Bullpen a trouble spot looking ahead to 2017
General Manager Dave Stewart believes in the talent in the Diamondbacks bullpen. He sees young relievers with good arms, quality stuff and the ability to pitch in key roles late in games. But he also sees the results – and he sees reason to be concerned about how the unit is shaping up for next year.
“In a nutshell, none of (the young relievers) have pitched themselves on the team for next year,” Stewart said. “Let’s be clear about that. They’re here and they’re performing, but the inconsistency is reason to be alarmed.”
The Diamondbacks traded closer Brad Ziegler only days before the All-Star break in July, and the bullpen has been a disaster since, ranking last in the majors with a 6.30 ERA in the second half. The club has shuffled through four closers in that stretch.
With team ownership “evaluating” the performance of the front office, time will tell if the same regime returns for 2017. But that
group, led by Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, appears to have every intention of trying to field a competitive team next year, and at this point, the problems in the bullpen appear to be the most significant impediment to contention.
“I think the obvious is that we cannot go into next year’s season and expect to win with our bullpen pitching the way it is right now,” Stewart said.
The good news is baseball’s past decade is filled teams that have rebuilt their bullpens in a single offseason to become contenders. The 2011 Diamondbacks are a perfect example.
The bad news, however, is that the cost of relievers, both in terms of dollars on the free-agent market and in prospect capital on the trade market, has climbed significantly in recent years, to the point that a massive reconstruction would come at a cost.
A month ago, Stewart did not envision pursuing relief help on the free-agent market, but he was more open to the idea when asked this week, saying the club has to “look at all possibilities.” He said he wasn’t sure if the team would have room in its budget to pursue a reliever that commands a salary of $10 million a year or more.
If the Diamondbacks look to deal for an established, late-inning reliever, they would either have to part with someone off their major league roster or deal from a farm system that is considered depleted by competing scouts and executives.
Stewart noted the club might need more than one reliever to “stabilize the situation.” But either way, he said, the Diamondbacks are going to need several pitchers from their current crop of relievers to show consistency.
Stewart views right-hander Randall Delgado, who will be arbitration-eligible, as a near-lock to return. He says right-handers Jake Barrett and Enrique Burgos will get every chance to lock down jobs, whether that’s in the season’s final five weeks or in spring training next year.
Beyond that is a host of others ranging from the once successful (Andrew Chafin, Evan Marshall) to the yet-to-beestablished (Silvino Bracho, Edwin Escobar, Zac Curtis, Steve Hathaway), from the prospect core (Jimmie Sherfy) to the free-agent-to-be (Daniel Hudson).
“Ideally, it would really be great to see some flashes in this last month of the season,” Stewart said. “I would hate to have spring training have to be a deciding factor. I’d like to come into it with a little bit of a track record from the year before.”
Stewart said the club might have to “be creative” when it comes to retooling the bullpen, and he acknowledged the team “has to be open” to considering shifting a starter or two into relief.
He mentioned Rubby De La Rosa and Zack Godley as possibilities, as well as minor-leaguers Matt Koch and Tyler Wagner, though Stewart seemed particularly reluctant to make the switch with De La Rosa, in large part because of how well De La Rosa pitched before going down with elbow problems in late May.