Calvin Reed

Calvin Reed
46th President of the United States
In Office	January 20, 2017-Present
Preceded By	Gene Eric
Personal Details
Born	Calvin Adam Reed September 11, 1981 Beaverhead County, Montana
Height	6 ft. 6 in.
Weight	237 lbs.
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Brown
Political Party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Aubrey Mae Harrinton (m. 2013)
Children	Mia Jem Reed (b. 2015) Laura Catherine Reed (b. 2016) Emma Sidney Reed (b. 2016)
Residence	White House (Official, Primary) Baltimore Harbor Light (Private, Secondary)
Education	University of Purdue (MS)
Occupation	Former Major League Baseball Athlete, Head of American Dream
Religion	Baptist

Calvin Adam Reed (born September 11, 1981), nicknamed "The Whip" is the 46th and current President of the United States. Before entering politics, Reed was a pitcher in Major League Baseball, and philanthropist.

Born and raised in Beaverhead County, Montana, Reed attained a Masters' Degree in Agriculture Sciences from Purdue University. Drafted into the MLB in 2003, Reed pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockies over the course of his career. Reed was renowned for his speed, regularly throwing over one hundred miles per hour, and his strikeout ability. Reed is fifth all-time in career strikeouts among MLB pitchers (4,048), and first in career strikeouts per nine innings.

Reed is the founder and head of the American Dream charity, a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to combating inner-city poverty, violence, poor education, and drug abuse among youths, with a particular focus on youths of color.

Reed is a member of the Republican Party, and made his entry into politics early in 2016, with his candidacy for the GOP nomination for President. Reed would emerge victorious in the Republican primaries, finishing ahead of main rivals Sen. Matteos Egazarian, and Sen. Eric Gonzalez. Reed would be confirmed at the 2016 Republican National Convention as the Republican nominee for President, and would defeat Ellen Walton and Robert Danders in the general election, winning 61.55% of the popular vote. Reed is the youngest President ever elected, and the first without prior political or military experience.

Reed assumed the Presidency on January 20, 2017. In early domestic policy, Reed promoted the passage of the Balanced Budget Amendment, the Rectifying Dudley's Disservice Act, and the Minuteman Act. Reed appointed Jessica Alstaff and Annie Walker to the Supreme Court, and issued a pardon to Edmund Rainden.

In foreign policy, Reed found early conflict with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel over the nation's abortion policies. The meeting later ended with an agreement for the end of Israeli subsidization of elective abortion in exchange for the restoration of aid.

He is married to Aubrey Reed, with whom he has three daughters.

Early Life and Little League

Calvin Adam Reed was born in Beaverhead County, Montana on September 11, 1981, one of twelve children. Reed is the ninth child born of the twelve, with seven brothers, and four sisters. The Reed family has been American for several generations, and Reed has noted that he is not certain of his own ethnic ancestry. His parents were both farmers, and Reed grew up on the family farm, spending his entire childhood in the sparsely-populated county.

Reed's remarkable arm strength first manifested itself at a young age. Reed described himself a bouncing a rubber ball off of a side of a barn for hours on end after his chores were finished, and attempting to throw increasingly larger stones across the Big Hole River. Though Montana did not have its own MLB team, Reed was an avid fan of the Seattle Mariners, idolizing the team's young stars of Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson, and seeking to model himself after the hard-hitting centerfielder and hard-throwing pitcher, both lefthanders. Reed's first experience playing on a formal team of his own would come on the Beaverhead All-Stars in 1993. With an early September birthday, Reed missed the minimum age in 1992, but was nearly twelve when he began to play the following year.

Extremely tall for his age, at five-feet eleven inches and nearly one hundred and forty pounds,  Reed would show incredible arm strength in posting an over eighty mile-per-hour fastball from the short mound. Throwing the fastball as his sole pitch, Reed would simply overpower opposing prepubescent batters. On non-pitching days, Reed was placed in centerfield, where his remarkable speed and arm strength largely made up for his somewhat below-par glove skills. With the All-Stars dominating local competition, Reed would shut out the defending champions in Long Beach for the West title before leading Montana to its first-ever Little League World Series berth, forming a powerful battery duo along with future MLB catcher Rob Johnson, whom Reed developed a fast friendship with.

Panama was Beaverhead's opponent in the final, and Reed, unhittable through the regular season and tournament rounds, couldn't find his stuff under the pressure, and would give up six runs to the Panamanian team, more than he had given up on the entire season. Johnson, however, would come to his pitcher's rescue, blasting three home runs and driving the Beaverheard comeback for a 7-6 victory. The next year would once again see the pair pace the team in batting, as the Reed-Johnson duo drove the All-Stars to the championship for the second consecutive year. Reed, surging through his growth spurt, and physically towering over other youths in play, led the team over Venezuela in the championship game, hurling the fourth perfect game in the LLWS, and the first by an American, making the squad only the third Little League team, and first from the United States, to repeat as LLWS champions..

High School and American Legion Play

A young Calvin Reed in High School

Reed's athleticism and performance in the Serieses would draw significant attention from Major League scouts interested in the player as Reed aged out of Little League, and completed elementary school a year early.

Reed would attend Beaverhead County High School in Dillon, the only school in the sparsely-populated county. An honor roll student, ranked first in his class, though in a class of few in a very small, rural school, Reed's true talent was shown on the baseball diamond, outside of schooling. With Montana one of two U.S. States to lack a structured high school baseball system, Reed took the standard route of prospective players in the state and joined the Dillon Cubs, the local American Legion Baseball team.

Reed would lead the Cubs as both a pitcher and centerfielder for four seasons, while participating in track in the off-season. Reed's Senior year was his strongest, as he developed a light sinker to throw alongside his standard four-seam heat, and dominated batters, posting an ERA of 0.39 to go with a 14-1 record, and over 150 strikeouts, averaging more than two per inning, while leading the team to qualify for invitation to The National Classic in Fullerton, California, once again teaming up with the one-year-younger Rob Johnson to push the team forward. Reed would win the year's Home Run Derby, adding to his fifty-five in his high school career, but the Beavers would fail to make it through to the championship. Reed won Gatorade High School Player of the Year Honors for his performance, and was ranked as the top high school pitching prospect in the nation.

Reed graduated from high school in 1998, and was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies with the first overall selection in that year's MLB, but did not sign, electing instead to attend college.. Offered scholarships from top Division I teams including Louisiana State University and the University of Southern California, Reed would decide to attend Purdue University in Indiana on a full athletic scholarship, selecting the school on the strength of its first-in-the-nation agricultural sciences program, though the team was not considered to have a strong baseball program.

College

1998-1999

First arriving at the university in the fall, Reed would, In a fairly uncommon move for a collegiate baseball player, redshirt for his freshman year, training independently to acclimate to the college level, and focusing on academic classes. Reed would elect to minor in Spanish in his time at the university, later referring to it as an investment in future Major League play, such bilingualism being useful in a Latin-heavy league, including several players who spoke little or no English.

Over the non-playing year, Reed would work with the Purdue coaching staff to expand his repertoire of pitches, developing his changeup into a usable option, and adding a palmball to what had before largely been a two-pitch fastball-sinker arsenal.

After completing his first year of college, Reed took the opportunity to attend tryouts for the U.S. National Team, who were preparing for that year's Pan-American Games, for Olympic qualification, and made the cut. That summer, he traveled with the team to the games at Winnipeg, a simple trip that nearly turned into a disaster as Reed, who had never before left the country, lacked a passport, and missed the Opening Ceremonies and his first scheduled start as a result. When Reed did get to take the mound, in his first international start, he faced off against the Brazilian team, and easily silenced their bats, no-hitting them in a complete game. Brazil, lacking players on the level of any of the other squads, would be outscored by a ratio of nearly 6-1 throughout the games, and, going winless, was the only team eliminated in round-robin play. Reed ended up being placed third among the team's pitchers, giving him the start in the quarterfinals, where he didn't allow a run against Panama through eight innings, though he struggled with control, issuing seven walks. Mark Mulder put up a strong start in the semifinals against Mexico, a game which went into extra innings before a walk-off single, four hitless innings in relief by Dan Wheeler sealing the deal. The U.S. pitchers finally met their match in the finals, as Cuban ace Jose Contreras, despite pitching on only a single day's rest after defeating the Dominican Republic, dominating with thirteen strikeouts, and only four hits and a single run through eight innings, while U.S. ace Brad Penny was pulled before the fifth inning concluded, Cuba taking the gold in a 5-1 win. Both Cuba and the United States would, as the finalists, qualify for Sydney.

1999-2000

Reed would return to Indiana from his international outing, going through his third semester at Purdue before making his widely anticipated debut, slotted in as the young ace of the Boilermakers rotation, and the team's starting centerfielder. He would lead all Freshmen on the reason with a 1.79 ERA and posted a 15-4 record, second only to Lenny Dinasso, while hitting .311 with 24 home runs and 61 stolen bases, notably while choosing to use a wooden bat, so as to, in his words, better prepare him for Major League play. The Boilermakers claimed the third seed for the Big Ten Tournament on the year, which they had missed by three and a half games the previous season. After taking a loss to Illinois in the first round, the Boilermakers moved forward with a 6-1 upset of Minnesota, followed by a Reed shutout contributing to an 8-0 victory over Ohio State. Managing to survive Illinois a second time, a win over eighteenth-ranked Penn State advanced the Boilermakers to the NCAA tournament for only the second time in their history. 

Reed held Old Dominion to one run in the first game of the Clemson Super Regional for a 3-1 win, the first Divisional Round win ever for the school. The Boilermakers would face Clemson themselves in the second round, and take the loss, but had a chance to stay alive in the loser's bracket, successfully taking down Middle Tennessee to set up a rematch.

Reed would take the mound in that crucial game against Clemson, looking to push Purdue even farther beyond their record showing, only to be bashed badly by the Tigers. After only three innings, Reed had given up ten runs, and had to be pulled, taking the loss in a 21-3 drubbing, what would prove to be the worst blown game of his college career, on the biggest stage the school had ever been on.

After the disappointing end to the season, going into the summer, Reed was facing rejection from the very U.S. team he had helped qualify for the Olympics, as a change in the rules led to a massive overhaul of the roster For the first time, MLB players were allowed to compete in the Games, and though no active players would participate, the Olympics interfering with the regular season, the former Team U.S.A. roster that had finished second at the Pan-American Games the year before was replaced to a man by top minor league prospects and retired or free agent MLB players. The process was notoriously slapdash,  Manager Tony Lasorda not even knowing the composition of his team until barely a week before they left for Australia, but had Reed, his late-season meltdown not helping matters,  scratched from the lineup along with the others, left behind as the team went through the pre-Olympic tournament. However, in a turn of fate, Cleveland Indians lefthander C.C. Sabathia was pulled from the team by the Indians management after he was called up from the minors, and with the team suddenly in need of a big lefthander, Reed was called up to fill the hole.. 

The Games were in a round-robin format, eight teams competing against each other, the top four advancing to have the chance to play for a medal. Cuba was considered, as in previous years, the prohibitive favorite, the country holding a perfect record in the Olympics, qualifying and medal rounds alike, without a single loss, while the American team had never gotten more than a bronze medal. The American team had almost no experience working together to that point, put together hastily as a ragtag collection of green young hopefuls and aged former stars looking for one more shot at glory, but had a strong pitching trio, Reed joining future All-Stars Roy Oswalt and Ben Sheets, and though expectations were minimal, was prepared to make their best showing.

The Americans faced off against powerhouse Japan in their first matchup, the reigning silver medalists, an expected loss, but saw unexpected hope suddenly kindled behind a masterpiece performance by Ben Sheets, not allowing Japan to score a single run through seven full innings pitched. Daisuke Matsuzaka matched Sheet's performance through six innings, but gave up two runs in the seventh to give the U.S. the lead. The U.S. bullpen couldn't hold the advantage, giving up a run in the eighth and ninth innings, while Matsuzaka did not allow another run, throwing the game into extra innings. In a three and a half hour thriller, neither team could get a run across the plate before a two-run walkoff home run by Mike Neill in the bottom of the thirteenth inning gave the U.S. the dramatic upset in the longest game in Olympic history.

Reed delivering a pitch against South Africa in the 2000 Games.

The next match was nowhere near as exciting, as Reed started against South Africa. Reed would only get the chance to throw seven innings, as a pounding of the South African squad by the U.S. batters ended the game by mercy rule 11-0. Cuba, meanwhile, continued to dominate on their own, beating South Africa by the even broader margin of 16-0, then clubbing Italy 13-5, finally facing a somewhat close game in a 6-5 triumph over South Korea. The U.S. took down the Netherlands in their third game, then South Korea behind seven shutout innings by Roy Oswalt, and a grand slam by Doug Mientkiewicz in the bottom of the eighth that brough the game from a scoreless tie to a four to nothing U.S. lead, the same score they would win by. After four games, the U.S. was 4-0, and the Oswalt-Sheets-Reed duo hadn't let their opponents score in twenty-one combined innings.

The shock to the Olympic world came on the same day of the U.S.'s victory over South Korea, as the Netherlands, who had lost to the American and Japanese teams by a combined twelve-run margin, somehow managed to upset Cuba 4-2, the first loss the Cuban team had ever suffered in any Olympics, and the first time they had ever scored less than six runs in a game, the unexpected giant-slayer being one Ken Brauckmiller, a Portland, Oregon native who had washed out of the minor leagues in the U.S. without winning a single game, after being drafted in the twenty-ninth round in 1988, and subsequently acquired Dutch citizenship to play in their national league. Some blame for the loss was leveled at the wooden bats that replaced the previous metal ones for the first time in that year's Olympics, but regardless of the reason, the sudden hope for the invulnerable juggernaut to be brought down seemed to have a chance.

The next day's game only enhanced the anticipation. The U.S. dispatched Italy, but the greater focus was on the matchup between Australia and Cuba, where the Cuban offensive woes did not only continue, but grew even worse, the reigning gold medalists eking out only a single run in a 1-0 victory, saved by a dominating ten-strikeout complete game by Pan-American Games star Jose Contreras.

The stage was set for the much-anticipated matchup between Cuba and the United States, with the Sydney Baseball Stadium going over-capacity to hold in the attendees. Ready to knock off the giant, the opposite happened for the U.S. Cuba managed to score more runs in the first inning off of starter and former MLB pitcher Rick Krvida, four, than in their last two games combined. Reed was brought in in relief after the disastrous first, and though Cuba did not score again, despite dinging Reed for twelve hits, Jose Ibar shutout the U.S. squad throughout, an attempted ninth-inning rally fizzling almost before it started with only one run scored, giving the U.S. their first loss of the tournament, 4-1.

The U.S. mercy-ruled Australia in their last game, bringing them into the final round as the second seed behind Cuba, set to play South Korea. Oswalt again took to the mound, starting a game that would see cold rain pouring down on the field throughout. The young pitcher gave up only two runs, but the South Korean pitching allowed the same, and the game was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the go-ahead run for the Americans on third, when the rain finally escalated to thunderstorm level, pulling the players off of the field. The two-hour delay was enough to settle the Korean bullpen, and the runner on third never scored. Todd Williams faced the South Korean lineup in the top of the ninth, and thew a perfect inning, two strikeouts, and no baserunners allowed, setting the stage for Doug Mientkiewicz to blast a walk-off solo home run, clinching a 3-2 win that gave the U.S. their first-ever chance to play for a gold medal. To do it, they would have to go against against a Cuban team that had just held Japan scoreless in yet another complete-game shutout from Jose Contreras and had never lost a medal match.Ben Sheets would prove the hero of the day. Starting off with another seven runs scoreless, Sheets never let up, going the full nine innings without allowing a single run, giving up a mere three hits, and delivering the United States its first ever gold medal in the sport. The future All-Star had allowed only a single earned run in an Olympics-high twenty-two innings pitched throughout.

2000-2001

After playing second fiddle to Sheets in the Olympic triumph, Reed's 2001 season would prove a peak year, for him and the team alike, as he put together an outstanding 18-0 record with a 0.91 ERA, with a .343 average and 30 home runs from the other side of the plate, while Purdue seized the top seed in the Big Ten with a dominant 21-5 in-conference record, with Reed heading up a trio of talented pitchers, with future first-round pick Chadd Blasko and future Minnesota Twin Dave Gassner giving the team a dominant set of starting arms.  

The Boilermakers cruised through the Big Ten but, the conference never being a particularly strong baseball one, would only pick up one of the 4 seeds in the Metairie Super Regional, forced to face off against LSU. Going up against a college he had nearly attended, Reed didn't allow a runner past first and drove in six in a 9-0 smashing of the favorites, and the start of a Cinderella run for the team. Cruising through two wins over VSU, a three-game series against Tulane was the last obstacle between the Boilermakers and their first-ever chance at a College World Series. The first game proved to be an exhausting pitching and defensive struggle, with bats silent on both sides, neither team scoring a run as the game dragged through extra inning after extra inning. Reed held on on the mound constantly, going far over a normal pitch-count, but pushing through seventeen innings of shutout ball. The Boilermakers still failed to score against the Tulane bullpen, however, and finally a dropped third strike, a fielder's choice, an error, and a failed throw to the plate on a groundout brought across the deciding run for the Blue Wave, handing Reed the loss. Purdue would battle back to take a Game 2 win off of a reawakened offense and Reed, despite operating on short rest, would once again take the mound in the final, deciding game.  

For the second time in the series, Purdue proved toothless against the Tulane starter and bullpen both, but Reed put together eight strong innings, not giving up a baserunner before a solo walkoff shot in the bottom of the ninth by Andy Cannizaro, the ball dropping out of the glove of Nick McIntyre and over the wall, ended the game, and knocked Purdue out of the tournament. The Green Wave won their first-ever entrance into the College World Series, and the Boilermakers were sent home. 

While unable to close, Reed's remarkable season in his senior year gave him awards recognition. Competing with rival Mark Prior of the University of Southern California, Reed would edge him out for three awards-the Golden Spikes, the Dick Howser Trophy, and the Rotary Smith Award. Reed, excelling academically, would also be named the Verizon Academic All-American Team Member of the Year, the first baseball player to receive the honor. Outside of baseball, Reed was elected to the Purdue chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the national liberal arts and sciences honor society. 

Officially graduating with his Bachelor's degree completed, Reed was considered a top prospect for that year's draft, ranked as the best lefthander on the board, and competing with Prior for the status of the best pitcher. Prior would also be selected ahead of Reed after the Twins chose Joe Mauer with the draft's first pick, the Cubs opting for Prior's superior curveball over Reed's raw velocity, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays picking the Boilermaker with the draft's third selection. Reed, however, unlike Prior, refused to sign, and returned to Purdue to work on his M.S. in Agricultural Sciences. 

After spending the previous two summers competing for the U.S. National Team in the Pan-American Games and Sydney Olympics, Reed would continue in baseball that year by participating in the Cape Cod Baseball League. One of a number of wooden bat summer leagues, the Cape Cod league was considered the premier league for collegiate players for simulated Minor League style competition over the off-season months of June through August. Aggressively courted by several teams in the league, Reed signed on to play with the Harwich Mariners, which bore the same name and logo of the Seattle Mariners team he had avidly followed in his childhood, and still consider a favorite. As with other players in the league, Reed stayed with a host family over the season, while pitching and batting without pay in the league's evening or night games, competing against other top college athletes. While Reed's performances were impressive, as he hit eleven home runs, stole twenty-three bases, and posted an ERA of 0.62, the Mariners narrowly missed the playoffs, finishing third in the West Division. 

2001-2002

Having redshirted his freshman year meant Reed still had three years of eligibility remaining on his collegiate clock, and put him back at the head of the Boilermakers' rotation entering into the spring of 2002. The team, however, was not the same one that had made a Cinderella run the year before. A number of graduating players depleted the Purdue lineup, and new recruits failed to live up to expectations. The previous year's team had boasted six All-Big Ten players in addition to Reed, the 2002 squad, only one.  

Reed himself stayed hot through the season, putting up a 14-2 record with a 1.59 ERA, while breaking the 20-50 mark batting and running, but with the team putting up a sub-.333 record in non-Reed decisions, a losing season meant the Boilermakers failed to even make the Big Ten tournament, a bitter disappointment after the previous year's successes. 

With Prior out of the way, the Pittsburgh Pirates took the chance in June to select Reed with the first overall pick in that year's draft, looking to entice him to the Major Leagues with a record nearly $6 million signing bonus, in a pick that was considered a risky one on the basis of 'signability.' Despite the offer, Reed once again refused, returning to Purdue for one final season to complete his education and collegiate career.  

With his summer remaining open from MLB commitments, Reed once again returned to compete in the Cape Cod league, spending the months with a host family and pitching and playing centerfield for the Mariners, but once again missed the playoffs, by only a single game's margin.  

2002-2003

Reed pitching for the Boilermakers in 2003.

The decision would prove to be a damaging one for Reed, though at season's start, it seemed prescient. The first three starts of the year would mark one of the best three-game stretches of his career. Reed, after being scratched from his first start due to an academic conflict, took the mound against Sacred Heart, and turned in a performance that came within a single strikeout of entering into NCAA record books, as he tied the longstanding record of twenty-six strikeouts in a game, the only baserunner allowed reaching on Catcher's Interference and being picked off at first. He followed up that performance on the road against Kentucky, holding the Wildcats to a single hit in fourteen shutout innings for a complete-game win. His third start would reach the peak. Facing off against Tennessee at Tennessee, Reed retired every batter he faced, a perfect game. By all indications, Reed's stock was only rising.  

It was the fourth start of the season that proved the problem. Facing off against Indiana State Reed started off the game with eight consecutive strikeouts, but had the number-nine hitter make contact against a hard fastball, hitting a comebacker that struck Reed in the chest, driving him to the ground. The smash hit shattered three ribs and collapsed Reed's left lung, and the pitcher had to be carted off the field and rushed to the emergency room, where he was stabilized.  

The procedures went smoothly, but Reed struggled to rush his recovery, abandoning his position in centerfield to aid in the efforts. He took to the mound only two weeks later, facing off against Illinois, but his attempted return quickly became a disaster. The clearly still-injured pitcher had none of his velocity or control remaining, and struggled with nerves after the hard-hit injury. Reed gave up three runs without recording a single out and aggravated his injury before be pulled from the game.  

With no clear recovery in sight, Reed applied for and received a medical redshirt, and sat on the bench watching the team for the rest of the season. Purdue, bereft of their ace, failed to make the Big Ten Tournament for the second consecutive year. Still attending the University itself, Reed completed his M.S., graduating second in his class, and completing his education.  

As the draft quickly approached, Reed's cut-short season injected significant additional drama to the draft debate, with the year's draft containing a top-heavy selection of top-flight prospects. While Reed, the most-watched potential choice, had been ranked as the draft's top prospect by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus, a number of other players were seen as top-flight picks. For position players, eighteen-year-old Delmon Young's projecting scouting reports verged on the generational, the big, strong, athletic centerfielder highly regarded, while Rickie Weeks, possessing the highest batting average in the history of the NCAA, and hitting nearly .500 in his senior year, were both legitimate contenders for the first pick with Reed's injury concerns, while a third, another pitcher, Bryan Bullington, had seen his own star rise after a dominating senior year, returning to college after a lower-than-expected pick the previous year, and seen as a pitcher, while with somewhat less upside than Reed, a significantly higher floor, and a safer option.  

The first team on the clock was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who had burned a draft pick on Reed third overall in the 2001 draft, and were unwilling to risk losing the first selection on another no-signing, choosing instead phenom Delmon Young. The Milwaukee Brewers chose next, but with ace-in-training Ben Sheets already on the team, and having suffered through the second-worst scoring offense in the Major Leagues the season before, the team chose second baseman Rickie Weeks, fresh off of his Golden Spikes award for the best player in college baseball. The third selectors, the Detroit Tigers, made a safety pick, electing for Bryan Bullington over Reed.  

With the top three prospects outside of Reed off of the board, the holders of the fourth pick, the San Diego Padres, were widely expected to pick up Reed, but deferred, shocking the baseball world by choosing instead University of Richmond righthander Tim Stauffer. Stauffer had led all of college baseball in ERA the previous year, and was rated highly as a prospect, but well below Reed, the decision with the decision coming under immediate controversy from analysts and fans, and stirring up questions as to the extent of Reed's injuries.  

The Baltimore Orioles, drafting fifth, finally took the chance to drop the still-available Reed. Reed marked the fifth consecutive year the Orioles had picked a pitcher in the first round, and was the highest-rated prospect they had ever successfully acquired. Reed, while retaining a year of eligibility for college, and having fallen several slots lower than expected, decided to sign with the Orioles. Working with agent Scott Boras, Reed collected a signing bonus of five million dollars, significant, but below what he had been previously offered by the Phillies and Pirates, and would only manage to negotiate a four-year, nine million dollar Major League contract without a player option, well below Prior's deal two years previous, the consequence of his choice to return to Purdue, and the team's lingering hesitancy over his injury.  

The passing over of Reed, especially by the Padres, remained a major point of discussion and debate over the following weeks. Reed's problematic contract history, refusal to sign in the previous drafts in which he was selected, made him a risky choice, and his injury only exacerbated that potential downside. Stauffer was viewed as a much lower-ceiling candidate, but with less chance of disaster, and making the surer choice was largely advanced as the theory for the Padres's selection, opting for modest projections over a boom-or-bust pick.  

Some time after the draft, however, a story broke, with backroom negotiations taking place between the Orioles, Tigers, and Padres leading into a series of heavily slanted trades, largely in prospects, between the two taking place immediately after the draft, the schemes uncovered as a likely participating factor in Reed's falling to the fifth pick. While technically still legal, the contentious and borderline actions drew controversy, perceived by some as a violation of the rules against the trading of draft picks in all but name, and raising the question of both the MLB policy on such trades and the acceptability of Baltimore's actions, though Reed himself, uninvolved, was not implicated.  

