Blake Parker has emerged as a truly dominant reliever

For most of the offseason, GM Billy Eppler focused on bolstering the position players and starting pitching, with acquisitions of OFs Cameron Maybin and Ben Revere, 2B/SS Danny Espinosa, C Martin Maldonado, and SP Jesse Chavez. The resources these players necessitated creativity in structuring the remainder of the roster, which is why Eppler brought into spring training an assortment of versatile, multi-inning relievers (JC Ramirez, Yusmeiro Petit, Bud Norris) as well as scrappy, hard-throwing journeymen with menial command (Austin Adams, Blake Parker, Kirby Yates, Justin Miller, Jose Valdez, among others) to add to the lockdown Cam Bedrosian, capable Andrew Bailey, and adventurous Huston Street.