of the proven closer," which showed the volatility of relievers applies to closers every bit as much.

With regard to our current closer, I wrote there, "When we dealt for him, Reed had a much less impressive ERA+ of 103... There wasn't much in Reed's performance to suggest he was an outstanding reliever or would be a great closer." Yet despite his mediocre career numbers, he got the position, it seems because he saved 40 the previous year for the White Sox. So, he must know what he is doing, right? Wrong. Reed picked up his first loss for the D-backs, before he notched his first save, losing his second appearance for Arizona, as he gave up two runs in the ninth inning against San Francisco. That set theseason [only four in the first 33 games]. We do find potential candidates slightly thinner on the ground than they were on Opening Day, with Evan Marshall recently having been optioned to Reno. However, these are the three most obvious names to come to mind.

Brad Ziegler. He's the best reliever on the Diamondbacks. In fact, he's one of the best in the game, and has been since 2011; his ERA+ of 156 over that time is twelfth among relievers with 200+ innings of work. He has even stepped into the role for Arizona before, filling in admirably in 2013. He's particularly good at suppressing the long-ball: Ziegler has allowed fewer HR since the start of 2011 (11 in 281.1 IP) than Reed in Arizona (12 in 69.1 IP).