Reed left Purdue holding a variety of school records, setting school highs for his career in innings pitched, wins, strikeouts, and ERA, as well as setting school records for home runs and stolen bases.

On his signing, Reed was immediately sent into the Orioles farm system, to pitch through the remainder of the minor leagues season, the team's management looking to develop their potential star as quickly as possible, sending Reed immediately to the Ottawa Lynx, the club's newly-acquired Triple-A affiliate, bypassing the lower levels of the Minors in an unorthodox decision.

Professional Career

Ottawa Lynx (2003)

Calvin Reed's first start for the Ottawa Lynx

Reed would move from Lafayette directly to Ottawa, never stopping in Baltimore, the eagerneness of the front office putting Reed on the mound only two days after he had been drafted, slotting him into the Lynx's starting rotation.

Reed was still in the recovery phase, physically and mentally, from his injury, but the new locale seemed to have a positive effect on him. Slow first outings tailed up gradually into better performances.

The Lynx had one of their best seasons in recent memory, a number of promising young prospects, including Brian Roberts and newly called-up Tim Raines, combined with mainstays putting in career performances, in Robert Machado and Carlos Mendez, powered the Ottawa offense, while 33 year-old Rigo Beltran put up an unexpected resurgence to lead the team's pitching staff in ERA, posting a 2.71, top in the International League.

Reed's performance, while not exemplary, was promising, as the young pitcher struggled with control, but piled on the strikeouts, showing good durability in holding up on a tight pitching schedule, and finishing second on the Minor League squad in ERA.

The Lynx ended with a second-place finish in the North Division behind the league-leading Pawtucket Red Sox, and captured the Wild Card, advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Facing off against those same Red Sox in the first round, the Lynx put Reed on the mound to take on the league's All-Star, Bronson Arroyo to open the series. Reed walked eight through eight innings, but struck out nineteen, giving up two runs and leaving with a one-run lead that the bullpen held, giving the Lynx their first win of the series. Pawtucket came back with a strong 6-2 win in the next game, then hammered the Lynx in Game 3, 13-1, putting them at early risk of elimination, and prompting manager Gary Allenson to put Reed on the mound for the second time on short rest. Reed faced off against Bruce Chen, a future teammate of his, but was shaken early after Kevin Youkilis hit a sharp one-hopper to the mound that Reed only barely managed to glove before it struck him. Knocked out of his groove, Reed lost his control on the mound, and was nearly ejected after plunking three batters, leading to him letting two runs across in the first two innings. He managed to settle himself, and held on through the seventh inning, keeping the Red Sox from scoring again, as the Lynx managed to eke across enough offense to take a one-run win. The deciding game of the series was up next, with the Lynx having a chance to advance to the Governor's Cup Finals, but Ottawa could not muster together any offense, and lost the series to a 2-0 shutout while Reed watched from the bench, ending the team's season.

Following the disappointing playoff ejection in September, with several weeks off, Reed took the opportunity to rejoin the U.S. National team for the late October to early November American Olympic Baseball Qualifying Tournament for the next year's Olympics in Athens. The U.S. team dominated, particularly the pitching, not allowing a single run through their first four games, including a Reed shutout of Mexico, but they would ultimately fall to Cuba in the finals, though both teams qualified for the Games.

Though the two did not interact directly, it was during Reed's tenure with the Lynx that he was first seen by Aubrey Harrinton, an event which would occur twice more before Reed noticed Harrinton in 2011.

Considered seasoned enough to make a play at the Major Leagues, Reed was sent down to Sarasota, Florida for Spring Training in February of the following year. With an acceptable performance in the Grapefruit League, Reed was called up to the Majors to be placed on the Orioles's twenty-five man roster, and take his spot on the team, his call-up the final of a series of headline-grabbing moves the Orioles had made in the offseason, including the signing of major free agents Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez, and Rafael Palmeiro, gearing up for a playoff run.

Baltimore Orioles (2004-2010)

2004

Calvin Reed
Reed pitching for the Baltimore Orioles
Pitcher
Born	September 11, 1981 (Age 35) Beaverhead County, Montana
Batted	Left
Threw	Left
MLB Debut
April 4, 2004, for the Baltimore Orioles
Last MLB Appearance
October 4, 2015, for the Colorado Rockies
MLB Statistics
Win-Loss Record	188-148
ERA	3.32
Strikeouts	4,048
Teams
Baltimore Orioles (2004-2010) Colorado Rockies (2010-2015)
Career Highlights and Awards
AL Rookie of the Year (2004) 10x All-Star (2004, 2006-2013, 2015) 7x Cy Young Award Winner (2007-2009, 2011-2013, 2015) 5x Silver Slugger (2011-2015) AL MVP (2007) NL MVP (2015) MLB Triple Crown Winner (2007) MLB Wins Leader (2007) 4x MLB ERA Leader (2007-2009, 2015) 12x MLB Strikeout Leader (2004-2015) Pitched a perfect game on June 25, 2007 Roberto Clemente Award Winner (2009) Branch Rickey Award Winner (2009) Sportsman of the Year (2015)

Reed was named the starting pitcher for Baltimore's Opening Day game against the Boston Red Sox, and the much-hyped Rookie made his first start before a record sellout crowd at Camden Yards, just exceeding fifty thousand. His first major league pitch hit one hundred and three miles per hour on the radar gun, and he turned in a strong newcomer's performance, throwing a four-hit, two-run, seventeen-strikeout complete game, though allowing a home run, and taking the win. Traveling on his first MLB road trip to Florida, Reed only doubled down on his powerful opening performance, striking out eleven in a shutout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field, and then allowing only one, off of another home run, through eight, sending down thirteen on strikes as the Orioles pounded the Blue Jays 11-2 in Toronto. Reed would continue to pitch deep into games in subsequent starts, even as he slipped up after allowing four home runs in a short losing start at home against the Devil Rays in his fourth outing, and racked up an impressive innings count, following the coaching precedent set with young stars Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, putting a significant workload on the young pitcher's arm. As Reed began to rack up innings at a rapid pace, even moving into league-high numbers in that category, some criticism was raised over potentially burning out the lefthander's unseasoned arm, but the rapid development pace continued.

Reed's quick start only increased the celebrity that had built up around his rookie season The young Montanan's extreme pitch velocities and odd windup were easy eye-catchers and headline grabbers, and after several false starts in attempted college drafts, the well-touted prospect's initial season was heavily scrutinized by sports writers and commentators nationally. While his Opening Day outing against Boston had turned heads, it t was followed with three consecutive well-pitched losses, the result of a lack run support that would plague the lefthander for his entire career, Reed truly kicked off his fifteen minutes of fame in his first interleague game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 15, at Dodger Stadium. Scoreless through two, Reed came up to bat in the top of the third inning, and immediately smashed the first Major League pitch he saw deep into the outfield, and legged out the play for a sliding triple. His big swing would have been a notable highlight, but it was surpassed by his performance on the mound, as the Oriole would become the nineteenth rookie in MLB history to pitch a no-hitter, breaking the rookie record with eighteen strikeouts, but spoiling his own try at perfection with two personal fielding errors. The game would be the first in what would become a tendency towards strong pitching performances at Dodger Stadium.

Reed would enter the All-Star break having burst onto the scene with not only the most first-half strikeouts for a rookie pitcher by a wide margin, but the highest strikeout total in the league. Reed was selected as a reserve for the American League All-Star team, with Mark Mulder chosen as the starter. Put on the mound in the sixth inning, Reed would pick up two strikeouts and a groundout, as the American League won 9-4 off of a six-run first inning against Roger Clemens.

Following the All-Star break, Reed, who, despite being called up from the minors, was still a member of the U.S. National Team, having participated in the qualifying rounds, sought to travel with the team to that year's Summer Olympics, and petitioned manager Lee Mazzilli on the matter. MLB players typically did not play in the Olympics, with occasional exceptions, usually for non-U.S. players representing their home country, but the rookie pressed on his desire to play in the Games. Reed had the advantage of a unique situation given his call-up, that it was not a question of his joining the team, but rather simply allowing him to participate on the team he was already a part of, rather than striking him from the roster and leaving them a man short. Initially turned down, his appeals would eventually wear away the opposition, and he was given the chance to represent the United States in Athens. Reed was reunited with the squad of young stars, including several future major leaguers, one of which, Troy Tulowitzki, would later become a teammate of his on the Rockies. Despite the opportunity, Reed was not exempted from his Orioles responsibilities, expected to hold to his starts schedule regardless of Olympic competition. The dual workload required cross-Atlantic flights over the week's span, leading Reed to follow up a win over Italy with a pounding at the hands of the Oakland Athletics the following day, and string together complete games on back-to-back days in his next set, a blowout win over Australia to a back-and-forth loss against the Athletics once again, in Oakland. The workload was arguably excessive for the young pitcher, but Reed showed resilience against the harsh schedule.

Reed's first start was slated against that hapless Italian squad, who failed to score a run in three of their six Olympic matchups that year, and made it four for seven after a shutout from the American pitcher. After a high-scoring win over Australia, the next matchup would be a dramatic one, a rematch between the Americans and the revenge-hungry Cuban squad that had been shut out by the Americans behind nine scoreless innings from Sheets in the gold-medal match in Sydney. Doing his best to match that performance, Reed ultimately fell short, only making it through seven innings before finally being pulled by manager Frank Cruz after his pitch count ballooned with a pair of walks and several long series of foul balls, the pitcher visibly tiring. Leaving with a three-run lead, the bullpen was smashed for six runs in the next inning, and a U.S. rally in the ninth fell short, giving Cuba their sought-after revenge in a 6-5 win. Japan would manage to upset Cuba in round-robin, leaving the U.S. facing their island neighbor for a second time in the semifinals, only to once again come up short, losing 8-5, and being relegated to the bronze medal game. With Australia proving Japan's kryponite, beating the otherwise undefeated team for the second time to face, and lose to, Cuba in the gold medal game, the Americans would face the Japanese for bronze. Reed requested to take the mound, but was passed over in favor of young phenom Ricky Romero. Romero pitched a solid start, giving up only a single run in six innings, but the U.S. was unable to put together any hitting against Tsuyoshi Wada, and trailed by that one run entering the seventh. Reed would step in in relief, and put up four perfect innings to allow a U.S. comeback, one run in the bottom of the ninth pushing the game into extra innings, where a heroic three-run home run off of the bat of Taylor Teagarden won the U.S. the bronze medal. Reed would, though unaware of it at the time, near-miss a meeting with his future wife Aubrey Harrinton, who shot for a silver medal in Athens.

Reed's performance in the second half of the season tailed off from his earlier showings, leading to criticism over his inclusion on the National team, largely directed at Mazzilli, the young pitcher's taking up a heavier workload and additional travel on top of what was already a high-innings schedule taking heat. Though still pitching at a Major League level, he struggled from inconsistency, with general productive pitching outings punctuated by blown games in which the rookie seemed to struggle to enter a rhythm, including a September outing against the Devil Rays in which Reed gave up eleven earned runs allowed in a shootout, the Orioles putting together a massive rally to, well after Reed had been pulled, come back and take the game despite his awful performance. The erratic stretch was not the only difficulty Reed faced in his rookie year. The young fire-thrower demonstrated an significant, and later to become infamous, weakness to home runs, fast, straight pitches flying far when hit, and having difficulty keeping balls inside the park. The reputation of Camden Yards as a hitters field would only exacerbated the difficulty.

Regardless, for Orioles fans, having had to deal with mediocre roster that had finished fourth in the division for six consecutive seasons, Reed was the first legitimate ace the team had had since Mike Mussina. The fan-friendly rookie, noted for his time spent signing right-handed autographs for fans after every home game, became a hometown favorite quickly, with his 00 jersey quickly become a best-seller. The young pitcher's wild style, high speeds, long starts, inexperience, and lack of use of breaking balls made him an exciting player, even if potentially erratic.

Reed would end the season breaking the MLB record for most strikeouts by a rookie pitcher in the live-ball era, though that record was matched on the opposite end by Reed setting a new record for home runs allowed by a rookie pitcher, tying for the most home runs allowed in the MLB. Posting an ERA just under 4.00, a fifteen-win season, and a league-leading total in strikeouts, Reed would be the unanimous choice for the American League Rookie of the Year.

While his own rookie season would be partially overshadowed by Reed's, highly touted fellow lefthander Érik Bédard put up his own first full season. Though both were believed to need polish, Bédard criticized for his high number of walks allowed, Reed for his tendency to allow home runs, and both for their limited pitch selection, the two young arms, Reed 23, Bédard 25, both still well within the team's period of control, were considered to give the Orioles a possibility of developing an excellent one-two punch in their starting rotation in coming years, with high-potential twenty-three year-old righthander Daniel Cabrera putting the team in position for a potentially dominant pitching stable. Having improved their record for the third consecutive season, to 79-83, and with the league's eighth-highest scoring offense to complement their young pitching up-and-comers, Baltimore was considered by experts and fans to have an excellent chance of developing into a strong contender.

Following his rookie season, the AL Rookie of the Year would accept the opportunity to play in the MLB Japan All-Star series that November Granted the start in the seventh game, Reed had some difficult acclimatizing to the new league and its strike zone, walking the first two batters. Picking the runner off at second, Reed would then give up a single and allow a third walk. Faced with the bases loaded, Reed would throw his second pickoff of the inning at third, walk the next batter on four pitches, and finally induce a flyout to end the inning. After walking the first two batters in the second, Reed would find his groove, allowing no further baserunners and striking out eight until being taken out after the bottom of the fifth. The MLB would would ultimately lose the game, but take the series, 5-3.

2005

Coming off of his first offseason in Baltimore, fans and coaches both had high expectations for the young flamethrower. Reed would open on a protracted skid, winless through the entire month of April, and most of May. While racking up strikeouts at an impressive pace, Reed's struggled greatly with runners in scoring position, and gave up the long ball at a rate even higher than the already sky-high pace of his rookie season, while he struggled with control, the Ks meaning little when the southpaw was unable to keep the ball in the park, or runners from crossing the plate. His pitch velocity was down and placement below previously levels, as the Orioles struggled to keep at .500. Drawing closer to the midseason, Reed saw some improvement, throwing a pair of decent games while still fighting against his own slippage, but back-to-back blown starts in late June, in the midst of a nine-game losing streak by the Orioles, sealed the deal. Manager Lou Mazzilli was fired and replaced by Sam Perlozzo, a decision that would prove to affect Reed greatly.

Perlozzo, bringing in a new pitching coach, took a highly aggressive course of action in seeking to end Reed's slump, implementing strict new coaching mandates. Working with trainers, Perlozzo sough to modify Reed's pitching mechanics to a more orthodox, simpler form in windup and delivery. The second-year pitcher struggled to adapt to the alien style, and saw his numbers continue to worsen, but the increasing decline only led to attempts at further action. Perlozzo pressed for the development of breaking balls to add to Reed's repertoire for the first time in his career, and floating pitches that failed to break over the plate only gave up more home runs, Eventually, mechanics were set aside in favor of a new, heterodox usage strategy. Perlozzo pressed Reed into completing each of his starts, regardless of struggles, hoping it would lead to correction through a mix of necessity and inevitability. When that strategy failed, Perlozzo took a more aggressive approaching, pressing Reed into service in the bullpen, but retaining his starting position, a double-duty assignment. Reed would be pressed into long-relief situations, often without rest days, and was still expected to go the distance in his starts, and was quickly worn down by the workload, while failing to adopt the new mechanics at the accelerated rate that the scheduling was meant to bring about. Shifts in rotation alignment and relief roles, looking to break what Perlozzo saw as mental blocks with unexpected situations, proved unsuccessful as well, while an inconsistent trigger in pulling Reed, often in performances in which he was finding some level of success, added to the malaise. The demanding pace reached extreme levels, with Reed being put in for relief innings on an almost daily basis, constantly looking for a breakthrough. Reed's pitch counts and innings-pitched counts both ballooned, with game fatigue an increasing problem, the lefthander throwing for more innings on the regimen than any pitcher since Steve Carlton in 1980. Throughout the process, Reed would be kept on the Orioles roster, rather than the typical route of sending a struggling player back down to the minor leagues, the strategy drawing some criticism from both commentators and fans, especially as the Orioles began to slump in the season's second half, and playoff hopes faded away. Repeatedly taking to the mound on the intense schedule, Reed would find himself increasingly targeted for boos by the Camden crowd at home, as he continued to serve up home runs, walks, and hits.

Seeing no improvement, matters instead continuing to worsen, and disliking the methods, Reed would begin to push back against the changes, leading to bitter conflict in the locker room, culminating in his removal from several games, and attempts at various low-level penal efforts against him. Within the Orioles organization, Perlozzo pushed accusations that Reed was throwing games in an attempt to return to his previous assignment. Contesting the claims, Reed argued that management was placing him in impossible situations. Continuing until the end of the year, Reed's sophomore year would prove the worst full season of his career by far. Reed posted an ERA over 6 as part of a whopping two hundred and seven earned runs allowed, the most in a season since 1891, along with the ignominious title of a twenty-game loser,  as the Orioles, having moved up to the third position the previous year, finished last in the division, winning only a single one of their last seventeen games. The eighty-nine home runs he allowed were the most in a single season in MLB history by almost a factor of two. While Reed managed to put together a acceptable K/9 rate, leading the league in total strikeouts by sole virtue of far more innings thrown than any other, rather than by way of skill, the statistic was inflated by the sheer number of batters Reed faced, his actual K% rate far lower. The sole bright start in the disastrous year was on the other side of the plate, in batting, as Reed hit four home runs and hit over .500, though coming in only a handful of at-bats, in interleague play. While impressive, the numbers represented the equivalent of two or three games on a hot streak rather than anything vaguely sustainable for a full season, and did little for the team. The end result, viewed through the lens of Wins Above Replacement, was not simply the worst season of Reed's career, but one of the worst in Major League Baseball history.

Season's end left a bitter taste in the mouths of player, fan, and team alike, as an Orioles squad that had looked to be taking steps towards contention suffered an offensive implosion to match Reed's on the mound, scoring more than a hundred fewer runs than the season before, while the Rookie of the Year that fans had hoped for as a team leader and star was beginning to stoke fears of being a fluke or a bust. Reed's awful year was the primary point of disappointment for the team, especially as fellow young arms Cabrera and Bédard both pitched well, alongside a strong season from journeyman Bruce Chen, but the team's fall to the second-worst record in the MLB was not solely from the second-year pitcher's struggles. The team's batting, contributing to a top-ten offense the year before, could not even reach league average. Power-hitting Rafael Palmeiro was suspended during the season for using performance-enhancing drugs, a revelation that dropped both team and fan morale, with Reed in particular refusing to speak with Palmeiro after the revelation, and going off on his teammate for his use of PEDs in what was primarily an unrelated interview, exacerbating to some extent what was a public embarrassment. Slugger Sammy Sosa, traded for to deliver extra pop, turned in one of the worst performances in his career.

The massively disappointing season after high expectations led to major shake-ups in the Orioles organization. Executive VP and Co-GM Jim Beattie was let go, as Perlozzo brought in an entirely new coaching staff, and the Assistant General Manager and Director of Baseball Information Systems were both fired, all leading into what would be an aggressive, and contentious, off-season.

2006

Reed in a 2006 game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Ending the 2005 season highly disappointed with both his own personal performance, and his treatment under the new coaching regimen, the conflicts that had plagued Reed's year finally would come to a head in the off-season. Reed continued to push back against the new strategy and styles he was being forced to adopt, with spats with the Orioles staff staying mostly within the organization, with some rumors leaking out to die-hard fan networks, as the team prepared for a rebuild for contention in the coming season.

Despite the profession of the team owner that the Orioles would strengthen their roster significantly in the offseason, the team failed to pull in talent. Sosa, Palmeiro, and leftfielder B.J. Surhoff were let go, but the team failed in their pursuit of replacements, both Paul Konerko and Johnny Damon refusing to sign with the team, and several other high-tier free agents not being pursued.

After the failure to sign veteran starting pitcher Paul Byrd, a hoped-for bolstering of the starting rotation, the growing spat around Reed, the team's hoped-for ace of the future, only had more attention focused on it. The horrid season by the top draft pick and reigning Rookie of the Year had drawn attention on a national scale as well as local, commentators nationally reporting on the clubhouse tensions. With Reed entering his final pre-arbitration season, the player-manager strife only escalated as the report date for pitchers and catchers drew closer, and the dam finally broke, the dispute becoming publicized. Increased media and fan attention led to a drawing of battle lines between backers of Perlozzo and Reed. After the disastrous year, though, incensed fans were receptive to Reed's plea above that of the new manager, especially with the season's conclusion, and put increasing pressure on the Orioles staff. Faced with waves of fed-up fans, and with little to show for the previous method, the new management was finally pushed into walking back the changes, allowing Reed to return to his original position as a long-innings starter, alongside his natural pitching style.

The settling of the issue was not an instant fix to soothe the raw nerves of frustrated managers and players, or to placate win-starved fans, but did lead into a more productive series of actions late in the offseason. The Orioles made several trades, picking up a new outfielder in Corey Patterson, a reliever in LaTroy Hawkins, and a starter in Kris Benson.

With the offseason matters finally settled, Reed applied to join the United States national team for the first-ever World Baseball Classic, held in March, shortly before the season began. The Orioles contributed more players than any other team to the Classic, with two each on the Australian, Canadian, Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, and Dominican teams, as well as a player on the Mexican, and Dutch squads, though none on the national team. Despite his excellent performance on the 2004 Olympic team, Reed now was competing for spots against Major League All-Stars rather than college students, and with his poor 2005 season freshest in memory, he failed to make the cut, with Dontrelle Willis, Jake Peavy, Roger Clemens, and C.C. Sabathia chosen as the four starters. Reed made an attempt to be brought on as a reliever after his 2005 experiences, but was turned down again, and without any other international connections available, sat out the Classic. The U.S. team would ultimately go 3-3, and finish 8th in the tournament. Reed would head down to Florida with the other non-participating members of the team, going through Spring Training before the season start.

Expectations were muted as the season began, with the level of improvement in the changes questionable, but with some underlying hope of at least pushing back from the disaster of the previous season.

While he had generally won the right to return to his previous style, Reed's start schedule was adjusted slightly as the season teed off. With usage rates, while high, somewhat inconsistent in his rookie season before the chaos of 2005, a new spacing method was adopted, more akin to those of the 1980s than those common at the time, with slightly varying rest schedules aligning to set Reed to start thirty-seven games over the year. Reed would thus tend to throw an additional three or four games over the course of a year than a pitcher on a more typical five-man rotation, giving Reed a greater number of opportunities on the mound, both to perform for the team, and, on a personal level, to accumulate 'counting stats' with an advantage over other pitchers who did not have the same number of chances to lead off a game. Reed would retain the schedule through his time with the Orioles, and, exempting his trade-split season in 2010, up until the final year of his career.

Reed, with managers and fans alike both leery of his awful previous season, did not have the opportunity to make an Opening Day start as he had the previous season, Rodrigo Lopez being granted the honors.

Once he did take to the mound, the return from the previous season's changes did not immediately show fruit. Reed allowed two earned runs in six innings against Boston, a team he traditionally had pitched well against, though taking a loss as the Orioles only scored a single run, but gave up six in his next outing in Tampa Bay, and was drubbed for eight in a 15-1 blowout against the Cleveland Indians. His next matchup against the Yankees had him give up five runs, including a home run by pinch-hitter Andy Cannizaro, followed by two in his first win of the season against Seattle, and only one against the Rangers before allowing four to Detroit and Kansas City each, going through a fairly inconsistent first six weeks.

By late Spring, however, Reed had begun to hit his stride. He shut out the Red Sox in his second start against them on the year, and followed the outing with back-to-back one-run starts against the Mariners and Angels. After taking a loss after giving up four runs against the Yankees in his next appearance on the mound, Reed would continue his improved performance, putting together an ERA of 2.21 from the Boston game going into the All-Star break. Kenny Rogers was chosen as the American League starter, but Reed was selected as an alternate, and would give up one hit and no runs pitching the third and fourth innings in relief, receiving no decision.

Preparing to return to regular season play, the Orioles were ten games back in the division, and below .500, with playoff hopes looking slim, particularly with the strength of the AL Central. Even as the team struggled, Reed continued his hot streak coming back off the All-Star break, backed for the first time in his career by a strong number 2 starter, as Érik Bédard, who had had a similarly difficult start to his season, entering June with an ERA of nearly six, caught his own groove, with a microscopic ERA of 1.08 from the summer's start into the end of July. A combination of poorly timed run support, the team scoring one or zero runs nine times over the next two months, and struggles both in the depleted bullpen and with the team's other starters, Rodrigo Lopez averaging over six earned runs per game, keeping the team's one-two punch from translating into real success, as the Orioles stayed below .500, and double-digit games back from the division lead.

For Reed, the All-Star break had seen him batting with John Lackey for the top ERA in the American League, and with league-leading numbers in strikeouts in his resurgent performance, he was considered the leading candidate for his first-ever Cy Young award. His competition in the American League, as Lackey faded, came in the form of Johann Santana of the Minnesota Twins, the 2004 Cy Young winner and 2005 runner-up, who had gone on a hot streak shortly into August. The two would face each other for the first time that season late in that month at Camden Yards, where Santana got the better of the younger lefthander, allowing only one run in seven innings while Reed was hit hard for nine in an 11-1 Twins victory. A rematch would occur in late September near season's end, Santana's final start of the year, as his two runs allowed to Reed's three gave him a second victory, his nineteenth, and Reed's tenth loss, as after the bullpens were gone through, the Twins, in the thick of the pennant race, had taken the game 6-3.

