5 Things to Hope For in a Brewers New Year, Part 3

Part three of five.

 3. An improved bullpen

There's really not much to say about last year's bullpen. It was simply horrendous from front to back. We're talking historically bad (or at least it felt that way). The main (only?) accomplishment of this year's offseason has been the dismantling and rebuilding of the bullpen.

John Axford and Jim Henderson serve as the only regulars returning from last year's 'pen. Henderson's call-up and success remain one of the lone bright spots from 2012 and Axford, despite his struggles, still managed 35 saves and a career-best 12.1 K/9 ratio (his 93 K for the season was also a career high). They'll be joined by free agents Burke Badenhop (Rays), Tom Gorzelanny (Nationals), and Mike Gonzalez (Nationals), as well as some of the younger arms who don't make the starting rotation.

Even if this year's bullpen doesn't end up being very good I just don't see how it's possible for it to be as bad as it was last year. If the bullpen can manage to rebound from last season and perform somewhere near the league average it will be a vast improvement from 2012 and by contrast will feel the Brewers have the best 'pen in the Majors.