After down year, A’s bullpen again formidable

OAKLAND — The A’s have long been the home of the disposable closer. Huston Street, Grant Balfour, Jim Johnson, Billy Koch, Keith Foulke and Ryan Cook all passed through Oakland since 2002, most of them with at least a modicum of success.

Closers are replaceable, the philosophy goes. You can always find another one, cheaper and better. Until you can’t.

Because of injuries and a myriad of factors, last year the A’s bullpen bottomed out. Their 28 saves were the lowest in Major League Baseball. Their ERA of 4.63 was 28th.

The goal in the offseason was to rebuild the bullpen. Mission accomplished.

“It’s a completely different bullpen,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said Thursday before his club opened a four-game series against the Yankees at the Coliseum. “Really, the only three guys back are [Fernando] Rodriguez, [Ryan] Dull and Doolittle. And Doolittle wasn’t with us for most of the year because of injury.”

Thus, this past offseason, A’s general manager Billy Beane departed from the norm and spent $34.9 million on three relievers — Ryan Madson, John Axford and Marc Rzepczynski. With the return of Doolittle from a left shoulder injury, the latest edition of the A’s bullpen is complete.

The Yankees came in with Done BMC, their lights-out closing bullpen trio of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman.

The A’s have Done ADM: Axford, Doolittle and Madson. Consequently, their 13 saves entering Thursday were tied for sixth in MLB. The Yankees had 11.

“I think we have a good bullpen. I’ve been saying that since the beginning of the year,” said starter Rich Hill, another Beane signee at $6 million, who is 6-3 with a 2.54 ERA and a beneficiary of that reconstructed ‘pen. “Those guys just keep coming at you. They have amazing resiliency. They just continue to put the pressure on the hitters and it’s a lot of fun to …

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