D-backs select contract of J.J. Hoover, near a set bullpen for Opening Day

PHOENIX — Two exhibition games against the Indians at Chase Field act as a tuneup for Opening Day, but a handful of Arizona Diamondbacks will use it as final opportunities to make an impression.

The spotlight is on the bullpen, where manager Torey Lovullo and his staff are still contemplating which cuts they’ll make to set the 25-man roster.

They made one such decision after Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Indians, purchasing the contract of reliever J.J. Hoover while sending catcher Oscar Hernandez to Double-A Jackson and re-assigning reliever T.J. McFarland to minor-league camp.

The moves presumably leave one bullpen spot open — righty Silvino Bracho (2 ER in 5.1 IP this spring) and lefty Andrew Chafin (7 ER in 10.1 IP) are in a battle to win the spot.

“That’s going to be our focus the next 24 hours,” Lovullo said. “Those guys have done a good job of competing and we want to lay out all the facts and give it to (GM Mike Hazen) and let him make a decision.

“There are very strong arguments for both candidates. And they’ve made it hard on us.”

The D-backs got looks at Bracho, Hoover and Chafin in the win Thursday.

Bracho, coming off a season in which he recorded a 7.50 ERA, made just his third appearance since tweaking a hamstring in the World Baseball Classic. To begin the top of the sixth, he allowed singles to Yandy Diaz and Carlos Santana before he was replaced by Chafin following a pop-up.

Cleveland plated Diaz on a groundout induced by Chafin and following a two-out walk by Chafin’s replacement, Hoover, a single by Jose Ramirez scored Santana, marring Bracho’s evening with two earned runs allowed.

After Thursday, Hoover has recorded 12 strikeouts to two walk and no earned runs in 10 innings.

Hoover, who finished with a walk and a hit but no runs allowed in 0.1 innings, was signed to a minor-league deal this offseason following his release from the Cincinnati Reds — he closed 2016 with an abysmal 13.50 ERA. He joins offseason pickups Tom Wilhelmsen and Jorge De La Rosa on the team’s major-league roster.

But could a position player be cut from the roster at this point?

Asked if the position players are finalized earlier Thursday, Lovullo said they “pretty much” were.

“There’s still a couple thoughts that we were having, we’re rotating around, that haven’t allowed us to completely announce what our final roster will be,” the manager said.

Heading into the night, several bullpen spots were already locked in.

Veteran Fernando Rodney signed this offseason and will act as closer.

A long-time starter, De La Rosa joined the team on a minor-league deal and was selected to the MLB club to play out of the pen. Lovullo said he won’t be a long reliever on Arizona Sports 98.7’s Burns and Gambo show this week.

One player who could play long reliever is Archie Bradley. After the 24-year-old didn’t win himself a starting job, he remained on the roster and, presumably along with Chafin and Randall Delgado, can add length.

“I’m pumped to be part of this bullpen,” Bradley said before two strong scoreless outings against Cleveland, his second game as a D-backs reliever. “I view myself as a starter. I feel I have the stuff to start in this league and do it for a long time.

“I’m confident,” he added, saying he doesn’t think about being labeled a reliever down the road. “Whatever comes out of this comes out of this. Those thoughts haven’t entered my mind. I feel like those are outside of my control. I’m just here to help this team win.”

Wilhelmsen, formerly of the Mariners, is another lock to make the roster after his minor-league contract was selected just this week. The Tucson High School product allowed one earned run off a solo shot in 9.1 spring innings. His fastball was tracked around 97 mph in his last game on March 27, per StatCast.

“I got a pretty good feel for all my pitches right now,” Wilhelmsen said. “I don’t need to get like too far into it because everything feels good. I’m not trying to dissect why it feels good, but it does.”

Injuries and free agent losses of Daniel Hudson and Brad Ziegler this offseason have opened such opportunities to cash in that success.

And when the bullpen is set, it remains to be seen how Lovullo will patch together the roles.

Said Wilhelmsen: “It’s definitely nice for guys to know (roles). In a job being a bullpen guy, in a position that’s really so volatile and you kind of live your life on standby, I guess the more you do know, the more you’re aware about the kind of role you have, the better prepared you can be so then you can kind of start to get a routine going, and I think that can help some guys quite a bit.”

QUOTABLE

“I remember, we didn’t have a baseball team forever. I grew up a Mets fan. As soon as the Diamondbacks came, it was of course game over for me, just a die-hard Diamondbacks fan. I remember Andy Benes kicking the chalk when he went out there for his starts so that’s what I started to do as a young pitcher — it made an impression on me. I was in high school when they won the World Series so I had that purple flag hanging from my ’71 pickup truck like going to school. My dad was a Yankees fan so it made it even better at the time. I’m very proud to wear Arizona on my chest.”

— Tom Wilhelmsen on growing up a D-backs fan in Tucson

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