#bullpen

#bullpen

The hard-throwing righty has suffered a number of maladies over his career, most recently last summer when he was limited to just 10 2/3 innings with Kansas City with a right teres major strain and later, an adductor injury. But when healthy, Harvey throws in the upper-90s with a nasty splitter and can be a high-end bullpen arm. Paired with Daniel Palencia (who is also pitching in the WBC),

Still, there's much to be decided during camp. Banda and Dreyer both present options for further lefty depth,

Bassitt was his usual reliable self as a starting pitcher last season, recording a 3.96 ERA and 166 strikeouts across 170 ⅓ innings pitched. He made at least 30 starts for the fourth straight year despite landing on the injured list at the end of September. The 36-year-old returned from his injury as a reliever in the ALCS before becoming one of the Blue Jays' most trusted weapons in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Over a 16-year career with nine different teams he spent the majority of his time with the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs Kimbrel ranks fifth on the all-time saves list with 440 to go with a 2.58 ERA. Last season with the Braves and Houston Astros, the 37-year-old southpaw posted a 2.25 ERA across 14 appearances, which at least suggests that he still has some quality frames left in the tank.

Dominguez pitched to a very nice .230 batting average against in high leverage situations last year, allowing just one home run while racking up 29 strikeouts and eight walks in 83 high leverage plate appearances. He also held hitters to a .186 batting average against with runners in scoring position with 30 strikeouts in 85 plate appearances. However, the frustrations with Dominguez lied in his control.

The Diamondbacks announced they've signed reliever Taylor Clarke to a one-year contract. They designated right-hander Gus Varland for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The club did not announce salary terms for Clarke, who is represented by the Ballengee Group. Clarke should be a familiar name to Arizona fans. The Snakes selected him out of the College of Charleston as a third-round pick in 2015. He debuted in a swing role four years later and spent parts of three seasons with the MLB club.

It was so long ago, but Fluharty had a terrific start to his big league career. Over his first 18.1 innings pitched, the lefty had a 1.96 ERA and 2.97 FIP, with a 26.2 K% and 7.7 BB%. After a few outings in June, Fluharty began to struggle on Jun. 8. From that date until Jun. 30, the final game he pitched in before he was optioned, Fluharty gave up 12 earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched.

Leaning toward the trade market rather than free agency is due to a desire to create some roster flexibility that the current group lacks. None of Carlos Estevez, Matt Strahm, John Schreiber, or Bailey Falter can be optioned to Triple-A. Lucas Erceg has a full slate of options but isn't going to be sent down, given his status as one of the team's top bullpen arms. Daniel Lynch IV and offseason signee are the only relievers who could plausibly be optioned right now.

The 32-year-old sidearmer is looking to rebound from three straight injury-marred seasons. A Tommy John surgery entirely wiped out Effross' 2023 campaign, and a back surgery during that TJ rehab period kept Effross out of any game action until June 2024, and he ended up tossing 35 1/3 minor league innings that season as well as 3 1/3 MLB frames with the Yankees. During Spring Training 2025, Effross then suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain that led to three more months on the shelf, and he amassed only 10 2/3 innings for New York while being frequently shuffled up and down from the minors.

(Strahm is) a year away from free agency. We were able to get a guy that we liked who has six years of (club control) and we think can help us right away. So you have to give to get. And we still feel good with our left-handers in the bullpen.

Romero, 29, is one of the most straightforward trade candidates of the offseason. He is slated for free agency after the upcoming campaign. With the Cardinals rebuilding, there's little sense in hanging onto him. They could wait to trade him at the deadline but that path carries risks, as the Cards know. They held onto Erick Fedde and Ryan Helsley going into 2025 and saw both pitchers decrease their respective trade values with poor performances.

As first reported by ESPN's Jesse Rogers, the Cubs have re-signed lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar. The southpaw pitched well over 58 innings across 67 appearances, posting a 2.64 ERA and striking out four times as many batters as he walked. Thielbar also did a very good job of keeping the ball in the park, surrendering only five home runs all season.

The first thing I said to him was, 'You're going to sign with the Dodgers, right?'...I sat there for the entire two-hour event and talked up the Dodgers to him the whole time. I don't know if I had a hand in it or not, but I like to say that I was one of the first ones to go heavy and hard after him that he should be a Dodger.