Reed, seeing Santana's lead in the ERA race growing, had two games remaining. Facing off against the Yankees, a team he had consistently struggled against, he once again faced off against utility man Andy Cannizaro, the former Tulane star who had ended Purdue's 2001 NCAA tournament run. In a flashback moment, Reed yielded another blast to the same man, taking the loss. Recovering from his poor performance there, Reed would only throw one more game in the season, shutting out the division rival Red Sox once again at Fenway Park, winning the 75th game for the Orioles that year, an eleven-game improvement from 2005, but still below expectations, as the team dropped the season closer the next day.

Despite the additional chances, Reed's final win total, seventeen, fell two short of his competitors, his head-to-head losses to the hurler knocking him down. As Reed led the league by a broad margin in strikeouts, Santana took his own title in ERA by a comfortable margin over Reed.

The dramatic turnaround in performance from his 2005 season would give Reed the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award by online vote, but he set his sights on a higher prize, in a dead heat with Santana in the race for the Cy Young. Reed held the edge across most individual statistics, beating Santana in counting stats with strikeouts and innings pitched, and rate stats in WHIP, H/9, and BB/9, but not ERA. In addition to the win advantage, however, Santana had only half as many losses as Reed, six against twelve, for a winning percentage a hundred and sixty points higher. While an individual award, the Cy Young had often found itself tied to team success, and Santana's Twins also reached the playoffs, while Reed's Orioles fell well short. Santana's performance outpitching Reed in the two head-to-head matchups between the hurlers would provide an additional edge, and perhaps a decisive one. The latter advantages proved enough for the Baseball Writers Association of America voters, who awarded the Cy to Santana, Reed trailing closely behind in second, and another Twin taking the league MVP, Reed only just breaking the top ten.

Coming off of a resurgent season, a near-Cy Young and Triple Crown performance, Reed's upside entering into his first salary arbitration year appeared to be tremendous-but his struggles of the season before had sowed doubt in the minds of some of the Orioles upper management. Reed, working through agent Scott Boras, attempted to negotiate a long-term deal via a five-year extension, which would keep Reed with the Orioles up to his age-thirty season. The Orioles, by contrast, were looking for a one-year contract to let the twenty-five year-old further prove himself before they committed. Neither side was able to come to an agreement, and were forced to enter arbitration, where Reed submitted a near-record arbitration request,setting his value as second only to the record arbitration request of seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens two years before. The Orioles undercut the deal, likely too aggressively. offering barely more than Reed's salary the year before, and with a vast gap between the two figures, the numbers were sent to the arbitration committee. There, Reed, in a shocking development, won the case, the victory immediately upping his contract from near the league average in his last season to one of the highest in the league for the next year.

Despite his near-miss of the AL Cy Young Award, Reed would be granted the opportunity to start the first game of 2006's MLB Japan All-Star series, attending along with teammate Érik Bédard. Reed threw six innings in his start, striking out thirteen and allowing two hits with no runs allowed, taking the win as the MLB swept the series in five games.

While lacking the multi-year contract he had hoped for, the arbitration victory gave Reed's salary the spike he was looking for, and helped to rectify the financial woes the nascent organization had been experiencing, most of the new salary coming directly to the organization. Largely freed from such concerns, Reed took the opportunity in the off-season to travel south to participate in the Caribbean Winter Leagues, partially to maintain his edge, but primarily out of a joy for the sport and a desire to continue play. Tentatively putting his name forward in the new environment, looking into the Mexican Pacific League, Reed, as an established MLB star, immediately drew max-salary contract offers from several teams, though for a foreign-born player, this maxed out at approximately $10,000 per month, a fraction of a percent of his MLB salary. Reed would, receiving some mixed signals from various organizations, and, per his own admittance, feeling 'Out of place', would sign with the Águilas de Mexicali, a team located in a city immediately adjacent to the U.S. border, and that had former Major League players as alumns, including John Kruk and Mike Piazza, as well as some current American MLBers on the roster, most recently claiming Jonny Gomes.

Rather than continuing to pitch with the league, Reed would play centerfield for the shortened winter season as he had in college with the Boilermakers, resting his arm and keeping his batting skills fresh. His first season in the league was a somewhat shaky one. Having gone only 2 for 10 with a pair of singles in his limited batting opportunities over the season, he required some re-acclimation at the plate, and more significantly in centerfield, where he led the league in errors over the season's first half. Ever with the lower level of competition he faced, Reed put together a disappointingly poor season, not even ranking in the top half of his team, let alone the league, despite high expectations, adding very little value to the team outside of some stolen bases, largely tempered by a high number of times caught stealing, as the Águilas finished second-to-last in the league.

2007

With his stint in the Mexican Pacific League finished by January, Reed would return to Baltimore before to Sarasota with the team for Spring Training. Back in place as the team's ace, Reed was slotted to make the first start of the season.

The Opening Day matchup seemed to have been perfectly scheduled. The Orioles were visiting the Metrodome to square off against the Minnesota Twins, meaning that Reed would have the chance to go head-to-head against the man who has been chosen for the Cy Young award ahead of him, Twins ace Johan Santana, and make his case that it was he who had deserved the award.

Both teams had expectations running high. With not only the resurgence of Reed, but the breakout of Érik Bédard as a strong number #2 starter, an improved offense and a chance for up-and-down young pitcher Daniel Cabrera to make a mark, after an eleven-win improvement in the previous season, fans were hopeful for the chance to see the team's first winning season since 1997, or even an outside shot at a Wild Card berth. For the Twins, having gone on a tear with an almost .666 winning percentage in the season's second half to win the American League Central before a disappointing sweep in the ALDS, 2007 looked like it could be their season to go all the way.

Before a sellout crowd in Minneapolis, the season's first game did much more to validate the hopes of Orioles fans than Twins. Johan Santana was hammered in his first outing, giving up four runs in only six innings of work, while Reed went the distance opposite him, making a statement with a six-hit two-run no-walk complete game outing to start off the Orioles with an opening day victory. Losses to the Twins in each of the next two games dampened spirits somewhat, but after traveling to face the division rival Yankees and sweeping them in three games, Reed picking up his second win of the season despite giving up four runs in seven innings, restored the optimism of the team and the fans. The high-scoring affair, another outing in which Reed showed weakness against the Yankees, would be the most run support Reed was given in a game over the season, Orioles bats putting up seven runs behind him.

Reed, for his part, had avoided the early-season woes that had troubled him the last two years, though not quite pitching at the same level at which he had concluded the 2006 season, taking a loss in his next outing against the Tigers as the Orioles were only able to muster a single run in support. The team continued to cruise, however, and hit a new gear, winning nine consecutive games in sweeps of the Royals, Devil Rays, and Blue Jays, the team's longest winning streak since 1999. After their Earth Day game, the Orioles were 14-4, ten games above .500, and a game and a half ahead of the Boston Red Sox to hold the division lead, in the team's best start since 1966.

A sudden return to earth would it the O's hard. Bédard and Reed both took losses as they were swept by the Oakland Athletics, and then the Boston Red Sox. A series against the Cleveland Indians would see the Orioles pick up only one of three wins, Reed taking a loss despite giving up only one run in seven innings as the Orioles failed to score a single run until the ninth, and saw their bullpen hammered for five additional Indians runs. A third sweep in four serieses by the Detroit Lions saw the team sober up entering May, having lost nine of their last ten games, barely above .500, and now four and a half games behind Boston.

The Orioles split a second series against Cleveland, and swept Tampa Bay, Reed winning against the Indians and taking a no-decision in his start against the Devil Rays despite allowing no runs, as the Orioles failed to score themselves until the tenth inning. The Orioles took two straight from Boston, Reed pitching a shutout as the series's third game was rained out and rescheduled, then hit a bump, being swept by the Blue Jays, after losing two of three against the Nationals, including a 2-1 complete-game loss by Reed, and then losing another two-three series against Toronto, left only a game above .500. With the Athletics, who had previously ended the Orioles rally in painful fashion, Baltimore caught fire again.

Reed on the mound at Camden Yards.

Facing the Athletics for the first time, an excellent bullpen effort and a bottom-of-the-ninth rally gave the team a win off a Reed no-decision, and the victories continued to pile up. The Orioles would sweep the Athletics, avenging their previous losses, and then take down the Royals in three, going undefeated in the last week of the month, seven consecutive victories, after bringing down the Angles on May 31. With the first third of the season over, the Orioles were back in contention, with a 31-23 record, a disappointing five games back from the Red Sox in their division, but with a slim half-game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the race for the Wild Card spot.

For the second time that year, though, a hot streak would end with a prolonged cold one, this one worse than before. The Orioles lost five straight, looked to recover with back-to-back wins, and then dropped into rock-bottom, losing eight consecutive games. Reed continued to pitch well during the stretch, but it did little to help the team, as he accrued two scoreless no-decisions, the Orioles in each failing to put a run on the board while Reed was on the mound, and losing the game with the bullpen.

On June 18th, Perlozzo, with whom Reed had never truly reconciled, but rather engaged in a policy of mutually ignoring the other with the manager, was fired, the awful 2-13 stretch the Orioles had gotten caught in putting them below .500 for the first time that season. Previously second in the division, the Orioles were now in fourth, and twelve games back from the division lead, and a distant seven from the Wild Card. Not finished, the hopeful fires of the fans had been doused with cold water, as a winning season, let alone playoff hopes, seemed doubtful with the team's skid. Perlozzo was replaced by the team's bullpen coach, Dave Tremblay.

The hiring seemed to perk up the Birds almost immediately, with the Orioles battering the Padres 6-1 on the day of the hiring, and proceeding to sweep the series off of back-to-back-to-back excellent pitching performances from Reed, Bédard, and newcomer Jeremy Guthrie, who had been picked up, unwanted, off of waivers in the offseason, but had caught fire after a rough first month, posting a minuscule 1.70 ERA since April, second behind only Reed's over that period. Guthrie, a former first-round draft pick, had been let go by the Cleveland Indians after disappointing performances in the Minor Leagues, but had now come forth, wholly unexpected, as a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year in the American League, or even a potential Cy Young candidate. Bédard had hit his stride as well, putting up a 2.32 ERA over that same stretch, the young star trio, all under twenty-eigtht years of age, claiming the best three-player ERA in the Major Leagues among starters in that timeframe, a shining bright spot amid the woes of the Orioles bullpen, lineup, and bottom-order pitchers.

After the Padres series and an off day, the Orioles would, flush with restored hope, would take the short flight east to Phoenix to face the National League-leading Diamondbacks. Reed scheduled for the first start..

The game would prove to be a unique and historic matchup, though after the first inning, it did not appear to be. The Orioles picked up a run in the first inning, a positive sign, after the lack of run support in Reed's previous outings, but the pitcher proceeded to have his worst inning of the season by far, and one of the worst of his career, as he cycled through the entire Arizona lineup in the single frame, giving up six runs to but the Orioles in a massive hole before managing to escape the hit-and-error laden inning. Tremblay elected to keep his starter in the game despite the poor start, possibly electing to spare his bullpen in what looked like a likely lost cause.

In the top of the 2nd inning, the Orioles put a runner on base, and Reed drove them in with a two-run home run over the wall, bringing the score to 6-3. Back on the mound, Reed managed to recover from the awful start, and would not allow a baserunner for the remainder of the game. Reed would knock out two more home runs over the course of the game, batting again in the fifth inning and leading off the seventh, both solo shots, bringing the Orioles within a single run, and tying the MLB record for most home runs for a pitcher in a single game. Reed would make his fourth plate appearance in the top of the eighth inning, coming up to bat with two outs, and two runners on, the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at third. Reed swung at the first offering given, driving a deep fly ball that curved just foul and into the stands. A mound conference was called, and the next pitch went far inside, striking Reed on his cheek and knocking him to the ground. Reed eventually made it over to first base on his own, but a warning was issued to both dugouts, and Manger Dave Tremblay would be ejected after arguing the decision to allow the opposing pitcher to stay in the game. The next batter went to a three-two count and, the runners going on the pitch, would hit a low line drive up the middle of the field that struck Reed on the leg, ending the inning.

Despite his injuries, Reed would pitch the bottom of the eighth, and see the game end the next inning when the Orioles 2-3-4 hitters could not get a run in, a painful 6-5 loss, his fifth of the year. Reed would not get the opportunity to go to the plate again to try to break the home run record, and would not hit another for the entire rest of the season. The Orioles would drop both of the next two games, swept by the Diamondbacks.

It was Reed's next start, however, that would be one for the history books. Operating off of only two fulls days of rest, the rainout of the earlier Boston game had been squeezed in on June 25th, an Orioles off day, with the Red Sox series with the Mariners being pushed back onto their own open day later in the week. Set to start, Reed went twenty-four up, twenty-four down, retiring every batter he faced without a hit, error, walk, or hit by pitch, the game perfect through eight innings. Punctuating the moment, Reed's final pitch of the eighth inning, finishing his third strikeout of the frame would be measured at one hundred and seven point three miles per hour, an MLB record.

Entering the ninth inning, the score was still tied 0-0, the Orioles having stranded thirteen runners over the course of the game to that point, there was a real fear that the game would go into extra innings, forcing Reed to attempt to extend the potential perfecto into extra innings, something that had never before been successfully accomplished. With runners on first and second in the top of the ninth, and two outs, a bloop single to left field managed to score the only run of the game, as leftfielder Manny Ramirez made a throwing error on the play at the plate, giving the Orioles their only run, after the following batter grounded out to third.

With three batters left to face to make history, Reed, desperately seeking to keep the ball in the park, would throw only his sinker, inducing three consecutive groundouts to complete a twenty-one strikeout perfect game, the eighteenth in MLB history.

Reed's next start, against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on the Fourth of July, would come perilously close to making history again. Reed brought all of his momentum from the previous outing onto the field, and for the first eight innings once again did not allow a baserunner, accumulating eighteen strikeouts, and entering the bottom of the ninth inning not only with a commanding 9-0 lead, but a chance to be the first pitcher in Major League history to throw two perfect games. After striking out Luis Terrero, bringing him within two outs of history, White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe hit a sharp ground ball to the right side of the infield, which second baseman Brian Roberts muffed, letting the runner reach first base, and spoiling the chance at a perfect game. Still with the opportunity for a no-hitter, Reed then saw that escape his grasp as the very next batter, catcher Toby Hall, hit a ground-rule double. The White Sox manager sensing opportunity, Jerry Owens was brought in to pinch hit, and an apparently shaken Reed walked him, on a close strike call, loading the bases and completing the unfortunate series of events before an easy line drive back to the mound from the next batter let Reed out of the game with a double play.

Having burst past two hundred strikeouts by the break with his sudden burst, and with a perfect game and an almost-second fresh in the minds of fans, Reed would be elected to the All-Star game with over four million votes, leading the league, and chosen to start for the first time in his career. The first pitcher since Pedro Martinez to strike out the first three batters he faced, Reed threw an immaculate first inning, and would continue on the pace, striking out fourteen of fifteen batters through five perfect innings, Jose Reyes managing a bunt groundout in the top of the fourth, before controversially being removed by manager Jim Leyman before starting the sixth. The question was raised of the expectation of All-Star starters, as starting pitchers typically only threw for two innings, and only occasionally longer. Fan opinion split on whether Reed should have been allowed to continue the remarkable start, or whether he should have been pulled earlier, but the decision would not affect the outcome, as the American League took the victory 5-3. Reed would later to refer to the game as "My finest start." While the game, held at AT&T Park, gave Reed the opportunity to bat as a pitcher, he made no impact at the plate, walking twice.

Coming off of the All-Star break, the Orioles hopes were dim, but not quite dead yet, a 43-45 record placing them third in their division, eight and one-half games back from the Red Sox, and nine back from the Cleveland Indians for the Wild Card berth. The first game back from the break saw Guthrie get dinged by the White Sox for six runs in not even four innings, but after the early hit, the Orioles began to heat up. Taking the next three games of the series from the Sox, The Orioles were taken down by the Mariners 2-1 in their next series, and then caught fire, ratting off a nine-game winning streak, sweeping the Athletics, Devil Rays, and Yankees in succession, and then broke the win streak record they had set only just earlier that year with a win over the Red Sox on the last day of July. The Orioles's star trio dominated over the run, going a combined 9-0 since the middle game of the Mariners series, with all three posting a Sub-2 ERA. The tear brought the team within four and a half games of the division lead, and two and a half of a Wild Card berth.

Unfortunately, the Orioles's long-running weakness would rear its head. After a one-run outing from fourth starter Steve Traschel and a reasonable three runs in five and a third innings from Guthrie, the bullpen blew both games against the Red Sox, giving up four runs each in the seventh inning of both, losses that counted for double, coming against the division leader. After Reed and Bédard picked up wins against the Devil Rays in a sweep, but Guthrie's blip against the Red Sox turned into a larger problem, as he gave up six runs in four innings against Seattle, an issue that was overshadowed by the bullpen giving up a whopping sixteen runs over the home trip's other two games, as the Mariners swept the Orioles. With divisional serieses coming up, the Orioles took two of three games against Boston, New York, and Toronto in succession,holding off a Yankees hot streak to hold their position in 2nd in the division.

The last win of the stretch, at the Rogers Center, had had special significance. Raising the Orioles' record to 66-56, ten games above .500, far more significantly, it moved Baltimore into a tie with Detroit for the American League Wild Card berth. With a quarter of the season left to play, the Orioles had a real shot at playoff contention, the first time that the team had even been tied for a Wild Card berth after the All-Star break since 1997.

Returning home from Toronto, Bédard led the Orioles to a win over the Rangers off a seven-inning, two-run performance, improving their record to 67-56, keeping the tie with the Tigers, who collected a win of their own against Cleveland. The game would prove to be the high point of the season.

Taking on the Rangers again in a doubleheader the next day, the Orioles' greatest weakness reared its head. Down 5-3 entering the sixth inning after Daniel Cabrera got hit for five runs in the fourth inning, the Orioles bullpen would make MLB history by giving up twenty-four runs before the game was brought to a close, in the single biggest blowout loss, and greatest number of runs allowed, in Major League history. The next game of the doubleheader was less embarrassing, but counted for just as much in the standings, as Jim Hoey gave up three runs in one inning to blow the save.

Matters would only grow worse. Over the next nineteen games, the Orioles would lose fifteen, all four wins coming from Reed starts, as the team collapsed. The news would not get better. Bédard, who had uncharacteristically struggled in a loss against the Twins, was shown to have strained his oblique in the game by an MRI scan, and would miss the remainder of the season. The third cog of the pitching trifecta, Guthrie, who had lost his edge, posting an ERA of 5.72 since July, strained his own oblique in an early September start, leaving the starting slots behind Reed to be filled in a rotation by committee of bullpen pitchers, who combined for an astronomical average ERA of 7.78, in arguably one of the worst collections of relief pitchers in recent MLB history.

Even as the team faltered around him, Reed's performances only improved. Facing the Boston Red Sox twice, closing out August and shortly after in an early September match, Reed shut out the Massachusetts team both times, capping off a remarkable stretch of dominance against that squad that had seen him post five shutouts against them in a single year. He did not slow up after. Through the season's entire second half, Reed would not record a single formal loss, though the team would lose two no-decisions of his in matchups against the Yankees and Devil Rays, and broke the 20-win mark for the first time in his career during the Boston shutout. His ERA plunged still further, to a minuscule 0.78 since the All-Star break, breaking the MLB record for lowest second-half ERA, until that record would be later broken by Jake Arrieta for the Chicago Cubs in 2015, a pitcher who was a teammate of Reed's at the time. Strikeouts continued to pile up at a prodigious rate, and by season's end, Reed had surpassed the four-hundred strikeout mark for the first time since 1886, largely through leading the league in innings pitched and complete games for a second consecutive year. In strikeout rate, Reed would edge out Éric Gagné's record for strikeouts per nine innings by less than a tenth of a point, though the record would later be surpassed several times by other pitchers during Reed's career. Pulling out wins even with limited run support, Reed would fall only one shutout short of tying Orioles great Jim Palmer's franchise record. Over the final stretch of the season starting with the Texas loss, the Orioles were 13-26, nine of the wins coming from the Whip. Baltimore was left at 80-80 following a Reed shutout against the Yankees on September 28th, with a real shot at a winning campaign, but would lose the last two games of the season to once again fail to reach .500, the tenth time in ten years that Baltimore had failed to put up at least as many wins as losses.

For Reed, however the botched playoff bid may have personally affected him, his individual case was fully intact through the disastrous end to the season. League-leading statistics by broad margins in wins, strikeouts, and ERA made him the first pitcher since Dwight Gooden in 1985 to win the Pitching Triple Crown, and in decisive fashion, putting him forward as the undeniable front-runner for the American League Cy Young award, which he would take, for the first time in his career, with a unanimity of first-place votes.

Reed's dominant year and historic second half in particular, as well as his clear visibility as a sole bright spot on a failing team, had his name put forward for Most Valuable Player contention. With Alex Rodriguez as his strongest competition, the writers' vote would go to Reed, perhaps aided by the four-strikeout performance Reed had posted against the third baseman in their late-season matchup, making him the first pitcher to win MVP honors in the twenty-first century.

Fresh off a historic season, and with a new President of Baseball Operations hired for the Orioles in the manager turnover, Reed entered into contract negotiations with a great deal more leverage, and high expectations. A Cy Young and MVP now both in his pocket, Reed, through agent Scott Boras, reportedly expressed his desire for a deal that Boras called "commensurate to his success" that would make him the highest-paid player in baseball over Alex Rodriguez, whom Reed had beaten out for the AL MVP. Some combination of the remarkable season, his agents reputation, and a willingness to invest on the part of the Orioles brought the deal together. The final agreement was a four-year contract that, back-loaded, would see Reed's salary exceed Rodriguez's by the back years of the deal. The deal bought out two years of Reed's free agency, and marked the third-largest pitcher contract on record, just short of Barry Zito's contract the previous season, and Johan Santana's contract signed that same year.

Even after signing the mammoth deal, Reed would return to Mexicali for another short season of MPL baseball in centerfield. Still struggling through slowly trying to regain his swing at the plate, Reed partially managed to find his groove again in centerfield, alternatively wowing crowds with racing catches and powerful outfield assists and infuriating them with misjudged fly balls and errors, still prone to the same painful fielding weaknesses that he had dealt with through high school and college. The team as a whole, which had been second in the league in batting average the year before, saw their performances take a dive, ranking worst in the league in the category while marking the worst record in the league by a significant margin. On the poor-hitting team, Reed managed to place second among his fellow Águilas players in average and home runs.

2008

Even after the monumental meltdown to end the previous season, the Orioles had good reason to be optimistic coming into 2008. Much of the reason for the late-season collapse and struggles had come from the injuries to the team's #2 and #3 starters, and with both Bédard, who, despite his injury and missing most of the end of the season, had finished sixth in the AL Cy Young vote, and Guthrie, who's late-season decline was attributed to his injury going too long unreported, behind Reed, the Orioles had the arguably the best pitching trio in the league, as well as one of the youngest. With Reed at 26 years old, and Guthrie and Bédard both at 27, the Orioles had a real chance to set up a dominant core rotation for years to come. Daniel Cabrera, 26 himself, remained in the four-spot, the Orioles continuing to bet on the wild pitcher's high ceiling, had shown sparks of potential, while Steven Trachsel, acquired from the Cubs the year before, was hoped to be able to hold down innings with a steady, if unremarkable, veteran performance. The three had graced the cover of Sports Illustrated earlier in 2007 as predicted stars of the future, and expectations ran high.

While Baltimore's offense had not been impressive the year before, it was the bullpen that had been truly disastrous. Under the new leadership of Tremblay and Andy MacPhail, new Head of Baseball Operations, the Orioles made an effort to shore up the weak point, trading Miguel Tejada, the Orioles leading hitter and a three-time All-Star and MVP finalist as well as two-time Silver Slugger with the team before an off season in 2007, to the Houston Astros for three young arms, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, and Dennis Sarfate, to shore up the bullpen, along with a pair of batters.

In January, though, the new management made another deal, one that would prove much more controversial. Bédard was traded away to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for unproven outfield prospect Adam Jones and five new pitchers, players that were not seen as near to the Canadian lefthander's skill level, but well below his salary. Even after the team had sunk its dollars into Reed in the early fall, accusations of a penny-pinching teardown to save money began to float about, and picked up with the continuation of the offseason, as the team looked to be on a cost-cutting spree, letting free agents Corey Patterson and Kris Benson walk, trading high-salary catcher Ramon Hernandez for cheaper minor leaguers making no major new signings, and ultimately, even with Reed's massive new contract on the record, managing to slash payroll by over fifteen million dollars. Rumors of a Brian Roberts trade only amplified the growing grumbles, but the front office would eventually settle down with Spring Training approaching, with the potential fan flare-up simmering down. Reed expressed regret at losing a teammate and friend, but wished Bédard well in his public comment, but the generally mild-mannered public figure did not criticize management on the issue, something he would later, after his own trade, say he considered 'a mistake'.

Reed's 2008 season, if not quite as monumental as his previous, proved once again to be a dominating performance. Operating at his peak under Tremblay's managerial style, Reed would once again be selected as the starting pitcher for that year's all-star game, leading the league in ERA and strikeouts at the break. For the second consecutive year, the game would be controversial, for the opposite reason. Terry Francona of the division rival Boston Red Sox was managing the game, and kept Reed in for the duration, a nine-inning two-run start that would be the first complete game in All-Star game history. While Francona received some flak for an alleged attempt to tire out or expose to injury a rival team's top player, Reed commented on the matter that he appreciated the opportunity to pitch the full game.

