When the Marlins first acquired Brad Ziegler in December 2016, he was fresh off an impressive season with Boston and Arizona, where he converted 22 of 28 save opportunities with a 2.25 ERA. The Marlins wanted to fortify their bullpen going into 2017, with AJ Ramos, David Phelps and Kyle Barraclough already in place. In Ziegler, they were getting a proven reliever—with a 2.44 career ERA and 85 saves—to help get the ball to Ramos for the save.
But the veteran struggled mightily as a setup guy. Through June 20 of that first Marlins season, he posted an abysmal 6.