Diamondbacks Reject Traditional Roles in Bullpen Rebuild

With direction coming from the top, Manager Torey Lovullo explains the new direction as best he can.

There can be no doubt that something needed to change.  Last year's Diamondbacks Bullpen was one of the worst in the majors. The team decided to go after more power arms and swing and miss pitchers in rebuilding the bullpen. But at the same time, they've also embarked on a full scale rethink of how to construct and utilize a bullpen. 

We got a further glimpse into the team's thinking yesterday. A discussion with Torey Lovullo regarding the future of Tommy Henry morphed into an interesting view into the struggles the manager is having adapting to the new paradigm set out for him regarding bullpen usage. 

The conversation began with him explaining the reasons for sending Henry down to the minors. He emphasized his need to work on commanding both the fastball and locating his secondary stuff.  Pretty boiler plate stuff. But then he also said things could change quickly and where things stand on April 15th may be very different from April 1. He seemed to be alluding to a possible quick return for Henry. From there things took an interesting turn. 

Was there ever a thought to having Henry in the bullpen as a guy who can go multiple innings? 

"Yes, for sure. It was outlined to him. There might be an opportunity for him to pitch out of the bullpen. Just continue to throw the baseball and anything is possible?" 

Why didn't you go in that direction now? (Converting him to reliever now)

"We just felt like it would be important for him to get the work in, get the reps, get some of those as we felt were limitations ironed out. That can happen quickly.  We felt like that was more important than putting him in the bullpen."

Brandon Pfaadt, who was sent out a day earlier is not being considered as a bullpen option. He will remain a starter in Reno until his opportunity to start in the majors arrives.  From the remaining two rotation candidates, Drey Jameson and Ryne Nelson, the team is not considering using either as a swing or long man in the bullpen either.  At this point the conversation turned to whether or not the team feels like they need a long man in the bullpen at all. 

"I don't think that is a top priority for us right now. We want multiples [innings], but pure length, I mean four or five innings stretched out, I don't think that's a need for us right now." 

Why is that the case, since last year for example you had Caleb Smith who often had to get six plus outs.  Is it because you'll have minor league options with guys?

"That's not my department, but if I had to answer, yes, I think there are a lot of options and moving parts with players that can be moved around quickly."

Are you inclined to name a closer or just go by the situation for save opportunities?

"I think early on it will be  given the situation, having a front end, back end guy. Look somebody could emerge  in that role, but as I've been trying to do, trying to learn about being as open minded as possible and just create the best opportunity for us to win games. The biggest situation may occur in the 8th inning . So I'm changing year by year on my stubborness which made me want a closer and use him only in the 9th inning. Why wouldn't you want your best pitcher to pitch at different times in the game at the biggest moments. So I'm adopting that. What does that mean for right now?  I'm probably not going to name a closer. I'm going to be pretty firm on that. Somebody might emerge. We might have slam dunk situations. Somebody may emerge as that guy. I don't know. If it does happen, that's how my mind works. I might adopt it again. But for right now I'm open minded about it."

Does that position have a new name then?

"I don't know. Probably just front end, back end guys. Positive role, negative role. They'll figure that out real quick. Everybody wants a little bit of structure. I think there's still going to be structure inside of the bullpen. I think we'll just have positive role and negative role guys. I'll go that far." 

Takeaways

The Diamondbacks are clearly modeling after the Tampa Bay Rays, who had five different pitchers record between 5-8 saves last year and no fewer than 11 different pitchers record a save. They strove to quickly identify high leverage situations and put the best pitcher available into those situations.  This is what Lovullo is talking about with "Positive" and "Negative" roles. It may sound a lot like closer by committee. Perhaps a better way to put it would simply be high leverage relievers and low leverage relievers. 

Based on Lovullo's own stated reticence, (and hedging when it comes to naming a closer in the future) this is clearly a direction that is coming from the top, and he is trying to adapt to the new paradigm.

The other takeaway is while they don't currently have a prototypical long man lined up, they will utilize minor league options liberally to bring guys up to provide innings and length as the situation and schedule dictates.  The concern with that approach is how that might impact some of these young pitcher's development and even health. The lessons of Jon Duplantier's struggles in 2019 should loom large in their deliberations. The oft injured top pitching prospect was bounced between starting in Triple-A and pitching in relief in the majors no fewer than five times during the season. All that resulted in was poor performance and further injury.