CINCINNATI _ There are jobs to be won and new degrees of trust to be earned in the shifting Miami Marlins bullpen.
With David Phelps gone, traded to the Mariners on Thursday, and closer AJ Ramos potentially to follow, with as many as a dozen teams expressing their interest to the Marlins, the late-inning dynamic of Miami's relief corps is moving away from a template that had been in place much the past two years.
For now, manager Don Mattingly said, right-hander Junichi Tazawa will absorb some of the high-leverage opportunities Phelps leaves behind.
"The one guy that we have that's really pitched his way back there is Taz," Mattingly said. "We've given him more responsibility as he came back off the DL. And he's throwing the ball well. He's a guy that fits back there."
Tazawa had a bad first half, including spending more than a month on the disabled list, but in July had thrown nine scoreless innings heading into the weekend. He allowed five hits and two walks (0.78 WHIP) in eight games while striking out seven. His ERA is down to 5.00 from 7.50 at the start of the month.
Through an interpreter, Tazawa said there hasn't been any significant change, though the rest while on the DL helped. Mattingly said Tazawa's splitter, his primary offspeed pitch, has been sharper.
It also helps, Mattingly added, that Tazawa has been walking fewer batters. Through June, Tazawa issued 10 free passes in 18 innings.
"The split looks like it's in the zone long enough," Mattingly said. "The split that's hard to lay off of is the one that looks like a strike. I think that as much as anything has been his biggest weapon."
As for Ramos, he's sticking to the I'm-a-Marlin-till-I'm-not philosophy, a popular one leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
But he does hear the whispers. It's impossible not to. He has a lot of family and friends planning to go to Miami's games against the Texas Rangers in Arlington next week. It's hard to give them a concrete answer when they ask if he'll be there.
Ramos knows any day could be his last as a Marlin.
"It kind of makes you appreciate things a little bit more," Ramos said. "You never know if it's your last day here at the ballpark with this team. So definitely, you think about it a little bit. But you try to block it out."
