San Diego Padres 2020 Bullpen: Best in Baseball

The long shots

Trey Wingenter– The Padres had great success in the first half of the season with this 6′ 7″ righty but his second half was not as effective. He finished the season with a 5.65 ERA in 51 game appearances. The bullpen boasts other options for his skill set and it will be interesting to see how his role shakes out in spring training.

Nick Margevicius– The 6′ 5″ lefty made quite the impression last spring and early 2019 but was soon hit often and hard at the major league level. He finished his major league season with 17 games and 57 innings pitched with a 6.79 ERA. Deception and location are his only skills as he throws his fastball in the high 80’s at best. No longer a candidate for the starting rotation, Margevicius must prove himself as a bullpen piece to stay on the team.

That makes 15 arms vying for 8-9 spots in the bullpen, depending on what the organization decides to do with the 26th roster spot. Don’t forget our two way player that is Jake Cronenworth that could challenge for a utility job in the infield and an extra pitcher out of the bullpen.

There are also eight pitchers ( Paddack, Richards, Lamet, Luchessi, Quantrill, Bolanos, Davies, Espinoza) vying for 5 rotation spots and that would leave three more arms to find a place for when the starting five is announced. This makes for a very crowded pitching staff and lots of decisions to be made going into the start of the season.

It also makes for an exciting Spring Training for the fan base to follow as all these guys fight it out to form, hopefully, a dominant pitching front for the 2020 Padres.