D-backs look to reshuffle the bullpen with most of the same cards

Gone is closer Brad Boxberger but back for 2019 is most of an Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen that played really well until the month of September.

The Athletic’s Jeff Wiser took a deep look at how well the D-backs bullpen performed in 2018, how well the personnel deployment plan worked as voiced by the front office and how they project for 2019.

The numbers showed that Arizona had a top-10 bullpen ERA in four out of six months, including the best in the league the first month of the season. In September, the bullpen ranked No. 29 out of 30 teams.

Without Boxberger the D-backs will most likely turn to Archie Bradley, who was pegged as a setup guy last season and supposed to be saved for the highest leverage situations of the game.

However, according to leverage index metrics and opponents OPS, Boxberger actually faced stiffer competition and pitched in tougher situations than Bradley.

With no clear contender to Bradley as the team’s closer and since general manager Mike Hazen said he hoped the closer in 2019 was on the roster in 2018, Bradley could be poised to take the most prestigious role of the relief pitcher group.

Manager Torey Lovullo has also stated that he believed Bradley would be the best option for the role at the end of last season.

Taking over for Bradley as the set up guy could be a number of returning arms from last year including Yoshi Hirano, Andrew Chafin, Silvino Bracho, Jimmy Sherfy or Yoan Lopez, who all made at least 10 appearances for the D-backs in 2018.

There are still bullpen options available on the free agent market, but it is not clear if Arizona is targeting any more relief pitchers. The D-backs acquired reliever Robby Scott from the Cincinnati Reds in late December.

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