Puk will open the season as one of three left-handers in the Athletics' bullpen, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
There'd been some talk from manager Mark Kotsay about Puk possibly being back in play for a rotation spot in the immediate wake of Sean Manaea's trade to the Padres. However, with Adam Oller having secured the No. 5 role in the rotation to start the season and James Kaprielian (shoulder) expected to be available by the end of the month, Puk is back to opening the 2022 campaign in the bullpen, where he'll look to start putting an uneven spring that saw him generate a 6.52 ERA across 9.2 innings over six appearances behind him.