the one-inning relief ace didn’t come about until the 1980s, and Smith is the first pitcher to take advantage of that. He was really good, but was he as dominant as Sutter or Gossage?

I don’t think so. Particularly not Sutter, who probably was the father of modern relief aces. He invented the position along with Gossage, and bth should be ebshrined. If I only pick one, it’s Sutter despite a short career. He led the league in saves 5 times, his career ERA is a full point lower than the league’s. And how does a reliever win a Cy Young? Smith needs to wait until those first two go in.