Loup is the early favorite to take over the left-handed setup role left vacant by the recently-departed Brett Cecil, MLB.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

The biggest area for concern in this bullpen is the lack of a bona fide lefty reliever. Loup used to be one of those guys, but he is coming off a pair of disappointing seasons, and he'll really need to show things have changed before expectations can be raised. With Cecil gone, Loup has the most big league experience of the potential replacements, but he will also receive competition from Matt Dermody, Chad Girodo and Brett Oberholtzer. More additions likely will have to be made here, but until that happens, Loup should be in for a heavy workload. The walks will have to come down if he's going to cement that position, because a the 5.02 ERA he posted in 2016 simply won't cut it in this role.