Entering into the month of August, Reed, for the second time, petitioned for the opportunity to play on the U.S. National Team. Unlike in 2004, Reed was not a present member of the team, and while other MLB teams did send players, the roster was made up of primarily minor leaguers, reserves, or part-timers, rather than starters such as Reed. Reed had had an excellent relationship with new manager Dave Tremblay, however, and, potentially partially out of some fear of backlash with the memory of the contentious 2005 season still in memory, the decision was not countermanded by upper management.

Reed thus joined the Olympic squad, accompanied by teammate Jake Arrieta, a recently drafted young arm, while reuniting with past National Team teammates, including Taylor Teagarden. Reed was the only accomplished Major Leaguer on the team, but the squad possessed a promising stable of future MLB hurlers, with Trevor Cahill, Arrieta, and much-ballyhooed first-pick Stephen Stasbourg all becoming All-Stars later in their careers. The presence of both Reed and Strasbourg, the current star and the highly touted future ace, was a notable source for optimism for the team, though Cuba remained, as always, the odds-on favorite.

The tournament started well for the U.S. team and both pitchers, neither Strasbourg nor Reed allowing a run as the U.S. collected its first two victories over South Korea and the Netherlands. Reed next start would not be as easy, as he would be forced to face Cuba once again, on short rest, a team he had never managed to defeat, their only loss at U.S. hands coming from Ben Sheet's complete game in 2000. With the opportunity to finally break away from his woes against the Cuban squad, Reed proved unable to. Battling back and forth through five innings, giving up hits and walks and only barely managing to get the outs needed, he was finally pulled in the fifth inning after loading up the bases. The U.S. held a two-run lead, and the relief managed to get out of the jam Reed had pitched the team into without allowing a run. Going into the ninth inning, the U.S. had a chance to preserve the game off of a solid relief effort, score tied 3-3, but Jeff Stevens, brought in to close out the game, let the Cubans knock in two runs, and the U.S. couldn't catch up in the bottom half of the innings, scoring once, but letting the tying run die at third, taking the loss.

Still expected to maintain his MLB schedule, Reed caught the redeye back to the United States to take to the mound against Detroit after the tough loss against Cuba. Making the start that next night at Comerica Park, Reed put together a fairly mediocre showing, giving up four runs in seven innings, and the Orioles offense failed to put runs on the board, leading to a loss. The team would take the next game, however, the win marking their fifth in six games and their ninth in the last twelve. More importantly, with Boston having dropped its last two games, the win brought the Orioles into a tie for the American League Wild Card berth with the Red Sox, for the second consecutive season, after a ten-year drought, putting themselves directly in playoff contention with less than a quarter of the season to go.

With his next start a week off, Reed would return to China, where his teammates were cruising through preliminary play. The U.S. would not lose another game going through round-robin, Arrieta not allowing a single run against host team China, and the U.S. picking up wins over Taiwan and Canada. With a birth in the elimination round secured, Reed would throw the last game of that first round against Japan, a team that, unlike Cuba, the lefthander had always performed well against. While advancing to the medal round was guaranteed, seeding was not. A victory would have the U.S. play Japan a second time to seek to advance to the gold medal game, but a loss would have the U.S. face Cuba once again, creating a sense of urgency for the American squad. Neither lineup could get going early in the game, with fairly mediocre pitching by both Reed and his counterpart matching up against even worse batting. By the tenth inning, neither team had even managed a hit. Finally, entering the eleventh inning in a game utterly devoid of offense, new International Olympic Committee rules for that year's games put a runner on first and second. The free baserunners finally proved enough to wake up the American bats, as they drove in both free runners and two more in a four-run top of the eleventh, while Reed had the uncommon good fortune for his first pitch to, very unluckily for the Japanese squad, be grounded directly to third base, resulting in a triple-play, and the unexpected oddity of the first one-pitch inning in Olympic history.

The win set the U.S. up to face Japan a second time in the semifinals, and Strasbourg faced a far greater challenge than Reed had, as the Japanese offense got itself going. Giving up two runs in the third inning, Strasbourg appeared to have allowed a third on a solo shot in the top of the fourth, but the play was controversially called back as a ground-rule double, despite footage seeming to indicate that it had indeed cleared the ballpark. Without instant replay, the call stood, and Strasbourg made it out of the inning before being relieved. The U.S. scored in the bottom of the inning and again in the fifth, but not again, and the score was 2-2 at the end of the ninth, heading into extra innings. Reed volunteered to step in in relief, but was turned down, manager Davey Johnson, a former Oriole himself, preferring to keep the pitcher's arm fresh for the potential gold-medal match. It proved to be the right decision. For the second time, the game entered eleven innings, Japan scoring two in the top of the 11th, but Taylor Teagarden once again, for an incredible second time in two Olympics, hit a walk-off three-run home run to send the U.S. to the gold medal match.

Reed throwing a sinker in the gold medal match against Cuba

Reed would be facing Cuba once again, a team he had still, in five separate years of international competition, never beaten. The gold-medal match would be where Reed would finally get the monkey off his back. A pitching duel throughout, Both teams went into the twelfth inning scoreless, before the U.S. knocked in one on a pair of flyouts. Reed went into the bottoming of the inning with a one-run lead to nurse, picked off the two baserunners put on the bags, and struck out the last batter to clinch the game, finally taking home a win against the Cuban squad, and winning the U.S. its second gold medal in the sport, in the last year baseball would be a part of the Olympics until 2020.

Olympics would mark the third, and final, time in which Reed near-missed Canadian athlete Aubrey Harrinton.

Reed's previous Olympic diversion in Athens in 2004 had had a distinctly negative effect on his productivity, and early indications from his return were not promising, as a pair of poor outings led to losses against the Yankees and White Sox, both at Camden Yards. The dip in performance was especially ill-timed, as the Orioles tumbled into a 2-12 slump that pulled them back down to .500, and knocked them back to nearly ten games behind the Red Sox in their Wild Card bid. Reed would recover his form quickly, and would pitch into the end of the season in stronger form than he had started it, giving up a combined total of three hits and two runs in two wins against the Indians at home before a shutout at the Rogers Center, and a thirteen-inning scoreless match in Yankee Stadium that ended in a no-decision team loss, but the Orioles failed to do the same as a team, as they lost fifteen of their last twenty games to close out the season, burying their playoff chances utterly.

As the team's pursuit of the playoffs failed, Reed's own pursuit of a historical landmark in seeking to become the first pitcher since Sandy Koufax to win back-to-back Triple Crowns fell short as well. While sweeping in to broad victories in strikeouts and ERA, Reed could not gather the necessary win total, falling three short of the necessary amount, and, with his two tough post-Olympic losses and the extra-inning no-decision in New York all ending without a win, failed to even make it to a twenty-game winner, as he struggled to deal with with limited run support from batters in his starts, leading the league in losses in which the pitcher's team scored two or fewer runs.

The problems ran deeper than the ace's own lack of batting assistance, as a below-average offense was backed by one of the league's worst pitching rotations behind its starters. While Reed and Guthrie both put together strong seasons, though the latter could not quite reach the dominance he had shown in early 2007, the loss of Bédard was clearly felt. Even with Guthrie, with Reed excluded, the team was second-worst in the league behind Texas in ERA, and by far the worst with Guthrie also left off the count, as three of the pitchers in the cobbled-together six-man rotation put up ERAs over 6, and Cabrera again failed to deliver on his promise, striking out less than five batters per nine innings, while walking nearly as many, while the bullpen only barely surpassed the low bar of the previous season's historically bad performance.

The race for the American Cy Young award, after Reed's unanimous victory the season before, came into contention with the performances of Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians, and the debate between the two pitchers focused almost entirely around a single issue and debate, that of the win-loss statistic. Wins against losses had long been a favorite statistic of veterans and traditionalists as a standard of pitcher performance, while newer experts tended to see the statistic as largely unimportant or even worthless, earned run average and other stats of direct performance being preferred. The two pitchers would serve as a microcosm of the argument. Both pitchers had thrown similar numbers of innings, Lee picking up six and a third more than Reed, but the Oriole led in almost every major category, with an ERA thirty-five points lower, a WHIP more than forty points lower and more than double Lee's strikeous and shutouts totals. Lee's areas of superiority were similarly clear over his opponent, and centered around victories, where he had 22 to Reed's 17, and losses, where he had only 3 compared to Reed's nine. Traditional arguments were again made, that wins were as much a reflection of the offense's performance as that of the pitcher, with the Indians one of the highest-scoring teams in the league compared to the below-average Orioles, and Reed receiving far less run support than Lee, who averaged 5.58 runs/game in support, with five games of over ten runs scored by his offense, compared to zero for Reed. The traditionalist argument held that the ultimate sign of dominance is in victories regardless of outside factors, and that Lee's win total and especially win percentage were far superior to Reed's.

The vote and decision would ultimately go to Reed by a margin that was not particular comfortable, but did not come to the level of nail-biter. Lee's win-loss ratio alone was unable to match with Reed's league-leading numbers in nearly all other major categories, and the Indian pitcher's sluggish end to the season, putting up an ERA over 4 in his last four games, and losing his last start, was an additional factor not endearing him to voters, letting the Oriole in to take his second Cy Young award.

Entering into another offseason, Reed would make his way back to the Águilas, and finally put his swing back together returning to form against the significantly weaker-than-MLB competition, becoming the league's only player to post a 20-20 season, twenty home runs and twenty stolen bases, and finishing in the top ten in batting average, as Mexicali put up a winning record for the first time in several years, but fell well short of the pennant.

2009

The World Baseball Classic was making its return for its second tournament just prior to the season start once again, and Reed, for the second time, applied. This time coming off of back-to-back Cy Young victories rather than a 6.00 ERA year as in 2006, and with less big-name players joining the U.S. squad, Reed was selected as a starter for the U.S. team, joining his Orioles teammate Jeremy Guthrie in the rotation, as well as second baseman Brian Roberts. Flying to Toronto during Spring Training to participate in the United States' Pool C at the Rogers Center, Reed would ultimately pitch three games for the U.S. team. After a rough start by Jake Peavy, the U.S. held on in the ninth to defeat the homefield Canadian team 6-5, in the most-attended game of pool play. Reed was given the team's second start, against Venezuela, and would go on a remarkable tear against the Latin American team. Reed struck out each of the first twelve batters he faced, including both Melvin Mora and César Izturis, fellow Orioles teammates playing for the Venezuelan squad. Reed was, however, forced to retire before the fifth inning due to WBC pitch-count rules, limiting pitchers to seventy pitches in the first round, which he would object to. His removal did nothing to change the outcome, however, as a massive explosion of U.S. offense led to a crushing 15-3 victory. The next game against the same Venezuelan team would not go nearly as well, as Reed's Orioles teammate Jeremy Guthrie was blasted by the Venezuelan hitters, giving up four runs in only two innings in a 5-3 loss in the Pool C seeding game that set up the U.S. against Pool D winner Puerto Rico in the next matchup.

Flying south to the Miami Gardens in Florida, the U.S. team was crushed by their territory's squad, in an 11-1 pounding that was called by mercy rule after seven innings. Peavy giving up six runs in the first two innings alone. Reed was up to start the next game, facing off against the Netherlands team. Reed would fall well below his previous performance against a Dutch lineup that was surprisingly competitive, despite fielding only a handful of generally unknown MLB players alongside some native talent. Reed would be blasted for ten hits over the course of only four innings, only managing to keep a run off of the board on the backs of excellent fielding behind him, including a second inning triple play, and a dramatic throwout at the plate from left field by the strong-armed Ryan Braun in the third. The American offense would find their bats again, putting in nine runs for a plenty large cushion to hold off a late Netherlands rally for a 9-3 win. Having to face Puerto Rico once again after their embarrassing blowout loss, the U.S. went into the ninth inning facing elimination, down 5-3. The team would make a last, desperate rally against the Puerto Rico closer, J.C. Romero of the Philadelphia Phillies. Romero was pulled after giving up several hits and a run, loading the bases, to be replaced with Fernando Cabrera of the Boston Red Sox, but a single to right by David Wright scored Brian Roberts and the winning run in Jimmy Rollins, keeping U.S. hopes alive, and qualifying them for the championship round.

The U.S. squad would face off for the second time in the tournament against the Dominican Republic in a seeding game, the winner to face the Pool 1 runner-up, the loser to face the champion. Jeremy Guthrie started as in the previous matchup between the two teams, and just as in that game, could not handle the Dominican batters, giving up only one hit in the first inning, then being pummeled for six runs in the bottom of the second, pulled before the inning was over. The U.S. team batted back to make the score 3-6, then after John Grabow allowed a run in the bottom of the fourth, to bring the came to a close 6-7 entering the bottom of the sixth. The pitch-count rules stymied the U.S. squad as they struggled to find their man for the mound, Reed and anothers unable to contribute due to rest rules in the WBC. Their fifth pitcher of the game, LaTroy Hawkins, would give up three runs in the inning, and the U.S. would not score again, losing 6-10, to face Pool 1 champion Japan in the championship round in Dodger Stadium against Los Angeles.Guthrie would become the only two-game loser in the tournament.

Reed went to the mound for the start against Japan in the single-elimination semifinal. Pitching a solid game, the lefthander managed to hold the Japanese scoreless through seven innings before exceeding the pitch-count limit, forcing him out of the game with the U.S. up 2-0. The Japanese had moved to their relief pitchers before the finish of the fifth inning, starter Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox, the reigning WBC MVP, having run through his pitch count early, and the Americans added on two runs to their lead, going into the bottom of the 8th up 4-0. Joel Hanrahan, a former starter from the Washington Nationals converted to closer, was tapped to relieve Reed. With a runner on third and two outs, the U.S. had a chance to end the inning and enter the ninth with a commanding lead on a ground ball to Derek Jeter. The usually reliable Jeter missed the first baseman on the throw, however, leaving the runner safe and allowing a run to score. A mound conference ensued, and reliever Scott Shields was brought in to replace Hanrahan, but the error-reached runner stole second base, and after a single from Ichiro Suzuki, hitless to that point, scored. The next batter doubled, scoring Ichiro and cutting the American lead to 4-3 before a groundout to Roberts ended the inning.

With a one-run lead to preserve in the ninth, and a chance to add to it in the top of the inning, the Americans came up to bat, and future MLB star Yu Darvish went to the mound for Japan. Jeter grounded out on a 3-1 count, but Jimmy Rollins got on base with a single, advancing to third after a strikeout by David Wright. The U.S. failed to take advantage of the opportunity, with Adam Dunn called out on strikes, bringing the team to the bottom of the ninth. J.P. Powell was put on the mound, but could not hold the lead, letting Japan tie the game with a run scored, and after proving unable to score in the top of the tenth, a second run allowed by Loswell gave Japan the walk-off victory, eliminating the United States from contention. South Korea's previous day victory had the U.S. matched up against Venezuela for the third-place spot, but rather than playing an additional game, Venezuela's superior 6-2 record versus the United States' 4-4 one gave them the bronze medal, and leaving the U.S. empty-handed in fourth. Matsuzaka would again be awarded MVP after Japan beat South Korea in the final, while Reed beat out Yu Darvish to lead the tournament in strikeouts, while one of eighteen pitches not to allow an earned run in the competition, throwing the most innings among those pitchers.

Returning to the MLB, three years at the top of his game by an already well-known young star had not gone unnoticed, and after leading the league in several pitching categories, 2009 would see him atop the league in another category, if one off of the field. Reed's famous #00 Orioles jersey, long leading the team, flew off of stands across the league, dethroning Derek Jeter's #2 as the best-selling in the MLB for the first time. Outside of official MLB merchandise, Reed sold apparel personally on the side, the funds being directed wholly into American Dream.

On the field, Reed would continue to produce on the mound at top-tier levels, though such performance was not replicated about him. Batting, at least above-average before, plunged in its production, while outside of Reed, the team's pitching would take sole ownership of the lowest spot in the league. The Orioles looked inevitably bound towards another division-bottom finish, with the inability to perform depressing Reed's win-loss totals relative to other elite pitchers. Reed started the All-Star game for his third consecutive year, avoiding controversy for once under the management of Joe Maddon, allowing two hits in three scoreless innings and taking home the win.

With Reed driving for a third consecutive ERA title, he faced a rival in Zach Greinke of the Kansas City Royals seeking to claim the accomplishment for himself. Reed and Greinke, though drafted in different years, had both made their rookie campaigns in 2004, with Greinke placing third in votes for rookie pitchers for Rookie of the Year. Reed had had the earlier breakout, in 2006, but Greinke had, after several productive seasons, timed his to match a potential new rival. The two would meet once in an early-season May 15th pitcher's duel. Both pitchers allowed only one run through seven innings before Greinke was pulled after breaking past 100 pitches. Finishing out the game, Reed failed to take advantage of the opportunity, yielding a run in the ninth and taking the 2-1 loss. Swapping places several times in angling for the lowest number, Reed took the lead in August with Greinke's struggles, but a return to form for the Kansas City pitcher would see Reed pursued doggedly, the totals growing slowly closer.

Early September finally found separation, as Reed stumbled, and Greinke surged. After ending August strong, Greinke gave up only two earned runs combined over five September starts, a 0.55 ERA on the month, pushing him into what could become a decisive lead, as Reed's opportunities for recovery grew slimmer..October 3rd marked the final start of each pitcher for the regular season, both teams at the bottom of their divisions and far from the playoffs, playing only for pride-and for the two dueling aces, the ERA title. Both faced top-ten scoring teams, Reed the Blue Jays, and Greinke the Twins, though Reed had the advantage of a slightly easier matchup, and home-field, edges that he would need for a chance to come from behind. Reed's ERA entering the matchup was 2.23, and Greinke's, 2.06, enough of a difference to require a near-flawless performance from Reed, and at least some mistakes on his opponents part. Greinke had the option to sit out his final start, as Reed would require extra innings to catch his total, but took to the mound regardless to close out the year.

The matchup from halfway across the country would lead some fans to split-screen the simultaneous games, to see if the upstart could upstage the reigning champion. Both pitchers threw out their first pitches, and both went scoreless through five innings, 0-0 ties each. Reed, with shorter times between pitches, finished his sixth by striking out the side, as Greinke entered his own inning in Minnesota. The Orioles went three-and-out, putting Reed back on the mound, well aware that Greinke was on the verge of putting the title out of each. A hit by Joe Mauer, though, forced over the first run against Greinke, and would open the floodgates. An error at third base put a man on first against Reed, and he would clip the next batter with a pitch at the crowd's sudden exclamation as the Camden Yards videoscreen showed a Delmon Young double with the bases loaded drive in three runs against the Royals pitcher. After managing to close out the inning with two fly balls, with Greinke removed from his own game, Reed had his prize officially claimed if he left the game. As the Royal had in making his own final start, however, Reed elected to remain in the game, and risk an attempt to finish the last two frames.

The Orioles finally scored in the bottom of the eight inning, bringing up the Blue Jays for one final shot. After striking out the first Blue Jay, the second batter singled, and was replaced by a pinch runner. The third Jay to come to the plate, after working to a 2-0 count, hit a deep drive that got away from the fielder in left sending the runner dashing around third. Reed, never the best with a glove, rushed into short left field, calling for the relay, and whipped the throw home with his typical velocity, punching out the runner. The danger was not yet over. Two walks loaded the bases, putting Reed in danger not only of taking the loss, but losing his ERA title. Another mound conference ensued, but the pitcher refused to come out, facing Jose Bautista with the game and the statistic on the line. The first pitch was a ball high, and the second was fouled off deep to right field. Reed's next pitch was a blazer inside, near to hitting Bautista, forcing him off of the plate. His next pitch would then crease the outside edge with a basic fastball, outside of the off-plate hitter's reach. Another inside fastball was meant to push Bautista back again, but raised the count to 3-2, a walk risking the win. With Bautista expecting another outside edge-grabber, Reed instead threw a changeup tight and in, the batter corkscrewing with an early swing, and striking out, giving Reed the win and a third year leading the league in ERA.

Greinke's earned runs allowed, the most he had since mid-August, drove his ERA up by a tenth of a point, while Reed's complete-game shutout dropped his by eight-hundreths, leaving the margin of victory at one of the slimmest in history, only .02 points.

Greinke remained a rival for the Cy Young, but lacked an advantage over Reed in any major statistical category with the ERA title loss. The difference between the two was fairly minor outside of Reed's typical area of dominance in strikeouts, two-hundreths of a point for ERA, two wins, and two hundreths of a point in winning percentage. The vote partially saw factors outside the park as influencers, in positive or negative assessments of a repeat, but Reed would claim his third Cy Young, if by a closer margin than many expected.

Reed's hardware victories, however, where still not nearly enough to change the teams circumstances. The team's record again fell in a 90-loss season, bottoming out the division once again and increasing the streak of futility to twelve consecutive losing seasons, with no indication of change. After a Triple Crown followed by three consecutive Cy Young winning years, the team's pitching around Reed had never risen above second-to-last in the league, their hitting never managing to surpass even the league's average even in a favorable park, with free agency, the draft, and trades all collectively failing to create, if not a contender, even a winning team around the league's highest-performing pitcher. All signs pointed to continuing mediocrity, with the chance of a playoff berth for Reed looking slim.

Despite this, "The Whip" never sought a trade, and openly rejected rumors and questions about the possibility, seeming, by all indications, that he wished to and a would be a franchise player for Baltimore, as he continued his games-played streak, his inner-city charity, and his close relationship with Orioles fans. At the conclusion of the 2009 season, Reed was awarded the Roberto Clemente and Branch Rickey Awards for the off-the-field efforts in his work with and expansion of American Dream.

Reed would spend his fourth winter south of the border once again at Mexicali, and while turning in another solid 20-20 season, but one that saw him badly overshadowed and beaten across the board, as native Luis Garcia beat Reed in home runs, Colorado Rockies prospect Mike McCoy out-stole him, and Dominican star Sandy Madera stole the show of the season, batting over .400. Reed did leverage Mexicali's infamously triple-friendly home park that had allowed the team to more than double the triple totals of any two teams combined over the last several years to lead the league in that niche category. The Eagles, as the team name translated to, put in a second straight winning season, but again fell short of the pennant.

2010

The offseason post-2009 was a busy one, management driving forward with a concerted effort to turn the Orioles into a contending team. Veteran Melvin Mora was let go, along with the underperforming Aubrey Huff, while Miguel Tejada, a three-time All-Star with the team before being trade after the 2007 season, returned, along with the addition of power-hitting first baseman Garret Adkins. A trade brought veteran Kevin Millwood onto the pitching staff, along with closer Mike Gonzalez, with highly touted and Sports Illustrated predicted Rookie of the Year Brian Matsuz another potentially powerful arm on the staff. All of the pieces seemed to finally be falling into place behind Reed. Sports analysts were optimistic in estimating the team's chances, predictions putting the Orioles as having their best season in over a decade, some even selecting them for a Wild Card berth, and the team and fans entered the year with hopes high.

They quickly fell. The Orioles opened the 2010 season losing nine consecutive games before a Reed shutout of Oakland finally allowed for a single win. The opening slide grew into a horrendous 3-17 collapse, the second-worst opening streak in the history of the long-standing franchise, and barely over a third of the wins of the second-worst team in the league. With the team seeming to guarantee yet another season far from the playoffs, fan support dwindled, with new attendance records being set for all-time lows, fewer than ten thousand fans attending one game, and even Reed failing to sell out crowds as he once had. As the season collapsed around him, Reed fought to remain a spot of hope, shutting down opposing offenses and maintaining a sub-2 ERA over the first two months of the season, but a lack of run support, on a historically bad level, crippled him. In sixteen first-half starts by Reed, the Orioles would be shut out in seven of them. The ace would throw four first-half shutouts of his own, first in the league, but those four would mark his only wins, never managing a victory if even allowing a single run, or even, as in his second start, none, receiving a no-decision against the Blue Jays despite throwing eight scoreless innings of two-hit ball. With a .333 winning percentage to his credit, Reed could do little to stop the team's slide. While Reed did his best to defend his coach, Manager Dave Tremblay was increasingly blamed for the team's failures, as the team dipped farther and farther below .500. Despite Reed's efforts, eight consecutive losses going into June proved too much for upper management, and Tremblay was fired, to be temporarily replaced by the third-base coach as Acting-Manager While, unlike the change to Palazzo, no attempts were made to change Reed's pitching style, the ripple effects of the change would prove far more drastic.

At midseason Reed was at the top of the league for the fourth consecutive season, leading in strikeouts and with a league-leding sub-2 ERA, racing hard to match the marks of Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson with a fourth consecutive Cy Young award, despite his awful win-loss record. Heading into the All-Star break, elected as the starting pitcher for the American League once again, Reed continued to pitch at the peak levels of his previous four seasons, business as usual, making up for a bumpy outing against the Washington Nationals with a shutout at Fenway Park, his traditional stomping grounds. Without his knowledge, however, a change was being negotiated to his career. Kept in absolute secret, from the media and players alike, and even the team's manager, bargained over behind closed doors in isolation, a deal was hatched to trade Reed to the Colorado Rockies in a blockbuster deal, with the Rockies sending over three first-round draft picks and Baseball America top prospects, Christian Freidrich, Tyler Matzek, and Rex Brothers, to the Orioles in exchange for the reigning Cy Young Award winner, as well as accepting the entirety of Reed's remaining league-leading salary. News of the deal finally reached Reed only barely before it hit the public airwaves, brought to him by mound visit in the sixth inning of a July 11th game against the Texas Rangers. Furious, Reed would lose his edge completely, giving up nine runs, including four home runs, before recording the third out. The worst single inning of his career blew the game, and the enraged pitcher demanded answers from management, and was denied them, the usually genial, cool-headed player delivering heated criticism in the locker rooms after the game was over. The shocking, surprise trade stunned the league, and the All-Star break was spent awash in commentary, while Reed was forced to start packing his bags, and looking for a new place to live. Reed stated that he had believed he would spend his entire career with the Orioles, and that the trade came as a shock, and :"An absolute slap to the face, unbelievable."

