Probably nobody in baseball is more unheralded than a middle-innings reliever on a bad team. So it was, most of the time, with Cole Sulser, Travis Lakins Sr., and César Valdez.
This trio pitched to a 2.56 ERA in 61.2 innings. They were workhorses in the bullpen, with 50 appearances between them (only Tanner Scott pitched in more games than Lakins’ 22). They were innings-eaters, the guys Brandon Hyde turned to when Wade LeBlanc’s reserves were spent after four innings or when Asher Wojciechowski allowed one four-bagger too many his second time through the lineup.