Arizona Diamondbacks 2012: A Look at the Bullpen

With the 2012 season just about 2 1/2 months from kicking off with pitchers and catchers, it is time to take a look at how the Arizona Diamondbacks stack up by position.  Next I look at the bullpen, which was much better in 2011 than it was in 2010, a huge reason for the big turnaround.  Here’s my take on how things play out going into next season.

Definites: J.J. Putz, Joe Paterson,  David Hernandez, Brad Ziegler, Zach Kroenke

In the mix: Josh Collmenter, Wade Miley, Barry Enright, Micah Owings, Bryan Shaw,

Long shots: Sam Demel, Mike Zagurski, Yonata Ortega,

Free agent possibilities: To be determined

With J.J. Putz closing and specialists in Paterson and Ziegler, Hernandez as the set-up guy, there is no reason to believe the Dbacks 2012 bullpen will be much different than 2011.  Now, there are some guys that showed either they need to do a lot of regain what they had at one point (Enright), or they probably don’t belong (Demel), however they remain on the 40-man roster for now.  Spring competition never hurt anyone.

Collmenter will be in the pen if he can’t nail down a starting spot.  Owings is probably in the same boat.  Outside of that, don’t expect a whole lot of changes but you’ll probably see a number of guys come in and out because of struggles or injury.  It’s the nature of the business.

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