BURNING QUESTIONS
Who are their highestleverage relievers?
Arizona is still searching for the type of high-leverage relievers who have become a league-wide perquisite in recent years. Closer Archie Bradley was solid in 2019, but he wasn’t a shut-down arm (3.52 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP).
Fellow right-hander Yoan Lopez, 27, was similarly dependable, leading the bullpen with a 3.41 ERA. He struggled to strike out batters, though, tallying only 42 K’s in a little over 602⁄3 innings pitched. Andrew Chafin is another option in highleverage situations. Last season he racked up 68 strikeouts in 522⁄3 innings but finished with his highest ERA (3.76) since 2016.
In his first full season out of the bullpen last year Junior Guerra had an ERA of 3.55 while Hector Rondon arrives from Houston with a track record of closing but also his lowest strikeout rate (7.1 per nine innings in 2019) of his career.
Do they have a true ace?
The Diamondbacks signed Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $85 million contract in the offseason to anchor their rotation. But at 30 and coming off a season in which he had the highest ERA of his career (3.90), Bumgarner will have to prove he can lead Arizona’s staff.
Robbie Ray, 28, has the kind of swingand-miss stuff (235 strikeouts in 1741⁄3 innings) that’s usually reserved for top of the rotation arms.
But in 2019 he struggled to keep his ERA (4.34) down and take up the role of staff ace. He has seen a decline in velocity and had poor control (4.3 walks per nine innings in 2019) as well.