"I still feel like a back-end bullpen guy to help out with [Justin Martinez] and with those guys, I still see that," Hazen said in a radio appearance back in early November. "I thought when [Paul Sewald] was closing, we had the best version of who we were, frankly. ... But, we know [Martinez and Puk] can close, too, so we’ll see."
Yates, 38 in March, is fresh off a dominant rebound campaign with the Rangers, for whom he saved 33 games while pitching to a 1.17 ERA over the life of 61 2/3 innings. Yates earned his second career All-Star nod, fanned 35.9% of the opponents he faced, and issued walks at a 9.6% clip (higher than average but generally offset by the gaudy strikeout rate).
The 2024 season was Yates' second consecutive year with 60-plus innings pitched, but injuries have hindered the righty at various points in his career. He threw only 11 1/3 big league innings from 2020-22; he was limited to six appearances in 2020 thanks to an elbow injury - one that wound up requiring Tommy John surgery a year later in 2021 (his second TJS operation).
When healthy, Yates has been a lights-out late-inning option in recent years. He's the epitome of a late bloomer, as he didn't truly solidify himself as a quality big league reliever until his age-30 season and didn't break out in full until his age-31 campaign.
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