Brandon Medders

Medders struggled with the long ball - nine homers allowed in 29.1 innings - and ended up getting sent down to Triple-A in June and finishing his season there. Unless he's able to regain the command of his fastball, he'll be heading back to Triple-A to begin this season given the available depth in the Arizona bullpen.

He was talked up as a closer candidate, then got exactly zero saves. Medders is probably better off in a role that allows him to duck lefty batters, who battered him from pillar to post last year. He and Evan MacLane would make a good twosome in front of the power arms.

Call him "Bigfoot," because this sighting is just as rare: a guy who pitched effectively in the Diamondbacks bullpen last season. Medders missed most of 2004 due to a torn labrum, but showed in 2005 that he's just fine. He's had great strikeout rates in the minors, so there's little reason to believe last season was a fluke. He'll start the spring as a contender for a set-up role, and with his stuff, Medders has real closer-in-waiting potential.

Medders' 2004 season was cut short by a torn labrum.

Medders was added to Arizona's 40-man roster in the offseason after a decent year of short relief in the bandbox at Double-A El Paso, striking out 72 in 69 innings with a 1.23 WHIP (if you remove six intentional walks). He'll start 2004 in Triple-A and might get a big league callup mid-year.