Bruce Bochy is not someone you corner. The manager of the Texas Rangers is taking his time assigning designated reliever roles to his newly revamped bullpen. Before designating a closer, setup man, or long reliever, he would prefer to wait for the spring to arrive and let someone prove themselves. Above all, compared to a year ago, Bochy has more alluring options. Jose Leclerc, the team’s primary closer at the end of the regular season and postseason,
Reluctantly, Bochy conceded that Jose Leclerc, who concluded the regular season and postseason as the team’s primary closer, has the inside track to reclaim that position. But Leclerc has some competition now that Kirby Yates and David Robertson were added in the offseason. Bochy stated, “I believe we’ll have a guy who’ll get most of the closing opportunities early when we leave here.” “But because they all want to be out there, we will be able to keep these guys fresh thanks to the additional options. It’s critical that all of them are utilized in the seventh, eighth, and ninth because they all do well in [high-leverage] scenarios.”
The majority of the action from the bullpen’s back end is probably going to be seen by those four. Although the positions of the other relievers are less certain, bullpen arms seem likely to be middle relievers like Brock Burke and possible starters Cody Bradford and Danny Duffy. The majority of the six open spots on the 13-man bullpen will be decided by a spring competition involving a number of non-roster invitees, including Grant Anderson, Owen White, and Cole Winn.
With 34 blown saves, the Rangers had the second-highest number in 2023. They nevertheless captured their first World Series and won 90 games. In the postseason, Leclerc and Sborz both made significant plays to end games. Both Yates and Robertson are seasoned high-leverage relievers. Yates led the Padres in saves in 2019 with41, while Robertson has 175 career saves.
Robertson and Yates reaffirmed on Sunday morning that Bochy is free to use them in any capacity. “We’ll see how the guys are doing as we go through spring training,” Bochy stated. “You always have to make last-minute adjustments. We had to do that last year. When we head into the spring training games this year, I do believe we have a little bit more stability. We will be more formidable when the season gets underway this year, hopefully, if everyone stays healthy.” Don’t ask Bochy to call a closer just yet, though. He said, “You have to look at Yates and Sbortz, and you have to look at David [Robertson].” “There are high-leverage guys down there who can support one another,
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