Strategically, the reasoning behind the move was clear. The wins the Orioles were getting out of their star pitcher were not the difference between making and missing the playoffs, but seventy-win rather than sixty-win seasons, of little ultimate benefit to them, while his high salary limited potential for new draftees and free agents. The team was looking to rebuild with new talent and a new manager, later reinforced by trading Miguel Tejada less than a month later for a new minor league pitcher. Sending out Reed marked the closing of a brief era in Baltimore, and the start of a new experiment. With the Rockies to cover the whole of the cost of Reed's salary through the end of the year and through 2011, the Orioles were performing a massive salary dump, recouping funds that could be used to set up contracts with a number of younger rising prospects, or shell out sizable bonuses to draft picks.

For Colorado, the logic was inverted. The team was on pace for a ninety win season, and in the middle of a tight race in the National League West, tied for second in the division, two games back from the lead. With Ubaldo Jiminez in the midst of a breakout year, Reed would lead a one-two punch for the team, seeking to compete in arguably the best pitching division in the league, with the Giants and Padres boasting the top-two pitching rotations in the majors and the Dodgers with a rising star in young pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Reed was seen as the needed boost to get the team into the playoffs in a close year, and to build on with the younger Jiminez into a contender, and would have the opportunity to reunite with Melvin Mora, who had been picked up by the Rockies. Though shouldering most Reed's cost, the brief remainder would give the team a chance to either capitalize on a strong performance at a discounted rate the next season, or to use the pitcher as a trading chip, or re-sign at a lower rate, if his numbers began to dip.

Rational or not from a manager's point of view, the deal brought on storms of controversy, most heavily centered in Baltimore. Reed had been a fan favorite, committed to the team, and the harsh words of the usually easygoing player stirred up heavy discontent. A "Boycott Baltimore" movement was started among some fans, refusing to purchase tickets in protest which, while not a crippling blow, dropped attendance and revenues significantly before eventually fading away, with Reed pitching days, often before packed stands or sellout crowds, having their attendance fall drastically as they were incorporated into the poorly-performing team's standard rotation. Elected to start for the All-Star team, Reed, now a member of the national league, was barred from playing in the game, which the American League would lose for the first time in over a decade. 

Reed is second all-time among Orioles in strikeouts (2,160), first in strikeouts per nine innings (12.43), 11th in wins (97), 19th in losses (79), 27th in Win-Loss percentage (.551), 32nd in ERA (2.50), 14th in innings pitched (1,564.1), tied for 12th in starts (212), tied for 2nd in home runs allowed (227), and first in WHIP (0.97). 

Colorado Rockies (2010-2015)

2010

Coming off of the All-Star break, the hope was that a Rockies resurgence would lead to taking the division lead, and riding the wave into the playoffs with a newly-strengthened rotation. The high expectations did not come to pass. Reed's first start for the Rockies kicked off a an eleven-game road trip, against the Reds in Cincinnati. He would give up ten runs in three innings before being pulled from the game. Lingering problems from his last Baltimore game were blamed, and the pitcher's next performance came against the Florida Marlins, where he would yield five runs in seven innings off of a two and three-run home run, though putting up fourteen strikeouts alleviated concerns to some extent, the performance being seen as a slow return to form after the trade shock. The hammer came down hardest in his first home game at the infamous Coors Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates, in which the reigning Cy Young winner was hammered for fifteen runs in five innings. The collapse would only accelerate from there-and was not by any means limited to the pitcher. Reed's three losses were only part of a 1-12 run since the trade coming off of the All-Star break, as the Rockies record soured rapidly from 49-39, in second place and two games back in the division to 50-51, second to last, and nine games behind the division lead, a single half-month reversing the team's fortunes dramatically.

The Rockies situation would scarcely improve, as the newly-acquired ace posted the worst half-season of his career, utterly failing to acclimatize Reed's starts were scheduled, often on short rest, for the maximum amount of home games possible, upper management looking to maximize attendance and accelerate the adjustment of the former East Coast pitcher to the stadium's infamously run-friendly confines. As the reigning Cy Young winner continued to struggle greatly, blame was spread far and wide, being placed alternatively on the thin, mile-high air of Coors Field, both in the distance of balls hit, and difficulty breathing for the pitcher, the dynamics of the park, new management, new teammates, off-field issues, the yips, burnout, hidden injury, or secret blackmail, down to the metaphysical, karma or divine judgment of some sort, murmurs of a reverse kind of "Curse of the Bambino", the Rockies paying the price for pulling the pitcher away from Baltimore in a trade he never wanted, circulating among rather superstitious baseball fans. Whatever the cause, the struggles enveloped the entire team. After fighting back to a 76-71 record, within six and a half games of the division lead, the Rockies would lose their last fifteen games, a franchise record for futility, to close out the season.

A combination of stubbornness, on three parts, that of Reed, seeking a breakthrough, that of the management, seeking a return on investment, and that of fans, wishing to see the pitcher that had been dealt for, and hoping for flashes of his old form, kept Reed on the field and running long innings, even as he continued to rack up losses on the now below-.500 team, taking only two wins in the entire second half of the season. His ERA ballooned over 7, he smashed the single-season record for home runs allowed in the second half of the season alone, threw more walks than he ever had previously, and, while previously arguably the best-batting pitcher in the American League, failed to reach a batting average of even .030.

The sole highlight of the year was outside of Reed's dismal on-field performance. The meeting of Aubrey Harrinton occurred at a Toronto game late in the season, rescheduled from its earlier date due to rain. The game itself went nowhere, a thirteen run-loss but Reed noticed the woman in the stands during the outing, and had his eye caught. The two chanced to run into each other as Reed signed autographs after the game, and he took the opportunity to speak with the woman. The meeting would prove fruitful, contact information was exchanged, and the two would begin opening steps at dating in the off-season.

Unsurprisingly, given his collapse, Reed was far from contention for the Cy Young, breaking his shot at matching the record of Maddux and Johnson, though a single vote was received on the BBWAA, perhaps out of pity, or a nod to his impressive first half. He would still lead the league in strikeouts, primarily from the season's first half, with the accumulation of the long, high-scoring innings with the Rockies adding on more, giving him a league lead in innings pitched, along with the most losses and worst win-loss record among qualifying pitchers in the majors.

Following the season, Reed did much the opposite of what was expected of him, as, rather than looking to acclimatize himself to his new surroundings, or even look into purchasing a permanent house, he set to travel, spending some time in Canada starting a dating relationship with Aubrey Harrinton that would soon pick up tabloid buzz. As the winter months set in, Reed traveled back to Mexico, determined to set himself back on course. He left the Águilas, signing instead with the Mayos de Navojoa, and setting to work, not as a pitcher, but as a slugger, in what would be by far the best MPL season of his career. He hit over thirty home runs, a personal best and milestone he would never hit again, with the league's second-best batting average and eighty runs batted in, enough to earn him league MVP honors. Despite his offensive show of force, the Mayos allowed an abhorrent 6.9 runs/game on the year, near a full run and a half allowed above any other team, and finished with the worst record in the league. The year saw Reed hit the three hundred game milestone in his "Iron Man" streak, having started every game for his team since he had arrived in the MPL, never missing a start.

2011

On his return back to the states, Reed would request personal time off rather than attending the team's Spring Training facility in Arizona, a request which was granted by manager Jim Tracy, having been given greater latitude to work with Reed by upper management after the disastrous first season, and looking for some kind of solution. Reed would return home to Montana, and spend a two-week period off of the grid, camping, hunting, and fishing, an abnormal, informal, self-training regimen worked in. The unorthodox methods, later an amusing source of news for the league, were hopefully a way to help the pitcher, approaching his thirtieth birthday to regain his edge, though league and team sources both worried over the pitcher having not thrown in a game setting through the entirety of the off-season.

That previous season's collapse would prove to have consequences for Reed, as management sought to find a way to turn around their fortunes. Though he requested it, and even pressed for it after the initial rejection, Reed was removed from the rotation's number one slot, and, for the first time in his career, denied the opportunity to pitch on Opening Day, the honor instead being given to Ubaldo Jiminez, put in the roster's ace role after a powerful previous season while Reed foundered, finishing third in Cy Young voting after a season in which he set an MLB record for the lowest ERA after eleven starts with a minuscule 0.78, and in which he threw the first no-hitter in Rockies history, giving him the start for the NL All-Star Team. The decision snapped what would have been a streak of five consecutive Opening Day starts.

Reed would be dropped the bottom of the rotation, the fifth spot, given a minimal chance to return to form in a contract year. Expectations for the hurlers ahead of him were high. Jiminez was seen as a Cy Young candidate, with the young Jhoulys Chacín, who had led all National League rookies in strikeouts the season before, brimming with potential, and Jason Hammel, coming off two solid, productive, years, rounding out the trio, with a wealth of other options, Rafael Betancourt, Aaron Cook, Matt Belisle, Esmil Rogers, and Jorge De La Rosa, competing for the four-hole, with De La Rosa picking up the nod at Spring Training's conclusion. With Reed's performances exempted, the rotation had finished second in the league in WAR the year before, and if their expensive new acquisition could return to form, a playoff run, even a return to the World Series the team had reached four years earlier, seemed within reach.

After a tough Opening Day loss, the hopes seemed to have solid backing. If Reed was put off by his being dropped to the bottom of the order, he did not show it, shutting out the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh in his first start, and doing the same to the Mets in his second, as the Rockies rattled off four straight wins and then, after losing by a run in a fourteen-inning game against the Pirates, putting up seven straight en route to a franchise-best 11-2 start, already four games up in their division not even halfway through April.

The Rockies were clicking across the board, save their top-of-the-order pitcher. Jiminez had had a decent, but unremarkable remainder of the season after his record start the previous year, and was off to an even rockier start, giving up ten runs in his first eleven innings pitched. Jim Tracy made the decision to go with the hot hand, Reed was restored to the top of the order as the season rolled on.

The situation in Colorado would prove significantly different from in Baltimore, particularly on the matter of home-road splits. Located in high-elevation Denver, Coors Field's thin, dry air made it an infamously good park for hitters, balls flying farther, the confines of the park only accentuating the advantage, a park that inflated offensive statistics, and effectively doomed even the best pitchers to high ERAs and averages. With one of the world-fielding teams in the league behind him, the sole bright spot at shortstop in Troy Tulowitzki throwing to first baseman Todd Helton doing limited good for the primarily fly-ball pitcher, acclimating was a significant challenge. Coors demanded a change in pitching style, a transformation Rockies pitchers traditionally made to be able to pitch with some degree of effectiveness there, the air changing pitches as well as making hits easier, affecting spin, break, and velocity. Taking his first loss of the year in a home game against the Chicago Cubs, Reed's style of play continued to show its weakness at the unique stadium.

On the road, however, Reed was undoubtedly back to his previous form, and dominating on a level not seen since his 2007 season. He would win his next four road starts, throwing a shutout in Florida for a tight 1-0 win, taking down the Cubs in a second meeting, and a tougher matchup, where adding a home run of his own at Wrigley Field proved the difference as the Rockies won 7-6, and taking home two more Ws on a division road trip against Arizona and San Francisco, scoring the only run of the game himself in the latter. By the end of the first week of May, the Rockies were 21-11, up five games in their division, and holding the third-best record in the Majors.

Even with his success on the road, however, home games still proved a struggle for Reed, and the arms around him in the Rockies rotation began to wilt. Jiminez's rocky start turned into a protracted cold streak, as a late-May loss dropped him to 0-5 on the season, while Chacín began to slip after an effective start to the year. A strong divisional road trip, in which Reed led the team to wins over the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres, helped stave off the slide briefly, but four straight home losses saw the Rockies lose their division lead in mid-June. A 6-2 run after the slide, with Jiminez finally returning to form, put the team back on top, but a more pronounced 2-11 skid for the remainder of the month and entering into June dragged Colorado back under and into third, barely holding above .500. The team's offense, usually one to take advantage of the hitter-friendly park they played in, had gone cold, scoring only eight runs over 4 games as the Atlanta Braves came to Coors to sweep them. Strong pitching on the road in Washington helped make up for the lack of hitting, with 3-2 and 2-1 wins pitched by Hammel and Jiminez, but Reed would take a tough 1-0 loss in a game he hurled 18 strikeouts in in the final game before the break, the Rockies failing to bring a single run across.

Reed, his renewed performances far beyond his slump the year before, even with hiccups at home, was elected to his first National League All-Star game, representing the Rockies along with Troy Tulowitzki, who was attending his second. Reed would throw an unremarkable two innings in his start, as the American League only managed a single run in the fourth innings, and took home a no-decision.

Reed preparing to bat at Coors Field

The Rockies were up-and-down following the All-Star breaking, finally dipping below .500 near the end of the month, and seeing their shot at the division slowly pull away as the division-leading Giants had a better run on their own return. A road series against the Dodgers, however, would set up a game that would be set as a milestone of sorts.. The Rockies were up against the Dodgers, and on the mound was the young Clayton Kershaw, a budding star, and a man whom would quickly enter into a rivalry with Reed that would become legendary over the next half-decade. Kershaw pitched well in the pair's first matchup at his home Dodger Stadium, putting down a Quality Start, giving up three runs in six and two-thirds innings, but the veteran got the better of the duel, Reed holding the Dodgers to one and singling twice through seven to take the win.

With the Rockies's hoped-for playoff run not seeming to materialize, presumptive ace Jiminez still failing to perform, giving up four runs in a single inning against the Padres after giving up five through six the start before, and the rest of the rotation outside Reed not playing up to expectations, with Chacin putting up decent but unimpressive numbers, Hammel struggling, and De La Rosa out for the season with injury, the front office made the decision to tear down and go for an investment in the future, trading Jiminez to the Cleveland Indians for a trio of advanced Minor League pitching prospects and a batter, to some extent a reverse, on a much smaller scale, of the trade for Reed the season prior.

The Jiminez trade was not the only one floated at the deadline. While Reed's performances had decisively returned to his previous excellence, the deal was meant as a quick-win proposition for the Rockies, to seize a playoff berth and pennant in 2010, and keep themselves in contention through Jiminez's contract. With the previous season having gone up in smoke, Jiminez underperforming, and then cut loose for prospects, and the team's offense showing no signs of picking up from its continued slide, as a major dip in production from 2009 to 2010 seemed to be repeating itself, and it was questionable whether the press for wins had been the right decision. With Reed in a contract year, and the trade deadline approaching, the Rockies had an opportunity to sell high to a potential contender, and hopefully gear up for the future, building around the prospects from the Jiminez trade, and young bats Troy Tulowitzki, Dexter Fowler, and Carlos Gonzalez, as well as Top-25 prospect Wilin Rosario.

Even without dangling, several teams rose to the possible bait, with the Detroit Tigers, who had previously sought Jiminez, and the Texas Rangers, seeking pitching to bolster an already-strong staff. Both teams were on the playoff bubble, each leading their respective divisions by less than three games, and were looking to prepare for a stretch run, playoff contention, and a potential pennant. Reed, for his part, was forced to sit impotently on the sidelines, lacking any no-trade clause in his contract, and absent any leverage in the situation.

A deal was finally struck, and a sweet one for the Rockies. They would be given a chance to replenish themselves of the prospects sent to Baltimore by picking up two pitchers, Tanner Scheppers and Martin Perez, in the deal, with the added bonus of hard-hitting shortstop Jurickson Profar. With the Rockies' knowledge of Drew Pomeranz as the player to be named later in the Jiminez deal, the swap would immediately elevate them to one of the top farm systems in baseball, with an enviable future rotation and offense both.

The deal was negotiated down to the deadline, and when the verbal agreement was finally made with Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels, and celebration ensued among the front office.

The celebration, however, proved premature. The Rockies, applauding their good fortune for a deal struck with a scarce three minutes to spare before the strict 4:00 PM deadline, neglected to turn in the requisite paperwork to the MLB until 4:01. While the Rangers documentation was received on time, the seventy-second delay past the hour was a decisive one, and despite appeals for a grace period, the MLB refused to make an exception for the trade, which failed to process. Reed remained a Rockie, and the Rangers kept their prospects, to bitter feelings from both sides, and mixed responses from fanbases, more of disappointment in Arlington, and anger in Denver, Reed having quickly grown popular among the base.

The season continued regardless, and with Reed remaining or not, the Jiminez swap essentially marked the end for the Rockies season, as the team set themselves more firmly beneath .500 with a 4-9 run. A four-game win streak in late August brought the Rockies back above the threshold, but a ten-game win streak leading into a 17-1 tear by the now division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks slammed the door on any pennant chances, and the team coasted to a stop, losing eleven of their last fourteen games, including embarrassing back-to-back sweeps at home by the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, as prospects Alex White and Drew Pomeranz picked up in the Jiminez trade combined for an awful 7.41 ERA, The team finished the season four games below .500 and eleven games back from a wild-card birth, Reed ending the year with a win at AT&T Field.

The busted shot of what was seen as a potential World Series year was largely due to the collapse of the pitching staff around league. Exempting their new acquisition, the Rockies fell from 2nd in the league to 23rd, giving up near fifty additional runs, while the offense was unable to make up the difference, as Carlos Gonzalez, off a year in which he finished third in MVP voting, regressed to a sub-All-Star level. The Rockies picked up three more wins than the year before, but not nearly as large an improvement as had been hoped for.

While Justin Verlander unanimously received the honors in the American League, the National League race was a closer match, coming down to a three-horse race between Reed, seeking his first NL award, Halladay, looking to repeat from his unanimous 2010 victory, and Reed's young division rival Clayton Kershaw, the twenty-three year-old phenom breaking out onto the scene with a remarkable second half, going 11-2 and posting a minuscule 1.40 ERA following the All-Star break.

The three pitchers found themselves to be remarkably close in their ultimate performance. All three had similar win totals, Kershaw at twenty, Halladay and nineteen, and Reed at eighteen, with the two holding an additional edge over Reed in having six losses apiece, to Reed's eight. The three were even nearer to identical in earned run average. Kershaw allowing, sixty earned runs over two hundred thirty-three and one-third innings for a 2.31 ERA, and Halladay allowing one additional run with one-third of an additional inning pitched to trail just behind at 2.35, a number identical to Reed's, though his had come by the route of allowing one additional run in three and one-third additional innings. with Kershaw taking advantage of heavily pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium. In his dominant statistic of strikeouts, Reed led both Kershaw and Halladay by a broad margin, but the Rockie gave up more home runs on the year, twenty-seven, then both of his competitors combined. FIP finally saw some separation, Halladay leading with 2.20, Kershaw trailing with 2.47, and Reed splitting the pair at 2.39. By WHIP, the numbers shifted to a Reed advantage at 0.89, Kershaw at 0.98, Halladay at 1.040.

The home-road splits would prove a major part of the debate in the race between the three. At pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium, Kershaw was near-unstoppable, with a 11-2 record and a league-low 1.76 home ERA, one of his two losses coming from Reed. On the road however, while impressive, he was not quite at the same level, going 9-4 with an ERA a shade beneath 3. The difference was even more stark for the Rockie. At Coors Field, a hitter's paradise, he was a mere 2-6 and averaged less than five strikeouts per nine innings, with an ERA near 5.00 and his walk totals spiking. The figure, undoubtedly large, was actually near to average for the park, but fell well below his expected level of performance. On the road, by contrast, where a combination of several additional starts paired with a much higher win-opportunity rate as he went deeply into games giving him more decisions, he was nigh-unstoppable, going 16-2 with an ERA a full three-tenths below Kershaw's figure for Los Angeles, and over three hundred strikeouts. Halladay was the most consistent of the three, only two-tenths of a run separating his home and road ERAs, a slightly better pitcher on the road, with the lower ERA and an 11-3 record there against 8-3 at home.

The splits were used as argument for each candidate, with Reed's clear weaknesses at home cited as detracting from his case, while counter-arguments were made that his road dominance showed him to be the superior pitcher outside of Coors Field. Kershaw's excellent performances at home were put forward in argument for him taking advantage of the opportunities provided by his team's locale, while his less impressive road showings were criticized as showing a lower level of effectiveness outside of Los Angeles, though his road ERA marked well below Reed's ERA at home. For Halladay, his consistency was put forward as an argument for his being the more complete pitcher, but also critiqued as a lack of dominance.

When the dust settled, Kershaw's dominant second half pushed him forward as the main contender to Reed's bid, but not, ultimately, a successful one. The BBWAA would select Reed as the 2011 NL Cy Young victor over second-place Kershaw, with Halladay in third, with a number of first-place votes of his own, and a stray first-place vote directed to Ian Kennedy. The victory made Reed only the fifth pitcher, following Halladay's stepping in as the fourth the year before, coincidentally, to win the Cy Young in both the American and National League. With his resurgence after a miserable 2010 apparent, the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award would also be added to the pitcher's trophy shelf.

On the other side of the plate, now serving as a member of a National League team fullt-ime, Reed gained the opportunity to bat regularly, his significant innings-pitched numbers giving him a fair number of pitches seen against his fellow hurlers. Having previously shown surprising ability in his occasional plate appearances in the American League in interleague play, the previous year's terrible performance, in which Reed would accumulate only three hits in nearly one hundred at-bats, had raised the question of whether the former centerfielder could produce over the course of more than a dozen plate appearances in a year. Reed would go one-for-three against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his first game of the season, and would bat nearly .250 over the course of the season, a below-average figure but considered impressive for a pitcher, along with three home runs, and showing a good batting eye in drawing a near-average walk rate, earning him his first Silver Slugger award for the best-hitting pitcher in the National League, narrowly defeating Daniel Hudson, who had a higher batting average than Reed, but a lower OBP and fewer extra-base hits.

Back in style with a two-way player appeal and another strikeout title and Cy Young in the Mile High City to his name, Reed would quickly return to being the fan favorite he was in Baltimore, the star's new number 88 jersey "drawing a line through the last one" swiftly returning to its league-topping sales.

With his performance restored, and the team looking to fuel itself up for a contending run after the disappointing performances of the rotation around him, Reed would enter into contract negotiations with the Rockies in a strong position to make demands, particularly with free agency awaiting, and the attempted trade having fallen through. The process became a somewhat contentious one, with Reed and the team both laying out clearly different goals. Reed was looking for a ten-year guaranteed contract that would keep him on the Rockies until he was forty, which was well beyond the level of commitment that the Rockies management was looking for, preferring a shorter three-to-five year deal, looking to keep their options open. Reed, leery of the insecurity of the shorter deal, and not wishing to see himself hopping teams again, especially after the Rangers debacle, ran close to holding out against the contract deadline, while the Rockies, concerned about both a potential regression as in Reed's 2010 season, and not wanting to be tied down with a hefty contract to an aging player if his production slipped, held firm on the shorter deal, running down the clock, as Christmas passed and the new year came, Reed even missing, to his regret, the Winter League season.

2012

As the season drew closer and closer, the contract standoff became a game of chicken, Reed needing to play, and the Rockies needing their ace starter, with neither willing to blink, even as fan pressure to re-sign the hurler mounted. When it came down to the wire, however, Reed finally caved to a four-year offer. The compromise, originally a simple swap of years for pay, Reed accepting a shorter contract and the Rockies committing to a higher annual salary, was slid towards the team's favor, as the thirty-year-old hurler signed a contract that, while lucrative, fell below Reed's targets for both duration and pay, with a high risk factor. The deal, set for four years, would have Reed take a salary cut for each of his first two seasons, followed by a modest pay increase in the third year, and a major pay spike to a record salary in the fourth. Driving home the risk was the Rockies' success at, against the wishes of Reed agent Scott Boras, inserting a club option after the third year at less than a 2.5% buyout, giving them the opportunity to cut Reed loose in case of injury or poor performance without being on the hook for his increased final-year salary. Beyond the club option, the Rockies successfully had a first-bid guarantee in free agency added to the contract, even in the case of the club option being exercised. In other terms of the deal, Reed received, as he declared an "nonnegotiable" a full no-trade provision, even as the team reserved the right to cut him loose, and would receive one-time milestone bonuses if he successfully reached the 4,000 strikeout or 200 win mark with the team. With a lucrative contract in hand, but lacking any of the security he had been looking for, Reed would say he felt "good enough" about the deal after the signing was announced.

Over the 2011 off-season, both during and following his contract negotiations, Reed made attempts to modify his pitching style and strategy in response to the change in circumstances he now faced. A combination of a great deal of autonomy being given to the pitcher in determining the date and length of his own starts, adapting to Coors conditions, and an "itch for change", as Reed had described it, pushed The Whip into the change of method. Reed modified his typical windup into a longer form, more exaggerated in motion, and a tweaked delivery.

The uniquely thin air of Coors Field was known to change pitch dynamics, beyond its proclivity towards allowing the long ball, and Reed's sinker, in particular, was rendered much less effective in the new environment. He would adjust the pitch for the new field, but, failing to match the previous break and speed his sinker had had, would largely abandon it, coming to rely much more heavily on his fastball, his fastball-changeup combination making up much of his repertoire. Reed, already throwing over the plate far more often than the league average, began to work the middle of the plate even more aggressively in location, and ultimately distilled the variety of changes into a new form for the start of the 2012 season.

Results were ultimately mixed. Adjusting to the uniqueness of Coors Field, Reed's statistics improved at home, but fell below their previous levels in away games, leaving something of a wash. Reed's control, while still often catching the bottom of the league's top ten, would never return to the excellent levels he had displayed in his peak with the Orioles, the thin air of Coors and adaptation to it remaining a stumbling block. While stepping up his typical skill in strikeouts to an even higher level, even outside the notorious launching deck of a park that Coors was, Reed's totals of home runs allowed spiked even in road games with the hit-or-miss style.

