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Diamondbacks Trade Addison Reed to the New York Mets

By Guillermo Salcido

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The Arizona Diamondbacks have traded Addison Reed to the New York Mets. This trade ends (a least for the moment) what can best be described as a roller coaster relationship between Reed and the Arizona faithful. To begin the season, Reed slowly floundered as the Dbacks closer and was replaced by Brad Ziegler. However, after a trip to the minors, Reed was lighting up the road to redemptions. It was all for naught, at least in Arizona, as today he becomes a New York Met. It is not immediately known what the compensation for Reed will be but the initial responses from various outlets point the return being two minor league arms.

In the winter of 2013, the Diamondbacks acquired Reed from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Matt Davidson, who hasn’t seen the majors since the trade. His last season on the South Side proved the be his career year (to date). He went 5-4, had a 3.79 ERA, struck out 72 hitters in 71.1 innings and saved 40 games in 2013. In 2014, with the Dbacks having the worst record in baseball, Reed didn’t receive as many opportunities to close down games. he finished the season with 32 saves. His record was a more horrid 1-7 and his ERA escalated to 4.25. However, he was striking out hitters at a higher rate than his previous two years in Chicago (10.5 per game).

Reed entered the 2015 season as the closer, but almost immediately relinquished it due to terrible performances. On May 13th, Reed entered the 9th inning with a 6-5 lead over the Washington Nationals. He managed to surrender a game-winning grand slam to Michael Taylor, blow the game in spectacular fashion. That marked the end of Reed’s reign as the closer in Arizona. Once Ziegler was handed the job, he kept (and is still keeping) a stranglehold on the position. If you thought him losing his status as an MLB closer was rock bottom, imagine how he felt when he lost his status as an MLB player.

On June 20th, Reed had a disastrous performance against the San Diego Padres. Reed gave up four hits and four runs without being able to grab three outs. A couple of days later, Reed was optioned to Triple-A Reno and if you tried hard enough, you could actually hear the collective celebration by Dbacks fans through Twitter. At the time of his demotion, Reed sported a 5.92 ERA. With the Reno Aces, Reed was 1-1 with a 1.74 ERA and 5 saves. It appeared as if Reed had learned his lesson, so on July 29th, the Dbacks recalled Reed. After more than a month in Reno, Reed had in fact learned his lesson.

In the month that he’s returned, Reed had appeared in 13 games and only surrendered runs in two of them. In total he pitched 16.1 innings since his promotion and turned in a 1.65 ERA during that time. Reed was credited with four holds as well. After having a 5.92 ERA at his lowest point of the season, Reed woke up this morning with a 4.20 ERA on the season. It looked like things were finally turning around for the 26-year old.

The New York Mets have Jeurys Familia, a solid arm who’s had an All Star-capable season (he was ousted in the Final Vote), as their closer. The Mets acquired former Oakland and Washington closer Tyler Clippard earlier this season to give the team a set up man. A season long suspension to former Mets closer Jenrry Mejia and struggles by (another) former Mets closer Bobby Parnell made this move a necessity. (Mejia is linked to PED’s while Parnell is coming back from Tommy John surgery.) The surging Reed should compete for playing time in the 7th inning.

Addison Reed, we hardly knew ya. Good luck in the big city!

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