I am beginning to feel like Charlie Brown and the football, with regard to the Diamondbacks bullpen. Every year, I come into spring training with a new sense of vigor and optimism. Surely this year, our relievers won’t such. Surely things will be different this season! Surely they can’t be as terrible as they were last year? But, by mid-August, I inevitably find myself cowering behind the sofa as whatever it is, comes shambling out of the bullpen to blow another late-inning lead for the D-backs.

This year, the D-backs’ bullpen ERA is 4.93, more than half a run higher than last season. That’s ahead only of the Athletics, Rockies and Nationals. The other metrics are hardly any better. FIP: 25th. xFIP: 24th. fWAR: 27th, and 0.2 wins below replacement. In terms of Win Probability, at -327%, t

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