At this point I like to imagine that Diamondbacks beat reporter Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has the same routine so ingrained into his life that even on off days he wakes up, cooks a nice, sensible breakfast, and asks no one in particular “is Addison Reed still the closer?”
Today he asked that question of Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson, which he’s done seemingly a dozen times before, and the answer was the same as always: Yes.
Reed remains in the ninth-inning role despite blowing his fifth save of the season yesterday, serving up his ninth home run in just 36.2 innings while his ERA ballooned to 4.42.
Reed has always been an extreme fly-ball pitcher, which made him a poor fit for Arizona’s ballpark when the Diamondbacks acquired him from the White Sox this offseason, and for all the talk of his top-notch raw stuff and his impressive-looking save totals the 25-year-old right-hander now has a 4.23 ERA in 170 innings as a big leaguer.
