According to Nick Piecoro, the Diamondbacks have been in discussions with free-agent relief pitcher Pete Fairbanks. GM Mike Hazen has made no secret of this desire to improve the D-backs bullpen, an area which has been one in desperate need of improvement for years. Last month, I looked at the situation, and found that this season, the team was no better than 25th in the majors across the four main metrics of ERA, FIP, xFIP and fWAR. This is not a new problem, and various philosophies have been tried in the past to break the trend: nothing has achieved any sustained success. Is Hazen going to try a new direction?

The report of talks with Fairbanks suggest this might be the case. The team under Hazen has never bought into the notion of paying really top dollar for a closer. The highest-pri

See Full Page