Outside the change in form, Reed, now a veteran entering his ninth season, and a potentially somewhat touchy investment, was given a great deal more latitude over controlling the length of his own starts, and took advantage. While not given unlimited leeway, Reed would pitch deeper into games more often, racking up league-leading complete game numbers, while, with the advantage of his start scheduling contributing, pushing into a seemingly permanent spot atop the league in innings pitched.

The change in form did require an acclimation phase. After struggling in Spring Training, Reed was on the mound for Opening Day in Houston, and gave up seven runs in a loss, followed by nine and eight run losses in his first two home games, before a fourteen-run blasting by the Brewers in Milwaukee. Reed settled down to a relatively better five runs allowed in an outing against Pittsburgh, but took another loss as the Rockies offense scored only a single time, the dropped game bringing the Rockies down to an 4-14 start, tied for worst in the Major Leagues.

Returning to Colorado, Reed would take his first win of the season over the Mets in a 5-4 game, but would then lose his sixth, as he yielded six runs to the Braves, sending murmurs of a regression to his career-worst 2010 performance about, or a second play at his historically bad 2005 season.

Going into a critical early road trip that could well put a nail into the team's coffin even at the beginning of May, with the Rockies already ten games back from the NL-leading Dodgers, Reed finally caught back into form for a trio of starts in the well-established pitchers parks of Petco Park, Dodgers Stadium, and AT&T Field. Facing off against the poor-hitting Padres, currently beating out the Rockies by a game for the league's worst record, Reed pitched an immaculate inning in the first and continued to roll from there, earning wins against Clayton Richard, Clayton Kershaw, and Tim Lincecum in three consecutive complete-game shutouts, throwing nineteen, eighteen, and nineteen strikeouts over the stretch.

The excellent trio of performances, setting a record for most strikeouts in a three-game span, set Reed back into a productive pattern, and, after adding another thirty-three Ks in the next two outings against the Marlins and Mariners, immediately propelled him into a race for the single-season strikeout record, one he had long coveted and would vigorously pursue, even as the Rockies spent the first half of June losing twelve of thirteen games.

By the All-Star break, Reed had broken two hundred strikeouts, and was elected in as the starting pitcher, where he would lead the National League to its third consecutive victory. He continued to press on for the record, pitching more innings than ever previously as a starter, and with a better K/9 rate than any previous year exempting his 2007 season, but even his torrid pace, starting to slow with the signs of regression, did not appear to be enough, as it became increasingly apparent that Reed simply did not have enough games remaining to make the run. Nearing the end of August, Reed had not yet broken three hundred strikeouts, and needed a virtually impossible 143 in his ten remaining scheduled starts to reach Old Hoss Radbourne's 1884 record of 441 strikeouts.

Reed would lose a late-August start at Wrigley Field, giving up four runs with only two strikeouts, and after fifteen and nineteen strikeout performances against the Dodgers and Padres at home, threw seven and four respectively on the road against the Braves and Phillies, functionally ending his record attempt. Reed pushed through regardless in his final opportunities that year, ramping up his intensity. Reed threw ten, twelve, and fifteen strikeouts in his next three outings, then stepped up with seventeen to beat the Cubs at Wrigley Field, and facing off against Kershaw for the second time at Dodger Stadium, went ten innings to put up eighteen Ks. Twenty-four from the record, Reed would slip down to eight in the final game of the season against the Diamondbacks to end the year.

Regardless of falling short of the nineteenth-century record, Reed's total shattered his own 2007-set record for single-season strikeouts in the live-ball era by a wide margin. Unable to catch up to the ghosts, his numbers stood out far more starkly in comparison to present competition, as he more than half again outpaced the second-place finisher in an off year for strikeouts, though the sheer number came largely from his outsized workload, having thrown thirty more innings than any other pitcher in the league, an advantage that came not simply from going deeper into games, but the aggressive rotation scheduling he had pushed for with the Rockies, shortening wait times just slightly to give him 37 starts on the year over the 34 of a traditional five-man rotation starter.

On the batting side of things, Reed began to settle into his rhythms, and hit far more aggressively. Aided greatly by Coors Field's dynamics, Reed swung for the fences at the plate and, taking advantage of the greater autonomy he had been granted, was aggressive on the basepaths in steal attempts, demonstrating exceptional speed, and often being used as a pinch-runner. By season's end, Reed had broken the single-season home run record for a pitcher, and boasted impressive ISO scores for his position, but his batting average could not match, falling below the Mendoza line, and the aggressive runner posted a high percentage of outs on the basepaths, as well as strikeouts at the plate.

His dramatic strikeout race, combined with some pop at the plate in breaking the pitcher home run record, had Reed's name raised as a possible contender to break away from his position in the race for the NL MVP. While the strikeout race had turned heads and worked up excitement among fans and commentators, it was not near enough to put him over the top in the hitter-dominated race. Reed would manage to take a second place finish with a handful of first-place votes, but found it a distant one, as he was left off of several ballots altogether, and San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey easily won the award.

Some uncertainty, even while Reed had had his name raised for MVP recognition, remained on the question of the Cy Young, an award where Reed's surprise hitting would not give him any advantage. While often looked over with his strikeouts the story of the day, Reed's ERA was far from stellar, his 3.46 not even cracking the NL top ten, and nearly a fun run behind the leader, though exempting his horrid April start, it fell towards a more productive number. A contender against Reed could have looked to take advantage of the gap, but no other hurler particularly dominated on the year. Halladay had had an off-year, and Kershaw's numbers slipped from his 2011 campaign, paired with a poor 12-11 win-loss record. Mets veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey was Reed's primary competition, with a feel-good story behind him, but lacked a knockout statistical line to match Reed's highly publicized strikeout campaign, which led him to a second BBWAA-awarded NL Cy Young.

The award victories, while allowing Reed to cash in his contract incentives and improve his own standing, as well as perhaps doing their part to boost attendance on his pitching days, where Coors would often see sell-out crowds, were not enough to bring in victories for the team itself. The team barely managed to exceed seventy wins with a last-gasp 9-3 finish to the year against teams that had nothing left to play for, and hopes for the future seemed dim. The fruits of the Jiminez trade, meant to the give team its arms of the future to build up around the four-year Reed contract, turned out to be rotten, with Drew Pomeranz and Alex White combining for a dismal 4-18 record, while Matt McBride put up a putrid .100/.118/.180 slash line away from Coors Field, and Joe Gardner was still failing to perform at the AA level. Jason Hammel, who the Rockies had traded away to Baltimore, was replaced by former Reed teammate Jeremy Guthrie, who was defeated by Coors, with an ERA over 8 at home. Only one other Rockies pitcher managed to even exceed one hundred innings pitched, veteran Jeff Francis having a career-worst season with an ERA over 5, while Jorge De La Rosa was demoted to the minor leagues after averaging more than an earned run per inning allowed, while Chacin went down to injury. All told, the Rockies starting pitching outside of Reed ranked second-to-last in the Majors after having ranked second only two seasons before, while the offense made it only to twenty-fifth.

Adding insult to injury for Reed personally were the fortunes of the Orioles back on the East Coast. Buoyed by new management, developing talent, including prospects sent over in the Reed trade, and a flurry of well-handled offseason trades and acquisitions, including snagging the productive Hammel in exchange for the underperforming Guthrie, the Orioles reached the playoffs in 2012 for the first time in fifteen years, an accomplishment Reed had never been able to manage. The Orioles turnaround had been as swift as it had been decisive. Over Reed's core seasons with the team, the Orioles ranked last in the Major Leagues in offense, while the pitching staff exempting Reed ranked second-to-last, Reed's teammates posting the lowest WAR in the Majors in his time with them. Now, both the team's performance had picked up on both sides of the plate, as the Orioles finished in the top half of the league in both batting and pitching, a feat they had never accomplished in any of Reed's seven seasons with them. While the Orioles won ninety-three games and finished second in the AL East, the Rockies ended their own year ten games below .500, seventeen back from a Wild Card shot, and twenty-three behind a division lead, finishing last in the NL West.

After having missed the previous season due to the disputes of his contract negotiation, Reed found himself on a new team, the Algodoneros de Guasave. Reed's power carried over well from his career high in MLB home runs with the Rockies that year, though he fell two short of the thirty landmark, and saw his batting average dip as well, while Chris Roberson out-stole him on the basepaths, The Algodoneros would finish second in the league, and were given the chance to go up against the Tomateros de Culican in the final. Reed, who had not yet thrown a pitch in his Mexican League career, was asked by the manager to step out of centerfield and onto the mound for the first game of the critical series, the first chance at representing Mexico in the Caribbean Series since 1972. Reed conceded to the request, and did not disappoint. In his one, and only, start in the league against the low-minor league equivalent batters, Reed was virtually unhittable, only letting two batters even hit for an out in a perfect game. For the rest of the series, however, Reed seemed to lose something at the plate, failing to find his swing, and the Algodoneros would lose the pennant to the Tomateros de Culiacan.

2013

As in 2009, Reed would participate in the World Baseball Classic in March prior to the start of the season, seeking for the U.S. to medal.  While the 2009 team had included two of Reed's Orioles teammates, he would be the sole Rocky on the 2013 team, though three players from the franchise played on the Venezuelan team, who, placed in a different pool, would not face the U.S. squad. Reed only pitched two games in the Classic, replicating his 2004 Olympic shutout of Mexico in his first start. Reed's second start was against the undefeated Dominican Republic in the qualifying round, after the United States emerged victorious with a 3-0 record in Pool D, and defeated Puerto Rico in the preliminaries. Reed, seeking to minimize his pitch count, would throw one of his most efficient games, but was forced to retire in the eighth inning after a long at-bat against Robinson Cano forced him over his pitch count. The Republic would score two in the ninth to defeat the U.S., which would fail to place in the top 4 after a loss in the following game to Puerto Rico.

Reed pitching on Opening Day, 2013.

The last two years had seen a rivalry begin to grow between Reed and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, two dominating NL West lefthanders, one a longtime favorite, the other a rising and hungry star-in-the-making. With the Dodgers successfully landing Zach Greinke, Reed's competitor for the ERA title in 2009, and the development of young righthander Madison Baumgarner in San Francisco, the stage was set for a divisional arms race. All four pitchers wouldn't allow a run in their opening start, Reed and Kershaw going the full nine innings, with seven for Greinke and eight for Bumgarner, and the race was on.

Greinke, however, would be removed early, after breaking his collarbone in a fight with Carlos Quentin of the San Diego Padres. On his return, he allowed five and four runs in two late-May starts before being matched up against Reed at Coors Field, where two home runs from the Rockies pitcher contributed to a painful nine-spot put up on Greinke in what would become an eleven-three drubbing. Bumgarner, meanwhile, fell off of a strong start with a 5.17 ERA in the month of May, leaving Reed and Kershaw alone to battle for the top spot, though a surprisingly strong second-year competitor, Matt Harvey of the New York Mets, seized the league lead in ERA going into June.

Reed and Kershaw would face each other for the first time on the last day of May at Coors Field, a divisional matchup with, in a major reversal of fortune, had the Rockies coming in contending for the division lead, while the Dodgers foundered at the division's bottom. The start, however, was not Reed's, who had taken home a win in Houston three nights earlier. Rather, the newly-acquired sinkerballer Jon Garland faced off against Kershaw. Entering the home half of the inning, the Rockies, down by three, got a man on on a Nolan Arenado single, setting up Garland to bat with a runner on first and one out. With the pitcher having already given up five runs, including two on a double hit by Kershaw, and near to one hundred pitches, manager Walt Weiss elected to pull him, sending in Reed as a pinch-hitter. Reed would drive a fastball from Kershaw into right field and leg out a triple, scoring Arenado. Kershaw induced the next batter into a popfly to shortstop, and Reed tagged up and dashed for home, scoring by a hair on the diving slide on the unexpected play. Reed would yield his position to Rob Schaill at inning's end after the inning's end, but the runs would prove to make the difference, as a Todd Helton home run in the bottom of the eighth would bring the Rockies to a 7-5 victory.

By the All-Star break, both Reed and Kershaw would have over 130 strikeouts and 140 innings pitched, alongside an ERA just below 2.00 for Kershaw and above it for Reed, and a batting-average-against under .200. The two would face each other in Dodger Stadium on July 12th, just before the break, and Reed would get the better of his rival in the pitcher's duel, putting up a shutout against Kershaw's single run allowed for a 1-0 Rockies win.

The ever-popular Rockie was voted in to start the All-Star game, and recorded a no-decision after three innings scoreless in a game the American League would ultimately come to win, but of more excitement to the pitcher and the team was Colorado's position in the division. For the first time since Reed's arrival, the Rockies were first in their division at the break, six games above .500 and one game up on the Diamondbacks, with what seemed to be a very real chance to make the postseason. A 6-14 skid returning from the break wiped away the briefly-held winning record, as the Dodgers went on a league-best 15-2 tear returning from the same, taking the top spot in the division.

The division race soon would be a secondary concern to Reed, as the Rockies approached their next interleague play series, selected to travel across the country to play at Camden Yards against the Baltimore Orioles-the first time Reed had returned to play against his former team. Played up fully as the 'great return', the stands were packed for his debut, but didn't get the kind of thrilling performance they were expecting, as Reed struck out two and allowed five runs in four innings, taking the loss to the ten games above .500 Orioles, as the Rockies slipped further in the standings. Reed would put in better performances on the remainder of the road trip, throwing shutouts in Philadelphia and Miami in a sweep of the Marlins that put the Rockies back up a game above an even win-loss record.

The Dodgers had scarcely slowed in the interim, going 20-6, the hottest team in baseball at the time, as Kershaw was on fire at the top of the rotation, with a microscopic 1.07 ERA coming off of the break, leapfrogging Reed decisively to take the lead league in that category, while Greinke, recovered fully from injury, allowed only 1.84 over that same timeframe.

As the Diamondbacks collapsed, the Dodgers had put up a double-digit game lead in the division going into their trip to Colorado, dimming, but not extinguishing Rockies playoff hopes, as Coors Field was filled to capacity to see the much-anticipated matchup between Reed and Kershaw.

The game would prove to be an all-time classic. Both pitchers were at the top of their game, and for only the second time in MLB history, the first in nearly a century, both pitchers took no-hitters into the ninth inning, the game scoreless, 0-0.

Opening the top of the ninth, Kershaw hit a hard line drive off of Reed that was snagged on a running grab by Charlie Blackmon in centerfield for the first out, and Reed induced a ground ball from Carl Crawford on the next pitch, but the ball was muffed by Jordan Pacheco, filling in for Todd Helton, at first base, letting the leadoff man on. Reed struck out Yasiel Puig on three pitches, but Crawford managed to steal second in the next at-bat against Adrian Gonzalez. Reed missed the zone with a sinker on a 3-2 count to walk Gonzalez, bringing up Hanley Ramirez, who led the National League in batting average. Reed let an offering slip out of his grip for a wild pitch on a 1-2 count, advancing the runners to second and third, both in scoring position. With the shutout at risk, Reed froze Ramirez by dropping his arm to a submarine delivery on the next pitch, catching him looking for the strikeout and retiring the side, sending the game over to Kershaw with the bottom of the order coming up. After Kershaw struck out the leadoff man looking, Reed, hitless to that point, came up to the plate. Two swinging put the Rocky behind in the count, the second a whiff far ahead of a Kershaw changeup, but the third pitch of the at-bat, a second changeup from Kershaw, hung too far over the plate, and was smashed into the third rightfield deck, only just staying fair for a walk-off home run.

While the division race soon fell away, the usually hard-hitting Rockies struggling to put bat-on-ball, marking the second-lowest scoring season in the history of the franchise, the race between the two pitchers would continue as heatedly as ever through the season's final month. The two had set themselves out as the clear front-runners in a dogged sprint for the NL Cy Young, what would be Reed's third, and Kershaw's first. The arms race would have its final lap in the season-ending series between the two teams at Dodger Stadium. Outside of looking for the individual award, the Rockies, 79-80 at that point, third in the division and only a game behind the Diamondbacks, needed only two more wins to get to .500 for the first time since 2009, and the first time in Reed's career.

The Cy Young race was as close as it had ever been. In traditional stats, Kershaw's remarkable ERA of 1.71 was well superior to Reed's 2.57. while the difference in strikeouts between the two had an even greater disparity, but in Reed's favor, with the Dodger's pitcher posting his lowest K/9 rate since his rookie season. In wins and losses, a typical area of weakness for Reed, the Rockie actually held the advantage. Kershaw was 14-10, while Reed, who had started three more games than Kershaw, was up four wins with a 18-10 record.

Sabermetrics offered their own angle. The disparity between the two in ERA was lessened significantly but still present in ERA+, which accounted for park factor between hitter-friendly Coors Field and pitcher-friendly Dodgers Stadium. On the opposite side of things, FIP, designed to estimate ERA with fielders removed from the equation, favored Reed, with a lower FIP than ERA, compared to Kershaw's opposite ratio, implying stronger defense bolstering the Dodgers player. Reed posted a higher wins above replacement, but Kershaw's rate of WAR was greater, Reed's advantage coming from having accumulated more innings in total.

After the dramatic finish of the last matchup between the two, Kershaw put Reed on ice, striking out the usually good-hitting pitcher swinging each of the three times he came to bat, on a total of nine pitches, while Kershaw managed a single off of Reed. The rest of the Rockies, however, were not so easily put down. Kershaw was dinged by the lineup, which put up eleven hits and four earned runs in five innings, while Reed continued his history of strong pitching performances in Los Angeles, hurling a shutout. Continued success against Dodger relievers contributed to an 11-0 blowout victory for the Rockies.

The Rockies went to 80-80 with the win, needing only to take one of the last two to reach .500, but the Dodgers, who had already cinched the division title a week before, dispatched their opponents in both off of strong pitching performances from Greinke and newly-acquired South Korean ace Hyun-Jin Ryu, leaving the Rockies with a fourth straight losing season.

The final game had bolstered Reed's case to some extent, Kershaw's ERA rising by .12 points, his falling by .09, but the gap was still wide, and the competition was far from decided. The race would go down to the wire, and the final vote ended with Reed winning by a margin of only four points, the smallest margin in the history of the National League since the implementation of the modern voting system, with one writer casting a first-place vote for Adam Wainwright over either of the NL West competitors perhaps making the difference.

Over the offseason, quietly, in an event that, once leaked, would only redouble the media attention it had sought to avoid, Reed would elope with longtime girlfriend Aubrey Harrinton at a small ceremony in Montana.

After returning from his honeymoon, Reed would return for another season for the Cottonmen in the Mexican Pacific League. Reed would play especially aggressively on the basepaths over the year, pacing the league by stealing forty bases for the first time, though also leading the league in times caught stealing. His outfield play was the best of his career, a number of ran-down and diving catches making their rounds on cell phone videos, even as he still fell victim to costly errors, but the Algodoneros slipped to third in the standings.

2014

Having sniffed at the possibility of a division championship, the Rockies made an effort to beef up the team in the offseason. The disappointing offense of the previous year was hoped to be fixed by the free agent signing of big bat Justin Morneau, and some stability was looked for for the pitching staff with the signing of nineteen-year veteran LaTroy Hawkins, a former teammate of Reed's on the 2006 Orioles, along with a major pickup in lefthanded relief specialist Boone Logan, along with trading for a pair of Red Sox pitchers, and signing on a number of other young arms, along with a trade for outfielder Dexter Fowler.

For the first months of the season, everything seemed to be working exactly as it was supposed to. Reed got off to a excellent start on the mound, seeming to promise an even more enthralling repeat of the last season's Cy Young race against Clayton Kershaw, as he took an early lead between the two sub-2.00 ERA pitchers, and the team's offense posted tremendous production over the opening weeks, a stretch of seven games in which they scored seven or more runs in six of them, including three games with ten or more, putting them into a tie for the division lead in early May.

Reed warming up before a 2014 start

It would prove to be the peak of the Rockies' season, as over the next month the injury bug came to hit the team, hard. All-Star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez would go down to injury along with defensive expert and rising force at third base Nolan Arenado, and righthanded starter Jordan Lyles, finally adding on, most significantly, Reed himself. With the exception of his college chest injury, Reed had kept healthy on the field with remarkable consistency throughout his career, but found himself hobbled by one of the stranger injuries of baseball off of the field. Reed, who, along with his wife, enjoyed martial arts training in his spare time, injured his throwing hand and wrist in a Muay Thai sparring match in early May. Despite the injury, the pitcher refused to miss his next starts, or be resigned to the Disabled List. Wearing a cast on his left wrist, Reed nonetheless was capable of throwing, most of his hand still largely functional, and his arm and legs injury-free, but being forced to keep a stiff wrist throughout his delivery significantly reduced his velocity and control, resulting in a marked drop in productivity. With the injury to Lyles, followed less than two weeks later by a line drive fracturing the hand of righthander Christian Bergman, there was little option but to leave in the stubborn pitcher. He would lose his starting slot to Jorge De La Rosa, but even with the injuries, Reed's numbers were still third-best on the injury-depleted and historically poor staff, even as they fell far below league averages, vastly below the level of Kershaw's performance. A June 18th rematch between the two saw Kershaw no-hit the Rockies, while Reed was hammered for eight runs by the Dodgers, a far cry from earlier duels.

Despite his injury-induced a slump, a concerted fan movement was pushed by Rockies fans to get their pitcher into the All-Star game. The fans, unable to vote directly on pitching themselves, attempted an indirect lobbying of the MLB managers who did pick the hurlers, under the tagline "Cast the cast", referring to Reed's pitching through injury, set him up as the National League starter. While spirited, the effort fell short, and Reed was left off the All-Star team for only the second time in his career, and the first since 2005. The brief All-Star break was a welcome respite from the Rockies continued collapse, as the team went from tied to a division lead to thirteen and a half games back by the break. Returning to regular-season play, aseason-ending hip injury to Troy Tulowitzki, the team's best hitter, leading the league in batting average at the time, finalized the busted season, another season-ended injury to Boone Logan's elbow only icing the matter, as the team's collapse became a post-break free-fall to a 2-15 record. With both the injury and reduced production, rumors of a potentially slowdown with age swirled around the thirty-two year-old Reed as the season's end drew closer.

By September, Reed hand had finally healed, and he fought his way back into contention with a vengeance. He posted the most strikeouts and lowest ERA in baseball in the month of September, ending the season by outdueling Zach Greinke with a twenty-two strikeout no-hitter in a bizarre game with three dropped third strikes in a five-out ninth, and an unearned run allowed on a four-base error despite no hits or walks being yielded, after having thrown a no-hitter against the Cardinals only two weeks prior, spoiled from perfection in the ninth off of a catcher's interference call. Reed's resurgence, along with his going on a September hot streak at the plate, including several pinch-hitting opportunities, helped the Rockies to end the year on a respectable, if not impressive, 12-11 run, but the constant losses of the injury-addled team in the midseason left them with a 96-loss year in the division's cellar.

With another Cy Young race at hand, Reed's injury-induced midseason slump had clearly left him at a disadvantage, even as Kershaw put together the best performance of his career. A workhorse, Reed put up the first three-hundred inning season by a starter since Steve Carlton, the sheer volume of pitching in an attempt to prop up the worst pitching team in the league, letting him put up a league-leading number in strikeouts, and top the National League in total pitching WAR. In essentially every other area, however, Kershaw dominated. Posting an ERA nearly a run and a half below Reed's, Kershaw led the entire Major Leagues in that statistic, as well as ERA+, FIP, WAR/200, Wins, and Win-Loss percentage, ruling the field in virtually every statistic save K/9. Reed, meanwhile, put up an MLB leading figure in losses for the third time in his career.

When the vote came, despite some fan-made argument for Reed on the quantity of his work over Kershaw's quality, the result was decisive, Kershaw winning every first-place vote in a unanimous decision for the NL Cy Young, a feat Reed had never before achieved, and beyond that, becoming the first pitcher since 1968 to win the National League MVP award. Reed's distant second-place finish to the Dodger ended his bid to match Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson's record of four consecutive Cy Young awards. Despite their on-field rivalry, the two, both outspoken Christians and philanthropists, would come to good terms off the field, include a joint charity event, raffling off donors with the chance to play a game of whiffle ball against the two, raising funds for Kershaw's Challenge and American Dream.

Despite the disappointing year, both in personal and team performance, 2014 did see Reed reach two milestones-the fastest pitcher ever to record 4,000 strikeouts, and the first one ever to do so with less than one thousand walks. At thirty-three years old by season's end, having thrown for more innings as a starter than ever in his career, and having avoided any arm injuries throughout his career, Reed was widely seen as the pitcher capable of breaking Nolan Ryan's "unbreakable" record for career strikeouts.

Beyond individual performances, the Rockies had posted a fifth consecutive losing season, losing four more games than their previous campaign despite their efforts to make a play for contention, including a more than $20 million increase in payroll. The failed investment led to changes in the front office following the season's end. Longtime General Manager Dan O'Dowd, who Reed had had an especially good relationship with, resigned, leaving the position open. Director of Major League Baseball Operations Bill Geivett was expected to take over at the position, but was passed by in favor of Director of Player Development Jeff Bridich. Geivett, upset over not receiving the position, would resign as well.

