One year ago, the Diamondbacks had a bullpen, which was a major weakness. The closer role, and the bullpen in general, has been a recurring issue under general manager Mike Hazen. To his credit, however, Hazen has done an excellent job of transforming the bullpen over the last calendar year to turn that weakness into a strength of the ballclub.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The position had been a revolving door of veteran arms well past their prime that couldn’t get the job done, so they tried a different approach in 2023. They tried to follow the Tampa Bay model of using a closer-by-committee approach, but Miguel Castro, Andrew Chafin, and Scott McGough could not handle the ninth inning.
With Arizona on the fringes of Wild Card contention, getting a closer was their top priority in at last year’s deadline. They paid a significant price to land Paul Sewald from the Mariners, trading two players on the 40-man roster and one of their top prospects to lock down the ninth. Sewald’s presence in the bullpen allowed other guys to emerge in different roles.
Kevin Ginkel was in the midst of a breakout year, going from an up-and-down reliever to one of the game’s premier setup men. Thompson, a sidearming righty who was let go by Tampa Bay, has been downright indispensable since joining the Diamondbacks. Those three formed a solid foundation for a bullpen that propelled Arizona to an unlikely appearance in the World Series last season.
In the 2024 season, Justin Martinez has emerged as a reliable bullpen arm and perhaps the closer in waiting. With his 100 MPH fastballs and demonic splitters, he is a pitcher who can buzz through a lineup when he’s dialed in. Martinez is still young, and it shows at times, but he has a bright future as a late-inning arm in Arizona.
One area the Diamondbacks have struggled in the 2024 season has been left-handed relief. Joe Mantiply is a solid bullpen arm, but is a pitch-to-contact guy who relies on ground balls with the occasional swing-and-miss. That doesn’t necessarily profile well for high-leverage situations, where missing bats is more essential. That’s why the team went out and traded for A.J. Puk, a shutdown lefty who Arizona can insert in high-leverage situations to get a big strikeout.
Now with Puk, Arizona has six relievers who can push the needle forward to them. One of the issues that undid the Diamondbacks in the World Series was a burnt-out bullpen. They heavily relied on Thompson, Ginkel, and Sewald to get them there, due to the sheer number of close games in the postseason. With a deeper bullpen, they don’t need to push guys for more outs as often.
Hazen has indicated more moves could be potentially on the horizon, especially on the pitching side. For the deadline, adding another experienced late-inning arm would be the ideal strategy should they elect to shore up the bullpen. There are no shortage of right-handed arms they could choose from Carlos Estévez, Trevor Richards, Kyle Finnegan, John Brebbia, Michael Kopech, and Dylan Floro. With another late-inning arm in place, then they could afford to use Bryce Jarvis, a former starter, more as a multi-inning bridge arm in the fifth and sixth innings.
With a stronger bullpen, the Diamondbacks have a much better chance of not only getting back into the postseason to defend their National League title but perhaps repeat.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
