Addison Reed’s struggles par for the course with Arizona Diamondbacks closers

Much has been made about Addison Reed’s struggles this season closing for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He has blown two of his four save opportunities, with the most recent coming in rather spectacular fashion.

Reed’s inability to consistently lock down games for the D-backs has been an issue pretty much from start. Acquired for prospect Matt Davidson before the 2014 season, he suffered his first loss (though not in a save situation) in just his second outing with the team, and then notched his first blown save in just his fourth save attempt.

Reed went on to be moderately productive, earning saves in 32 of his 38 opportunities, though the 4.25 ERA he posted was rather ugly and the 11 home runs he allowed tied for third-most in all of baseball.

This season, Reed is 0-2 with two saves and two blown saves, along with an ERA of 7.20. He has allowed just one home run — the game-losing grand slam by Washington’s Michael Taylor Wednesday — and opponents are batting .333 against him.

But even with his issues, the D-backs do not appear ready to make a change.

Should they? Maybe, and if Reed continues to have issues, something will probably be done. But when looking at Reed, it may be important to put his performance in context with other closers in D-backs history.

Because, truth be told, it has not exactly been a position of excellence during the franchise’s 17-plus years of existence.

Of the 20 different pitchers to appear in at least 10 save situations for the franchise, just four have a better save percentage than Reed.

And remember, there are plenty of people who were ready to run Jose Valverde, J.J. Putz, Matt Mantei and Juan Gutierrez out of town.

Listed in order of their save percentage with the club, here’s a look at the D-backs’ illustrious history of closers.

Name	Years with team	Saves	Save opportunities	Save percentage
Jose Valverde	2003-2007	98	114	85.96
Juan Gutierrez	2009-2011	24	28	85.71
J.J. Putz	2011-2014	83	97	85.56
Matt Mantei	1999-2004	74	87	85.05
Addison Reed	2014-	34	42	80.95
Jorge Julio	2006	15	19	78.94
Byung-Hyun Kim	1999-2003, 2007	70	89	78.65
Greg Aquino	2004-2006	17	22	77.27
Gregg Olson	1998-1999	44	57	77.19
Chad Qualls	2008-2010	45	62	72.58
Brandon Lyon	2005-2008	42	58	72.41
Brian Bruney	2004-2005	12	17	70.58
Heath Bell	2013	15	22	68.18
Bret Prinz	2001-2003	9	14	64.28
David Hernandez	2011-	17	32	53.12
Brad Ziegler	2011-	14	27	51.85
Ramon (Tony) Peña	2006-2009	7	16	43.75
Aaron Heilman	2010-2011	6	15	40.0
Mike Myers	2002-2003	4	13	30.76
Mike Koplove	2001-2006	2	10	20.0