Outside of the Rockies turnover, following the season, Reed would enthusiastically, for the third time in his career, represent Major League Baseball in the MLB Japan All-Star series. The series, suspended for eight years, would not attract the same level of talent as in previous years, with Reed serving as the only actual MLB All-Star on the American/Canadian pitching staff. In a further change, the match would be played against the Japanese National Team rather than the NPB All-Stars. Still hot off of his strong finish to the season, Reed, starting the first game, threw five innings with thirteen strikeouts, two errors, including a dropped third strike, and no runs scored before running afoul of the pitch-count rule and being removed, to openly vocal complaints from the pitcher, eliciting mild controversy. The U.S. team, held scoreless, would take the victory in the tenth inning, Reed receiving no decision. Samurai Japan would win the next two games in the series, but a U.S. win in Game 4 set up the final match-up as the decider for the series. Pitching on six days' rest, Reed adjusted in a far more aggressive style, limiting his pitch count. Throwing inside, Reed put in one of the most remarkable performances of his career, striking out twenty-three, shattering seven bats, and throwing a pitch clocked at 176 kph, a Japanese record. Retiring the second-to-last batter with his 79th pitch, Reed would strike out the final batter to complete the perfect game, and the win. In a postgame interview, his style, including near-miss pitches on several of the opposing batters, was questioned, and he would admit that he 'threw angry.' The victory would prove to be his final international championship game.

Back in the United States, the change in the Rockies organization soon had its effect known on Reed directly. While O'Dowd had been partial to the pitcher, considering Reed a worthwhile investment, Bridich viewed the situation less favorably, and with no playoff success in sight, began to look into shifting towards a rebuilding process, which typically involving trading established players for multiple future prospects, the same form of deal, in reverse, that had brought Reed from Baltimore to Denver. With the club options included in the contract Reed had signed earlier, he had no guarantee of being able to return to the Rockies for the coming season, with the hefty cost of the last year of his backloaded contract looming. Reed's no-trade option, however, required the Rockies to get the pitcher's permission for any swap, hampering his marketability unless he conceded. Bridich began to fish for potential trade partners, but under threat of the new General Manager refusing to take up his contract for the coming season, Reed still refused to void the provision, reiterating his desire to remain with the team despite its lack of successes, calling the front office's bluff, and leaving the question of whether Reed would be back at Coors the coming season lingering over the off-season.

Even with the question floating, Reed still returned to Mexico to play winter-league ball, only to find more changes awaiting. The Algodoneros had been bought out, and were being moved south, to Guadalajara, to be re-dubbed the Charros de Jalisco. Reed, however, would not be making the move with the team, the new ownership deciding against retaining the high-profile foreigner in the lineup, leading him to change over to Venados de Mazatlan for what would be his final year in the league, though he was not aware of it at the time.

The year as a whole was a disappointing one for what would be his last. While his batting average did improve, first in the league in a low-offense year, Reed failed to reach a 20-20 season for the first time since the 2008-2009 season, not coming anywhere close in either category, while putting up triples and doubles figures lower than any season save his poorly handled rookie year in the league. The Venados would finish third on the year, and in a bitter irony for Reed, the Charros would easily with the pennant, though they would be upset by the Tomateros in the final.

2015 and Retirement

The offseason leading into 2015 continued to show buzz with the question of whether the Rockies would elect to exercise their club option on the expensive pitcher with playoff hopes seeming dim, and the possibility of a new deal after Reed's contract year, or possibly even one hammered out before the season began, if the Rockies sent him off, was a topic of hot discussion in sporting circles.

With Spring Training already on its way, and Opening Day looming, fan pressure began to mount on the Rockies management, which had still failed to make a decision, and were facing losing their starter. It was in that already charged context that Reed made a announcement that none expected-announcing his intention to retire at the end of the season. Reed's wife had had a pregnancy test come up positive, and a statement of intent by the pitcher that he wished to devote himself to fatherhood and helping her raise the children was cited as the reason for his sudden choice to hang up the glove. The shock decision was one that would make national headlines, and would lead to massive, and occasionally heated, discussions both inside and outside of baseball circles. Questions of priority for athletes and parents were bandied about, while some compared the situation to that of Sandy Koufax's similarly short MLB career, with some hypothesizing that an undisclosed injury was the actual reason for the announcement.

Reed expressed an interest in playing out his final season during his wife's pregnancy, however, and faced with a wholly untenable PR situation, the Rockies quickly confirmed that they would be keeping the pitcher on for the 2015 season, the backloaded contract setting a record for a single-year payout.

Reed's decision to retire before age mandated it locked him out from a chance to break Nolan Ryan's strikeout record, which some commentators and analysts predicted he could break if able to keep up his levels of production. At the time of his retirement, Reed was ranked fourth all-time in career strikeouts.

After an Opening Day shutout in a 13-0 blowout victory against the Milwaukee Brewers, in which Reed collected three hits and a walk from the other side of the plate, Reed would only last two and a third innings in his next outing at home against the Chicago Cubs before retiring due to arm discomfort. At Reed's request, he was moved from the lower-rest start scheduling he had used for the majority of his career, and onto a more typical longer-rest standard. In addition to the change in rest patterns, Reed would begin to throw with a significantly modified style in his final year. His median four-seam fastball velocity dipped, though the peak increased slightly from the previous year, and the pitcher would begin to throw a cut fastball, modified from his standard four-seamer, as a regular pitch, in addition to increasing the use of his two-seamer. Reed's changeup would tend to see greater use relative to his higher-speed pitches, with different grips, including a Circle and "Vulcan" change experimented with, as Reed grew more accepting of contact, lowering week-to-week pitch counts and showing a greater willingness to test the edges of the plate, as well as simplifying his typical mechanics.

The Rockies, in their star's swan song year, got off to one of the best starts in franchise history, scoring thirty-eight runs in their first six games, and going to an 8-1 record, best in the National League, tied for best in the Majors, and two games up in the division, after a sweep of the San Fransisco Giants on the road. Set to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in Dodger Stadium.

With Reed's change in schedule, the fan-favorite showdown between he and Kershaw did not come to pass, at Kyle Kendrick was given the start in his stead, and was pounded for six runs by the Dodgers offense, Kershaw taking the victory. Reed was instead matched up against Zach Greinke, and led the Rockies to a 4-2 victory. The Rockies failed to score a single run in the series capper, blown out 7-0, closing the division lead to a single game.

The single-game lead would quickly evaporate, however, as typical Rockies misfortune made itself known.The injury bug would strike the team again, as two losses at the end of the month lead into season-ending Tommy John surgery for crucial breakout closer Adam Ottavino, and starting a ten-game losing streak before a narrow win over the Angels off a stellar Reed outing, allowing only one earned run in a complete game and inducing Mike Trout to three strikeouts, led to splitting a series with the Dodgers, losing the last game by failing to bring a run across the plate once again, wasting an excellent seven-inning three-hit one-run start by Kyle Kendrick.

With the Rockies now solidly below .500 at 15-19, and six and a half games back in the division in only mid-May, the team needed a swift return to early-season form to make a playoff run possible. Instead, injury struck again, and at an even more devastating level, as the next series saw both of the team's two leading hitters, third-year phenom Corey Dickerson and slugger Justin Morneau, fall to injury, Dickerson to a foot injury, Morneau to a concussion.

Despite the wave of injuries, the Rockies continued to fight for contention, seesawing between taking a four-game series in Philadelphia and losing one at home against the Giants before ending May on a 6-1 hot streak that put them back at .500 and five and a half back from the Dodgers. The team's ill fate, however, would not cease. Starter Jordan Lyles was knocked out for the season at the beginning of June, which, with Tyler Chatwood still recovering from Tommy John surgery, left the team dangerously short on depth, and further hindering attempts at recovery, as pitching prospects called up from the minors failed to perform.

Reed took to the mound at home against the Miami Marlins on June 7th, looking to give the Rockies their first series win of the month, but Reed, while effectively cutting down the rest of the Marlins lineup, gave up three home runs to Giancarlo Stanton in three at-bats, the slugger driving in five runs with the blasts, and handing Reed the loss. In his next start against the team, this time in Miami, Reed made a display of his change of tactics from how he had pitched through his career previously, pitching around Stanton rather than going at him directly, walking the power hitter in each of his appearances, and adding a home run off of homer in the 2-0 win.

The win was a rare bright spot in a 2-8 skid, as the Rockies continued to yo-yo back and forth in attempting to fight through injuries with a depleted lineup, going on a brief 5-1 run before falling into another 3-8 skid, dropping back below .500, to 40-44, and six games back from the Dodgers for the division lead.

With one series left to play before the All-Star Break, at home against the Atlanta Braves, the Rockies ended the first half of the season strong, drawing their win-loss record even at forty-four apiece with a four-game sweep including an 11-3 capper, though drawing no closer to the division lead, as the Dodgers won out to close their own first half.

As expected of him, Reed was once again the thick of another heated Cy Young race, but after Kershaw's dominant victory the year before, the Dodger's ace had slipped, 6-6 with an ERA of 2.85 at the break, strong, but not near his previous levels, though he did lead the league with 160 strikeouts. A teammate would take his place as the leader contender, as Greinke and Reed competed against each other with blazing first halves. Greinke was 8-2 with an ERA at a microscopic 1.39, one of the best first-half starts ever, while Reed was not far behind, a win up at 9-2, ERA at 1.5. Max Scherzer had put up numbers that would have made him a front-liner in any other year, a remarkable 17 decisions, 10-7 with a 2.11 ERA and 150 strikeouts, second only to Kershaw, in a league-leading 132 innings pitched, but with the dominance of the old 2009 rivals, the race appeared to be a two-horse one. In the All-Star voting itself, when Greinke was generally considered the leader in the Cy Young race at the time, the longtime fan favorite Reed was given the starting nod by virtue of the fan vote.

Playing at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Reed started off well with a three-pitch strikeout, but soon ran into trouble, allowing a single, followed by two walks, to load the bases, before escaping with two popouts. Facing off against the lineup in the top of the second inning after Dallas Keuchel shut down the NL three-up, three-down in the bottom of the first, Reed went up against former teammate Adam Jones, who hit a single past shortstop. A second single sent Jones to third, followed by Reed's third walk of the night, before Alcides Escobar hit a tapper to Reed that turned into a 1-2-3 double-play, and Reed picked up his second strikeout to escape the inning with two men on, a shaky 4-hit, 3-walk performance in two innings.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the NL offense started to get going, and had a run across and a man on when Reed came up to the plate, having requested that the team suspend the DH rule for his final All-Star game, to which manager Bruce Bochy reluctantly agreed. Reed took full advantage of the opportunity, driving a high fastball over the centerfield fence. Reed came off the mound after the standard two innings to be replaced by Greinke, and the National League would hold on to win 6-5, though a late comeback by the American League left Reed with a no-decision.

Having come into the break hot, the Rockies came crashing back down to earth with astonishing speed on their return, as starter Chad Bettis went down to injury in the first game back, leaving the team with six pitchers out to injury, along with their two top hitters. Short-handed, a mixed record followed the All-Star break, and it was on July 28th, in the midst of a Reed shutout against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, that not injury, but controversy hit the team hard. Troy Tulowitzki, the team's star shortstop and leading batter after the injuries to Dickerson and Morneau, just coming off of his fourth All-Star appearance with the Rockies and in the middle of a career-best on-base streak, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, the revelation of the secret deal being made in the middle of the ninth inning.

Tulowitzki was furious at the secret deal, and Reed, usually very well-mannered, and never critical of coaches since his 2005 season, went vocal, openly and aggressively criticizing General Manager Jeff Bridich for a deal he saw as reminiscent of what had happened to him while on the Orioles. In an interview he called the decision "Unbelievable", "Disrespectful" and "Unacceptable", and slammed the trade as an "open betrayal" of a kind that "should have no place in baseball, to do something like that to someone who has given so much to the team." Tulowitzi had, similar to Reed at the time of his 2010 dealing, expressed a desire to remain a single-team player through his career. With some tumult in the clubhouse already stirred further by Reed's comments, the pitcher stepped up the rhetoric to the point of implying favor for the firing of Bridich, saying "If this is the kind of management that this team is going to get, then its time to end this kind of management."

In exchange for Tulowitzki, and LaTroy Hawkins, the Rockies received shortstop Jose Reyes, and three pitching prospects. The deal had a major effect on team morale, quality of play seeming to decline to a listless level, as the team lost six of their next seven games, essentially putting to rest any remaining playoff hopes.

The Rockies would show one final spark of life in sweeping the Washington Nationals in Washington in three games, Reed adding two home runs and a double to a shutout in his outing, before finally collapsing in full, winning two games against twelve losses through the heart of the month. Reed had the opportunity to again face the Nationals, and once again did not allow a single earned run, but fielding fits behind him resulted in yielding four unearned, and taking the loss. The Rockies entered September below double-digit games below .500 after dropping both halves of a doubleheader in the first game of the month.

With just over thirty days to play on the year, Reed and Greinke were neck-and-neck in the ERA race, with Reed having pushed into the slimmest of leads, Greinke posting a 13-4 record with a 1.59 ERA, Reed at 14-3, and only a hair under with 1.55. While Scherzer had fallen far off the pace with a 4.66 ERA to go with a 2-6 record since July, two others pushed forward for contention. Kershaw put up a minuscule 0.92 ERA since July and was an undefeated 6-0 in that timeframe, a league-leading strikeouts total, dominating in a category that Reed had long been unassailable in, to go with the surge establishing him as a bona fide contender to defend his award. Another candidate, however, would make himself known unexpectedly, as Reed's former Orioles teammate Jake Arrieta had been a match for Kershaw in a second-half tear, an ERA of 1.07 and a remarkable 11-1 record since mid-June, putting him atop the league in wins, with seventeen.

With one of the tightest and most exciting Cy Young races in memory before them, all four pitchers would be watched eagerly by baseball enthusiasts going into the final month, and their next starts. Reed and Greinke had almost identical starts, six innings pitched and three runs allowed each, though Greinke's five runs of support from his teammate against Reed's two would give him the win, while Reed took the loss against the Giants. Kershaw outmatched both of them, going seven innings and allowing only one run, while Arrieta topped all with eight shutout innings. The race was on, and Reed was starting on the back foot.

The next start for each pitcher would again see the four arms evenly contested. Kershaw gave up one earned run in seven innings, Arrieta one in eight, while Greinke pitched eight scoreless, and Reed went all nine against the Padres without letting a run across. Jockeying for position still, the next matchup for the starters would pit two of them against each other, as Reed took the trip to Los Angeles to match up against Kershaw. Reed went the distance against his rival, continuing his strong history in Dodger Stadium as he pitched a shutout through nine while homering against Kershaw in his first at-bat, only to be intentionally walked his second time up. Kershaw lasted through seven strong innings, but the long ball, the only run he allowed, would prove the difference in a 1-0 Rockies victory. Neither Arrieta nor Greinke flagged in their own starts, both defeating Pittsburgh, Arrieta the first, followed by Greinke, with one earned run allowed in eight for the Cub and two in seven for the Dodger.

A chance for daylight finally emerged in the coming week, as Greinke would skip a scheduled start to recuperate, giving his three opponents the opportunity to rack up innings and strikeouts in his absence. Reed's three opponents were near identical in the former category, 207 for Arrieta, 207.2 for Grienke, and 208 for Kershaw, while Reed lagged slightly behind with 197, on pace for a career low. Kershaw maintained his strikeouts lead with 264, followed closely by Reed's 255, while Arrieta and Greinke appeared to be out of striking distance, 209 and 185 Ks to their names. Reed had a slim edge in ERA, 1.51, over the just-behind Grienke at 1.65, with Arrieta in third slipping below the 2 mark to 1.96, and Kershaw on his tail with 2.12. Arrieta led in wins with nineteen, Greinke seventeen, and Reed sixteen, with Kershaw off the pace with only thirteen, along with seven losses, most of the group.

While the three with a start scheduled looked to take advantage against Greinke, the three contenders to upset the reigning champion in Kershaw saw opportunity coming knocking, as the Dodger gave up three runs in seven in a loss against San Francisco, both inflating his ERA, already last among the group, and dropping his win-loss record to 13-8, worst among them as well. While holding and adding to his strikeouts lead, the dip was a significant one, and the other three saw their own awards stock rise. Arrieta took full advantage of the chance, putting in a complete-game shutout against Milwaukee and striking out eleven to be the first of the group to reach twenty wins, and dropping his ERA another eight points. Reed, meanwhile, returned to Denver for a matchup against the Pirates that would prove both one of the most grueling and one of the most successful of his career.

Through regulation, Reed struggled to miss bats, striking out only a single batter, the fewest of any start of his career of such a length, while issuing walks at a frequent pace. The Pirates themselves struggled to make solid contact, too many hits failing to fall for bases, while Reed managed to narrowly escape repeated jams with runners in scoring position, the Pirates repeatedly leaving men on base. As the innings wore on, Reed's velocity continued to dip, throwing from a shortened rotation, but the consistent glancing hits of the Pirate bats and surprisingly solid defense on the mound pulled through. The Rockies, on the opposite side of the plate, were having their own offensive woes against A.J. Burnett and a succession of Pirates relievers, with the sole exception of Reed himself. Having started the season with a hot bat, putting up the best average of his career, Reed had gone cold hitting in his last several outings, his home run against Kershaw the only bright spot of going 2 for his last 14. Against the Pirates, however, the balls were falling where the fielders weren't, as Reed took advantage of Coors's altitude and expansive outfield to rattle off five straight hits through regulation, but none bringing home a run, or setting him up to score one.

At the end of nine the score was still tied, and while Reed was still pushing through on the mound, the Pirates had already burned through five relievers. Entering the tenth, Reed saw his pitch counts continue to spiral upwards as he continued on, while the Pirates did their best to stretch their near-empty bullpen as much as they could. Even with tired and bottom-order arms against them, the Rockies still struggled to put men on, and had managed only five baserunners exempting Reed after a scoreless bottom of the thirteenth.

Put back on the mound once again, Reed ran into trouble, nibbling around the strike zone, but not getting any calls, issuing three consecutive walks to load the bases. With a chance to finally break the game open, however, the Pirates could only manage two soft lineouts before a blast that reached the edge of the warning track before being caught, mere feet from a game-breaking grand slam that would have been the first allowed of Reed's career.

The Rockies started to put together some momentum in the bottom half of the inning, putting runners on the second and third with two outs, and Reed coming to the plate. With an RBI opportunity before him, and a hot bat on his shoulders, Reed made poor contact on a swing outside the zone, on 3-0, grounding the ball towards third base, but managed to beat out the throw by a fraction of a step, no runs scoring. Charlie Blackmon was next to the plate, and launched a pitch on a 1-1 count over the left-centerfield fence for a game-winning walk-off grand slam.

Over fourteen innings, Reed had managed only four strikeouts, but went seven for seven batting, including three triples, exceeding his personal best almost twice over.

Reporting after the exciting match brought to public attention the information point that Reed had now thrown thirty-out consecutive scoreless innings. Earlier in the season, attention had been drawn to an attempt by Greinke to break the long-standing record of fifty-nine consecutive scoreless innings set by Orel Hershiser in 1988 earlier in the season, which ultimately ended just shy of 46 innings, and it seemed possible that another run could be made. With only a few weeks remaining in the season, Reed would require a shift to a four-slot rotation as he had pitched in in previous years in order to have enough chances to match the streak, and on his request, with the Rockies far from contention, the change to a shorter rest period was made.

Reed and Kershaw, both operating on short rest, would get to put in another start before Arrieta and Greinke had their chances, each looking to bolster their case. Kershaw failed to do so, giving up three runs in his second consecutive outing with only five innings pitched, just enough to pick up a win, but enough as well to push his ERA up to 2.25, a remarkable feat, lower than any season of Reed's in Colorado, but simply not matching up to the trio at the forefront of the arms race, which Reed was beginning to pull away in. He added to his case by shutting out the Dodgers at his home field at Coors in seven innings, throwing eleven strikeouts, but not recording a hit on the opposite side of the plate, as Dodgers pitchers pitched around him, giving him a walk in each plate appearance. The Rockies put up nine runs regardless in the blowout win.

Reed was now only eleven strikeouts behind Kershaw for the league lead, but with all four pitchers again coming into a start, Kershaw's thirteen widened the gap, as the ace made a final push for contention with a nine-inning shutout of the San Francisco Giants. Reed, however, was the clear leader in the race by that point, as Grienke slipped to a third of a run per nine behind Reed in ERA giving up two against the Giants in a start preceding Kershaw's, the team taking the loss, though not the pitcher. Arrieta did not allow a run himself through seven innings, but did not complete the game and struck out only nine, as the press to catch Reed became more urgent.

Reed's own short-rest start was against the Diamondbacks in Arizona and by all indications was an impressive showing. Reed had struck out seven Diamondbacks after three innings, ten after four, and thirteen after five while not letting a man on, and belting two home runs in two at-bats hitting in the bandbox of Chase Field, even as weather continued to worsen. With the fifth inning completed, the bad weather finally came down in full, and as the rain began to fall, with the Rockies up 7-0, and the mandatory five innings completed, the call was made to end the shortened game where it stood in lieu of attempting to close the dome and continuing. What was only the second game ever called for rain at Chase Field became a matter of controversy, as Reed stood only eleven and a third innings from Hershiser's record when the match was ended, but no appeal could be made, and the shortened match was entered into the box score.

For Reed to have any chance to reach or tie the record, his final start of the season, and his career, would have to go into extra innings, Reed needing to pitch through the eleventh inning to take the prize he was in pursuit of. Among his competitors, Arrieta and Greinke completed their final games on October second and third, respectively. Arrieta went six innings, did not allow a run, and did not allow a run, claiming his twenty-second victory, and officially claiming the league titles in that category, sealing away an opportunity of a Reed triple crown run. His second-half ERA, with the six scoreless, officially surpassed Reed's own record set in 2007 for the lowest in MLB history. With his slower start to the season, however, his ERA total on the year remained well above Reed's, and significantly behind Greinke's as well. While leading the league in wins, he was second among the four competitors for the most losses, and with a winning percentage below Reed's, and to be below Greinke's if he won his final start of the season. He did, giving up one run in eight innings to take his eighteenth victory. His situation was that of Arrieta's reversed, only slightly. An ERA a hair above 2 over the season's last month would have been world-beating in any context except against Arrieta's 0.39 and Reed's scoreless run, while with only two hundred strikeouts exactly he failed to crack the league's top ten. For Kershaw, it was the slowest start of his career, 5-6, with an ERA over 4.00 even in late May, that had locked him out. Racking up strikeouts at the fastest pace of his career simply was not enough to overcome the deficit he had created for himself, six runs allowed in twelve innings in his two starts before the penultimate knocking one more potential fatal hole into his case.

Even if on the outside of consideration for the Cy Young, however, Kershaw still had a chance to break three hundred strikeouts for the first time in his career, and perhaps just as significantly, to defeat his rival in his strongest area, and snap Reed's record streak of consecutive league-leading strikeout seasons.

October 4th would be the final date, each playing in California, Kershaw at home against the visiting Padres, Reed headed to hostile territory at AT&T Stadium against the San Francisco Giants. Kershaw threw out his first pitch shortly after noon, and after a scoreless top of the inning for the Rockies, Reed threw his in a game that had started eleven minutes later.

Going into his game, Kershaw was at 294 strikeouts, only six needed to hit the mark. Reed, on the other hand, had his task cut out for him in more than just his scoreless innings chase, eleven behind at 183. The potential for his twentieth win was present in the game as well.

Kershaw made quick work of the Padres offense, striking out seven of the first twelve batters he saw, only one managing to get on base with a hit through three and two-thirds innings before stepping out of the game, having surpassed the barrier, and with a dominant lead over second place in the league strikeouts lead. The Dodgers were headed for the playoffs, and with the milestone in the bag, Kershaw's arm was to be spared for the starts ahead.

For Reed, moving quickly through the Giants lineup himself, though with only six strikeouts through four, the Rockies long side eliminated from playoff contention at 77-84, the game would continue through to the end, hopefully reaching extra innings before that. With Reed not allowing a baserunner on and the Rockies offense going quiet, the continuing 0-0 struggle made the chance seem quite real. Putting his own bat to work, Reed struck out in his first at bat, snapping his nine-hit streak and surprise push for the record in that niche category, and struck out a second time his second time around, game still scoreless.

By the ninth inning, the Rockies had managed only two baserunners on the game, and after Dustin Garneu grounded out, Reed came up to the plate. In what was likely to be the last at-bat of his career, Reed was unusually defensive at the plate, as he struggled to make solid contact. The at-bat became a marathon one after Reed took two strikes, the pitcher fouling off seventeen consecutive pitches before lacing a line drive off the centerfield wall, which he stretched into a triple.

Reed took a substantial lead off of the base, disrupting the reliever's focus, and only narrowly made it back to the bag on the pickoff throw. With a 1-1 count against Charlie Blackmon, Reed was too far off the bag on the second pickoff, and raced home. A high pickoff throw and slow transition made for a close play at the plate, where Reed, coming from foul territory, swerved around the left of catcher Buster Posey, dodging the tag, but missing the plate on the wild slide, passing it, and had to quickly crawl back to get his hand on home before Posey put his glove on him, safe at the plate for the first run of the game. The score would not be without consequence, however. Regardless of occurrences going forward, Reed had personally closed the door on his effort to break the scoreless innings record, the game unable to go into extra innings unless Reed lost the streak by giving up a run himself.

When the Rockies took to the field again, however, Reed still had a chance to make his mark. He had struck three hundred after striking out seventeen in the game to that point, throwing hard, but more significantly, had still not allowed a baserunner, and was three outs from perfection.

Reed struck out each of the first two batters in the inning, setting him up for what could be the final out of his career, and the capper for the perfect game. The Giants, looking for an edge, substituted in right-handed pinch-hitter Marlon Byrd to bat against him. Going up 0-2, a changeup by Reed induced an easy ground ball to shortstop from Byrd on a third-pitch changeup. Jose Reyes fielded the grounder cleanly, preparing to end the game with the assist to first, but his throw went high over first baseman Wilin Rosario's head and landed the stands, giving Byrd second base, and spoiling the would-be perfect game on what would have been its final out, causing Reed to visibly spike his glove. Returning to the mound, Reed went up two strikes on Angel Pagan, then picked off pinch-runner Juan Perez at second base to end the game 1-0, ending his scoreless streak at 57 innings, making what would be the final throw of his career. Coming off the mound, Reed was given a standing ovation from the AT&T Field crowd at the game's conclusion.

