2025 NL East Positional Rankings: Bullpen

As is the case almost every year, there was a lot of movement within bullpens in the NL East. A couple of the division’s best relievers headed elsewhere, while some teams made moves to solidify the late innings of games.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the bullpens in the division stack up against each other.

Previous rankings: Right field, catcher, shortstop, first base, DH.

No. 5 – Washington Nationals

The Nationals began 2024 with some intriguing arms, with fireballing righties Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan getting a bulk of the team’s high-leverage opportunities. However, the team traded Harvey to Kansas City over the summer and surprisingly non-tendered Finnegan after he made his first All-Star Game.

Fangraphs projects Washington’s bullpen to rank 28th in fWAR and 27th in ERA. The team picked up lefty Colin Poche and former Met Jorge López, the latter of whom is projected to split time with Derek Law as the team’s closer. All three players seem likely to become attractive trade candidates for contending teams. Flamethrowing southpaw Jose Ferrer was impressive in 31 games and seems poised to become a high-leverage arm in his age-25 season. While Washington’s relief unit could take a step forward in 2025, it’s hard to put them anywhere but the No. 5 spot.

No. 4 – Miami Marlins

Much like the Nationals, the Marlins’ bullpen lost their two best arms in 2024, with the team sending Tanner Scott to San Diego and A.J. Puk to Arizona last summer.

Calvin Faucher assumed the closer’s role in August and is expected to keep it entering the season, though he missed the last three weeks of the season with a shoulder injury. Faucher and Declan Cronin combined to allow just one home run over 124 innings last season. Veteran Anthony Bender returns to the bullpen along with hard-throwing righty Jesus Tinoco, both of whom are expected to setup men for Faucher. Lefty Andrew Nardi had a very unlucky 2024 season with a 5.07 ERA and 2.76 xERA, but he had a fantastic 2023 season, and he’ll likely be the team’s primary southpaw this year. With Miami fully in rebuild mode, expect most of their arms to garner intrigue as the trade deadline rolls around this summer. They check in at the No. 4 spot.

No. 3 – Atlanta Braves

Atlanta’s bullpen had the third-best ERA in the majors in 2024, but they did very little to beef up their unit this offseason. They lost A.J. Minter to the Mets in free agency and are expected to be without Joe Jiménez after he underwent knee surgery, but the team didn’t make any big moves to replace them. Raisel Iglesias will once again hold down the ninth inning after another strong season, Pierce Johnson will get a bulk of the work Jiménez got last year, and Aaron Bummer will assume Minter’s role as a left-handed setup man. Right-hander Daysbel Hernández will likely have a bigger role as well after he impressed in 16 outings in 2024, and Dylan Lee bounced back nicely from a rocky 2023. Overall, Atlanta has a solid bullpen, but it’s hard not to wonder if they could have done more to offset the losses of Jiménez and Minter. They occupy the number 3 spot entering the season.

No. 2 – Philadelphia Phillies

For much of the 2024 season, the Phillies bullpen seemed unstoppable. They had two non-closing relievers – Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm – make the All-Star Game, then swung a trade to acquire Carlos Estévez from the Angels to lock down the ninth inning. However, Philadephia’s bullpen had a pedestrian 4.13 ERA in the second half and got even worse in the postseason, when the Mets torched them for 16 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings – and 10 of those 16 runs were charged to Hoffman and Strahm.

This offseason, the Phillies have lost Hoffman and Estévez to free agency and signed Jordan Romano to be their closer. A two-time All-Star, Romano is looking to return to form after missing much of 2024 with an elbow problem. The Blue Jays opted to non-tender him after the season. Young right-hander Orien Kerkering has the makings to be the team’s future closer, allowing just two homers and posting a 2.23 ERA over 63 innings in his first full season in the majors. Hard-throwing southpaw José Alvarado had a down season in 2024 but was dominant in 2023, and has served as the closer at different points over the last two seasons.

The team also returns lefty Tanner Banks and right-hander José Ruiz and will slide Taijuan Walker over to the bullpen after a rough season in the starting rotation. The other addition to the bullpen is veteran right Joe Ross, who enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in 2024 after not pitching in the majors in the two seasons prior. Philadelphia’s bullpen has plenty of upside, but will they be able to exorcise the demons of the 2024 postseason? They head into 2025 as the second-best unit in the division.

No. 1 – New York Mets

In 2024, the Mets’ bullpen was the team’s biggest weakness. However, it showed improvement in the second half, posting a division-best 3.74 ERA compared to a 4.20 mark in the first half. The biggest issue with the bullpen was having only one lefty in the bullpen, and David Stearns addressed that by prying A.J. Minter away from the Braves. Most of last year’s group returns, including Ryne Stanek, who was re-signed after a strong showing in the postseason. The team also hopes to get Dedniel Núñez back, who broke out before a forearm injury ended the season. The other addition to the bullpen is Griffin Canning, who is hoping to bounce back after a few rough seasons with the Angels. There’s also a chance two-time All-Star Clay Holmes will join the bullpen if the starting experiment doesn’t go as planned.

The biggest X-factor in the bullpen is Edwin Díaz, who didn’t quite look like himself for most of 2024. However, he posted a 2.52 ERA from May 24 through the end of the season, and his 2.49 xERA, 3.02 FIP, and 2.59 xFIP suggest that he can bounce back. Díaz was also very good in the playoffs, posting a 3.12 ERA and going unscored upon in five of his six outings. The Mets have built a strong bridge to Díaz, but the strength of the bullpen will hinge heavily on his performance. On paper, the Mets’ bullpen is the strongest in the division.

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