Athletics Bullpen Ranked Sixth Entering 2020 by FanGraphs

Oakland Athletics relievers get plenty of respect from talent evaluators at FanGraphs, who rated the A's bullpen corps the sixth-best group in MLB.

One reason for optimism for the A’s as the season is about to kick off Friday at home against the Angels is that there are no obvious weakness.

And that includes the bullpen, despite the fact that Oakland’s closer seems to change from year to year.

Last year Liam Hendriks took over in June – he had 25 saves despite not getting his first one until June 22. He took over from Blake Treinen, who’d been lights-out the year before with 38 saves. And he took over in 2017 after Sean Doolittle was traded.

FanGraphs took all that into account when ranking the A’s as the sixth-best bullpen in MLB heading into the 2020 season. The Oakland pen was the highest rated in the American League West.

The rating was high in part because Hendriks was able to add a couple of miles to his velocity last year and it seemed to carry over this spring and again in Summer Camp.

The one note of caution is the age of most of the setup relievers. Yusmeiro Petit is 35 and Joakim Soria 36. Jake Diekman, the top lefty in the pen, is 33.

That shouldn’t matter as much in a 60-game season, and the A’s do have younger relievers that FanGraphs likes, including J.B. Wendelken, T.J. McFarland and Burch Smith.

They like the new look Daniel Mengden is showing, too, but Mengden has been moved to the rotation since the story was written. 

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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