The suspension of Reed's streak at 57 left him with the third-longest in the MLB, after two Dodgers. Despite the shorter streak, Reed tied Don Drysdale's record for most consecutive shutouts at six, though not all of Reed's shutouts were nine innings.

Despite exceeding Kershaw's mark by a single strikeout, Reed's strikeout numbers on the season were at a career low, matched with a higher-than-usual number of walks, but he would match those numbers with a personal low in home runs allowed, His final ERA was the lowest in the MLB since Bob Gibson's famed 1968 season, and, buoyed by the steak, the lowest second-half ERA in MLB history, though a notably higher FIP relative to ERA, as well as extremely low opposing BABIP and HR/FB%, and a league-high percentage of unearned runs allowed were used as points of criticism by some of Reed's numbers of the years being overinflated, through a turn of uncommon good luck Regardless of such points, the phenomenal end to the season had erased all doubt among the four competitors of the clear front runner, and Reed would receive his second unanimous Cy Young award, his first in the National League.

Reed on his father's farm in Montana

On the other side of the plate, Reed would post the highest single-season batting average of his career by over one hundred point, a major outlier vastly above his typical averages, drawing some comparisons to the similar circumstances of pitcher Walter Johnson's breakout hitting year. Reed briefly, after his extra-innings performance against the Pittsburgh Pirates in late September, looked to be within striking distance of Johnson's long-standing record of single-season batting average for a pitcher, but only recorded one hit in his final nine plate appearances, falling well short. Adding eight home runs to his tally, third-best for a pitcher in a season, Reed would be awarded the Silver Slugger for the fifth time in his career, tying Mike Hampton for the most as a pitcher. Having put together an impressive offensive resume behind his historic pitching year, bringing the Rockies to finish only three games below .500 despite the rash of injuries and Tulowitzki trade, Reed would be selected as the National League Most Valuable Player by a slim margin over Bryce Harper, becoming one of only two players to win the award in both leagues.

Reed would spend the next few weeks in Denver, preparing to move, and briefly returned to his father's farm in Montana before moving back to Baltimore.

Reed is the Rockies' all-time leader in strikeouts (1,888), strikeouts per nine innings, (11.87), wins (91), losses (69), ERA (3.38), home runs allowed (233), WHIP (0.99), innings pitched (1,431), and Games Started (200), and is second in Win-Loss percentage (.569)

Pitching Style

Reed was given the nickname of "The Whip" for the combination of his unorthodox style and extreme pitch velocity, boasting one of, if not the, highest-speed fastballs in MLB history. In addition to his speed, Reed's control was considered excellent, with walk totals typically near league-low levels, though in contrast, his ability to utilize horizontal movement on his pitches was extremely poor for a Major League pitcher.

Reed typically threw at a high-three-quarters delivery angle throughout his career, but would make use of changes in arm angles between pitches to throw hitters off-balance, and add a deceptive aspect to an otherwise fairly straightforward repertoire. While in the process of adjusting his windup leading into the 2012 season with the Rockies, Reed briefly attempted a submariner style, but largely abandoned the effort after poor results. Reed would occasionally drop his arm into a low, near submarine-level rotation for a single pitch during at-bats, designed to throw the hitter off-guard, though he began to use this practice more rarely after 2012, and had abandoned it by the final year of his career.

Reed was well-known for his unique and somewhat exaggerated pitching form in his throwing career, the involved motion involving his full body. Especially in his later years, from the windup, Reed would rock his hands back at his waistline while stepping back, then move into an overhead bend, twisting to the opposite side, then "whipping" forward and rotating about. From the stretch, Reed would cock his leg back and rotate his hips into a nearly one hundred and eighty degree turn before uncorking into a forward motion. The form was noted for the heavy use of the legs in driving the arm forward. The eccentric style has been credited with improving Reed's velocity, and by placing additional focus on generation power from the legs, helping to reduce stress on his throwing arm, contributing to his noteworthy durability as a pitcher, as well as contributing to Reed managing to pitch with modest effectiveness despite a hand and wrist injury in 2014. Reed's rotation would be modified into a more magnified form after the 2011 season, particularly from the stretch, where Reed had often pitched in a more low-forward leaning form. During the 2005 season, Reed's rotation was limited by coach Sam Palazzo in an attempt to normalize the pitcher's mechanics, though Reed would return to his style in 2006. Reed was known to occasionally shorten his windup at unannounced intervals, disrupting a batter's timing.

Reed was most renowned for his fastball, particularly his four-seam variety of it, which he would throw consistently at over one hundred miles per hour. In a 2007 game this pitch was clocked at 107.3 miles per hour, a current world record. Unofficially clocked pitches have shown Reed approaching one hundred and ten miles per hour in practice, and Reed exceeded his 2007 mark with an unofficially clocked pitch by the NPB in the MLB Japan 2014 All-Star game. Catchers have called the pitch "Hand butchery", and traditionally would pad their gloves to better absorb the impact of the ball. The combination of Reed's extreme velocity, rapid arm motion, and significant wingspan earned him the nickname "The Whip" Reed's substantial height, listed as 6 ft. 6 inches but considered closer to 6 ft. 7 in., with a wingspan exceeding seven feet, provided an additional advantage to the pitch, making it seem as though it were moving faster due to the closer release.

Reed's two-seam fastball was much less often used than his four-seamer. While possessing excellent speed and a difficult-to-predict motion, Reed consistently struggled to effectively locate or control the pitch, making it a less-preferred option for the heavily walk-conscious pitcher, and he reduced his use of the pitch markedly after breaking a batter's hand with an out-of-control throw.

In the final season of his career, Reed experimented with both a cut fastball and a split-fingered fastball. Both pitches were thrown with significantly less velocity than Reed's typical offerings, and Reed struggled with successfully maintaining control of the cut fastball in particular, while the split-finger fastball failed to match the speed or break pattern of his sinker. The pitches were credited with helping Reed both to increase his ground-ball rate in his retirement year, and with the higher number of walks he allowed that same season.

Reed's primary off-speed pitch was a simple straight changeup, lacking movement, but with a significant drop in velocity, effective in creating a broader gulf between the speeds of the pitch and his four-seamer. Often used to pull a hitter off-balance and disrupt timing by alternating speeds, the pitch was effective for swinging strikeouts, but its lack of movement left it particularly vulnerable to home runs if timed correctly. As with his fastball, Reed maintained excellent command of the straight change. Reed had a tendency to "tip" his changeup early in his career, displaying a change in motion in his rotation that alerted the batter that the changeup was being thrown, but managed to correct the problem in the 2006 season. 

Reed developed a palmball in his time at Purdue, and threw it throughout his career, though only sparingly, typically saving the pitch for crucial situations with runners on-base, especially with the bases loaded. Slower than his changeup, the palmball had excellent drop, and Reed maintained good control on the pitch. Reed would typically use his palmball more often when in international competition.

Reed made limited use of a circle changeup in his final season with the Rockies, the pitch generally proving ineffective for strikeouts, but helpful for ensuring soft contact by the batter. The Vulcan changeup was similarly experimented with, and proved effective as a groundball pitch.

Reed has thrown occasionally in his career, particularly his later seasons with the Rockies, the odd 'Eephus' pitch, or 'gravity curve.' Never especially useful as a weapon in his repertoire, Reed would call the pitch "A fun pitch to throw." and "A nice little break, right?"

While not available for the majority of Reed's career, the initial implementation of StatCast showed some further detail into his pitching. His four-seam fastball, his primary pitch, was recorded with the highest spin rate of any fastball in the Major Leagues by a broad margin, meaning that the pitch would have noticeably less drop, keeping a largely flat horizontal path, and appearing to 'rise' when approaching the batter at the plate. High spin rate for such a pitch correlated with a high strikeout and whiff rate, but also a high fly-ball and home-run percentage, all of which fit Reed's more traditional statistics.

Reed's changeup, similarly, had a high spin rate, which was generally considered a negative characteristic for such a pitch. While changeups were expected to drop at the plate, the high spin would keep it higher in the zone, and making it less effective as a ground-ball pitch, and easier to drive deep. The effectiveness of the pitch was thus much more heavily based on the large drop in velocity between it and Reed's fastball, rather than making use of a spin rate gulf. 

Highly unusually for a Major League starting pitcher, Reed has demonstrated little to no aptitude with traditional  lateral breaking balls. Reed has stated he "does not know how" to throw a curveball, botched attempts in his 2005 season proving singularly ineffective and never demonstrated any ability to throw a slider. Reed's lack of effective off-speed breaking balls has been put forward as a factor in his high home runs allowed per nine innings.

Reed's sole breaking ball throughout his career was a fast sinker, regularly being recorded in the high-nineties and often breaking one hundred miles per hour. A rare pitch for a left-handed pitcher, Reed's sinker was noted for its purely vertical movement, unlike most such pitches, which tended to spin horizontally, the difference a factor of the locked wrist-snap with which Reed threw the pitch. In terms of effect, Reed's sinker was noted for its late, sharp, break, seeming more in common in tailing and velocity to a split-finger fastball than a standard sinker, though Reed never disclosed his exact grip on the pitch. An effective strikeout pitch, the sinker served as a better ground-ball pitch than Reed's fastball or changeup, combating his tendency as a fly-ball pitcher to some extent, though the speed of the pitch made it possible to be turned on for the long ball moreso than similar breaking balls from other pitchers. One batter commented on the pitch "When you have a pitch that fast with any other guy, that's their fastball, and you're looking for that, but with him, you have that speed and a ball that drops with it, and it just makes it all unfair." Reed retooled his sinker, which had previously been more in line of a fastball with a slight drop than a true breaking pitch, entering the 2007 season, and attributed much of his success that year to its improved break.

In a broad sense, Reed was considered to have excellent control and placement, alongside excellent speed, but was lacking in movement and trick pitching. One commentator, speaking on both Reed's accuracy and lack of ability to throw complex pitches, said "The man can put a ball anywhere, at any speed-but only in a straight line." For most of his career, Reed was considered to be a three-pitch pitcher, with his four-seam fastball, sinker, and straight changeup. From the 2012 season, Reed functionally regressed to a straight fastball-changeup pitcher, with the former receiving the bulk of use.

As part of a promotion, Reed was once challenged to pitch against a midget batter, in a recreation of Eddie Gaedel's famous plate appearance for Bill Veeck's St. Louis Browns. Reed successfully struck out the crouching man looking on three pitches.

Throughout his career, Reed developed a reputation as a highly aggressive pitcher. When asked for comment he simply stated "I hate to throw balls." Reed was notorious for both consistently erring on the side of a strike in throwing corner pitches, and rarely making attempts to force a batter to "chase" a pitch outside. These tendencies have contributing to Reed holding the all-time MLB record for highest strikeout-to-walk ratio, and serving as the only pitcher in MLB history with over four thousand strikeouts and under one thousand walks, but is considered likely a large contributing factor to Reed's proclivity to allow home runs, with pitches often drifting over the center of the plate. In addition to the all-time strikeout-to-walk ratio, Reed holds the MLB record for most home runs allowed per walk by a broad margin. Reed's aggressiveness in pitch location and lack of walks helped him to keep low pitch counts in long starts, leading to the left-hander often throwing less pitches than others despite throwing more innings, a major contributing factor in his durability and tendency towards complete games. Reed is one of only two pitchers to have led the league in both strikeouts per nine innings, and fewest pitches per nine innings in the same year, along with rival Clayton Kershaw.

In batted-ball tendencies, Reed was considered an extreme fly-ball pitcher, both his rising fastball and high-spin changeup, as well as a tendency to challenge hitters high, giving him a nearly fifty percent fly ball rate. Reed was typically effective in avoiding line-drives, ranking third among starters since 2002 in lowest LD%, but posted the second highest home-runs allowed per fly ball rate among pitchers with at least two thousand innings thrown.

Reed held a reputation as a fast worker throughout his career, rarely delaying between pitches or shaking off a catcher's call. Since the tracking of the statistic in 2007, Reed was second only to Mark Buerhle in shortest time between pitches, and would typically complete a game in under two hours.

Reed's durability was considered one of his most distinguishing traits as a pitcher, consistently posting high innings-pitched and complete-game totals reminiscent of earlier eras, particularly in his later career, as his clout allowed him greater control over his own starts. Reed continued to maintain high velocities in pitching into his mid-thirties, beyond typical drop-off points for pitchers, and relied significantly more heavily on his fastball late in his career than typical pitchers of that age. The 2015 season marked the first year in which Reed stepped down to a standard rest schedule when pitching due to arm fatigue, though he would later move into a slightly accelerated schedule at season's end while chasing Orel Hershiser's scoreless innings record. Through his career, Reed was never scratched from a start due to illness or injury.

Post-retirement, Reed has commented that he has been "Practicing his knuckleball" though when asked of a possible return to baseball, he insisted that it was "Just for fun." The pitch was never a part of his standard repertoire during his career.

In the use and development of his pitches, Reed was an early adopter of pitch-tracking technologies later used by MLB Statcast, training to modify less immediately apparent aspects of pitches such as spin rate, and adjusting both windup and grip off of available analysis. Reed similarly committed to the use of Inside Edge and other reports on batter tendencies before starts, and would modify his pitch selection and sequencing accordingly.

Batting and Fielding

From the other side of the plate, Reed, a former centerfielder in college was consistently considered one of the game's best-hitting pitchers, tied with fellow Rockie Mike Hampton for the most Silver Slugger awards at the position. Though he lacked the consistent contact ability of Hampton, and other good-hitting pitchers, consistently striking out at the plate at a prodigious rate, and a significant distance from the best hitting-pitchers in batting average, Reed would display considerable power, holding the sole league lead in home runs by a pitcher each of his years in the National League save for 2010, when he was beaten by Yovani Gallardo, and 2014, when he tied with Madison Bumgarner. Taking half his at-bats hitting into the expansive outfield of Coors Field, Reed led all pitchers in extra-base hits from 2011-2015. Reed had, along with Bumgarner, promoted the concept of including pitchers in the All-Star Game's Home Run Contest, but the event never moved beyond the concept stage.

Batting in a straight-up stance through the 2010 season, Reed modified his batting stance after his poor performance in that year's second half, changing to an exaggerated crouch, right leg pushed far forward, and left knee bent. The unorthodox stance, compared by many to Rickey Henderson, seemed to lower the pitcher's strike zone, though the matter was controversial, and, combined with what was considered an excellent batter's eye, helped Reed to draw a high walk rate for a pitcher, above the major-league average. Reed was, as a whole, considered to be an extremely, and sometimes overly, patient hitter, typically refusing to chase or swing at a pitch he was not sitting on, and striking out looking a disproportionate number of times.

The nearly six-foot-seven Reed would become well-known for his long-legged speed, one of the few pitchers in the league to consistently attempt to steal bases, and successful in doing so. Reed was notable for adopting a headfirst slide, stretching forward with a long wingspan when attempting to reach a base. Aggressive on the basepaths, Reed developed displayed a somewhat infamous tendency to be thrown out attempting to advance an extra base on a hit, producing a high number of baserunning outs.

Reed's statistics, however, have been contended to be inflated by much of his at-bats coming at the extremely hitter-friendly Coors Field. Thin air in the mile-high ballpark allows balls to fly farther, the unique environment is notoriously hard on pitchers, and the park's dimensions and expansive outfield facilitate extra-base hits. Sabermetric study of outcomes has determined that certain parks inflate statistics beyond a hitter's true ability, with Coors Field the most heavily hitter-slanted of such parks by a broad margin. Reed's overall batting performance was significantly higher at home than on the road during his tenure with the Rockies, including over a one hundred and eighty point difference in batting average in his final season. Reed's weighted runs created scores, which adjust for park factor, placed him as a below-average hitter in four of his six season with the Rockies. While with a low number of opportunities in which to establish such a reputation, Reed was typically regarded as a poor clutch hitter, batting, slugging, and on-base percentage all dropping with runners on, and batting 0-13 in his career with the bases loaded.

Despite Reed's strengths, in terms of sacrifice bunting, a well-valued skill among hitting pitchers, Reed was arguably the league's worst, repeatedly striking out, or being struck by a pitch on sacrifice bunt attempts in his early career before said attempts were abandoned. A fly-ball hitter, especially in his years with the Rockies, Reed often suffered from a high strikeout percentage. With his crouched batting stance pressed close-up against the plate, and a combination of poor evasive ability and difficulty predicting the break of some pitches, Reed was often the victim of hit-by-pitches at a rate among the highest in the league, though such hits artificially inflated his OBP and OPS stats.

At a batter, Reed displayed a notable preference for low pitches, performing well at turning balls down in the zone into long drives. Reed also tended to hit better off of outside pitches than those inside, a primary reason for his close-in batting stance, and his large number of hit-by-pitches, as opponents attempted to pitch him inside. Reed typically swung in an "uppercut" fashion, tending towards fly balls and occasionally line drives, though also tending to hit a high number of pop-ups.

In the field, Reed was typically seen as having a below-average glove, having difficulty effectively fielding bunts and ground balls, tracking popups, or snagging line drives, a weakness exacerbated by his high-rotation windup, though his arm strength and accuracy was of some use in fielding bunts, and speed in covering first base. Despite Reed's high pitch velocity, he was generally considered a fairly easy pitcher to steal on due to the length of his stretch motion, exacerbated during the last four years of his career with the Rockies.

Reed's typical walk-up music during his career was Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem.

Awards and Accomplishments

On retirement, Reed holds several MLB records, some more prestigious than others. He is tied with Roger Clemens for most Cy Young awards in a career, and with Bob Hampton for most Silver Slugger awards as a pitcher. Reed holds several MLB strikeout records, including the most 300-strikeouts seasons, the fastest pitcher to 2,000, 3,000, and 4,000 strikeouts, most strikeouts in a nine-inning game, most strikeouts in a season in the live-ball era, and most strikeouts per nine innings over a career. He is tied with Walter Johnson for most strikeout titles in a career. Considered to have excellent control on the mound, Reed is the current MLB leader for strikeout-to-walk ratio, and ranks among the top ten for fewest hit batsmen among pitchers with at least two thousand innings pitched. Reed is one of only two pitchers in MLB history, along with Randy Johnson, to throw over 2,000 strikeouts for two different teams. Outside of strikeouts, Reed is the current MLB leader for lowest career WHIP and BAA.

More ignominiously, Reed leads all pitchers in MLB history with at least two thousand innings pitched in home runs allowed per nine innings. Reed also holds a monopoly on single-season records in the statistic, with the marks for first, second, and third-most home runs allowed in a single season all set by Reed. Over half of all earned runs allowed by Reed in his career came from home runs, a record percentage. Reed is fifth in career home runs allowed, with 468, and the only pitcher in the top five to have thrown under four thousand innings. Oddly, Reed is one of only two pitchers in MLB history with at least 2000 IP, after Jim Palmer, a fellow Oriole, to never have allowed a grand slam. On the opposite side of the plate, despite his unusual power for a pitcher, Reed has never hit a grand slam in sixteen bases-loaded plate appearances.

Playing for often lackluster Orioles and Rockies teams, Reed also holds the MLB record for most innings pitched without a playoff appearance in the modern playoff era by a margin of over seven hundred innings, and is the only pitcher in the modern playoff history of the MLB to have never made a playoff appearance with over 2,500 innings pitched, or over 400 games started. Throughout the entirety of his career, Reed never played on a team that finished the season with a winning or even record, with an average finish of slightly over seven games below .500. He holds the MLB record for most Wins Above Replacement without a playoff appearance.

Considered throughout his career to be a particularly unlucky pitcher, Reed held the active lead for most losses outings in which only one or two runs were allowed at the time of his retirement, and highest loss percentage in Quality Starts. Reed was consistently dogged by intermittent and poor run support through his career, his teams repeatedly scoring fewer runs in Reed's starts than as an average. Reed's particularly poor luck in run support extended beyond game-by-game situations. The Rockies had scored over 800 runs in five of the seven seasons Reed spent with the Orioles, and failed to even once cross that threshold during Reed's six years with the team, while surpassing it by near fifty runs immediately in the season following his retirement. Stemming from said run support, and a reputation for pitching more poorly in close games, Reed holds the MLB record for the greatest negative difference between WL% and waaWL%. Bill James has referred to Reed's as "positively snakebitten" in reference to his W-L and dW-L differential. Reed is the only pitcher in MLB history to have had three perfect games lost in the ninth inning.

Reed is second in MLB history in years leading the league in losses, at three, along with a second-place finish in 2004, and holds the record for most losses in a season in the postwar era, as well as being the only pitcher in the postwar era with more than one season with more than twenty losses. No pitcher with at least 3,000 strikeouts has fewer wins than Reed.

Reed, using a batting stance close-in to the plate throughout his career, and and infamous for both a bad tendency to strike into breaking balls and a consistent case of particularly bad luck, holds the dubious honor of having been hit by a pitch more than any other pitcher in MLB history, having been struck twenty-six times.

In batting and baserunning, Reed holds records for most home runs by a pitcher, most stolen bases by a pitcher in the modern era, and most inside-the-park home runs by a pitcher. He is tied for seventh among pitchers in triples. He leads all pitchers, save Babe Ruth, in OPS and Isolated Power, though said statistics have been attributed to the hitter-friendly environment of Coors Field.

Reed is a two-time MVP victor, and eleven-time All-Star, and received the Roberto Clemente and Branch Rickey Awards in 2009, and the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award in 2015.

Philanthropic Career

Calvin Reed is a well-known philanthropist, beginning in his baseball days, and currently is the head of American Dream, one of the largest organizations of its type in the United States.

American Dream was founded in 2004, after Reed's call-up to the Major League by the Baltimore Orioles, formed primarily by Reed's signing bonus. Reed noted that it was the conditions of the inner city, which he had not before experienced, particularly that of African-American children, that spurred the creation of American Dream, built primarily off of his signing bonus.

Through his playing career, Reed would donate a significant portion of his salary to the organization in an attempt to grow it, along with attempting to solicit donations whenever his celebrity made it possible. Connecticut Senator and former actor, astronaut, and soldier Buck Havich notes that it was at one of such meetings where he first met Reed, and said he was "Amazed by his energy, going from person to person, always trying to get just a little more help for the charity."

Reed working in the field with American Dream (2007)

American Dream started off as primarily helping youth in poverty, particularly those of color, in Baltimore, focusing on an anti-drug message, then moving into combating gang violence, and promoting education and opportunity. The organization's growth was spurred with the introduction of Mattias Kingsley as Reed's partner, and it became a dominant force in Baltimore.

Reed's trade to the Colorado Rockies in 2010 led to him beginning to plant new outposts of American Dream in Denver, while Kingsley focused on the East Coast. American Dream would continue to grow, and later, after Reed's marriage to Aubrey Harrinton, founded a sister organization, known as True Opportunity, which operates exclusively in Canada.

Reed has spoken of a possible international spread to American Dream, but no such expansion has been made, with the stated intention being to focus on the United States, with some partnerships and collaborations being the extent of international action.

Political Career

2016 Republican Primaries

Reed had been a lifelong registered Republican, but has not been noted for being heavily involved in the political process before his announcement of his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President.

Reed announced his intention to run for President at an American Dream charity dinner in Baltimore, Maryland, soon after the New Hampshire primaries had concluded. His announcement was considered a complete surprise by commentators, Some considered him a joke candidate, as Dick Kirk had been believed to be, though Dick Kirk was also noted to have won the Iowa primaries. Reed insisted that he was not a joke candidate-and announced his campaign on a fight to bring accountability to government and fight corruption, along with some policy positions considered different from the Republican mainstream.

Reed campaigned aggressively early, holding events in Nevada, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Minnesota, campaigning on healthcare, drugs, gun rights, reformed child care, and immigration. Reed gained significant attention-and some criticism, for campaigning alongside his wife, Aubrey Reed, who held events independent of her husband, which received reactions raising from praise at her independence and assertive action, to criticism of Reed for "using" his wife, or for her not knowing her proper place. These events would later lead to controversy.

Reed gained attention for, at the news of then-Tropical Storm Bonnie approaching the Eastern Coast, suspending his campaign to focus on relief efforts. This action would later be followed by other candidates-though notably not Senator Gonzalez. Reed performed poorly in South Carolina, while Gonzalez won Nevada-though Reed posted a respectable showing in the state.

The Reed campaign was re-launched in a massive rally in Turner Field in Georgia, and re-entered the campaign field with a series of rallies and a southern-targeted advertisement. In the pre-Super Tuesday debate, hosted as a semi-independent event in Mississippi, Reed gave a generally well-received performance, while then-leader Senator Egazarian did not attend.

Come Super Tuesday, the Reed campaign pulled a surprising upset, winning six states, including the critical state of Georgia, predicted to be a Gonzalez stronghold. Combined with the poor performance of Secretary Garestaer, the primary threw the Republican race into a three-way competition between Reed, and Senator Egazarian and Gonzalez.

The original Reed to Lead campaign sign.

In discussing the results of Super Tuesday, commentators had two main explanations for the performance. One of the most significant factors was believed to be the lack of effort on the campaign trail in the majority of states by the two candidates, who primarily focused on the state of Texas. With the exception of Oklahoma, Reed only won states that no other candidate set foot in. Others commented that both primary opponents were considered populists, and often extreme, leaving voters disillusioned with that ideology no choice but Reed.

Immediately after Super Tuesday, Reed was at the center of a story which broke in which Speaker/Secretary Garestear attempted to use child protective services to kidnap Reed's newborn daughter, something that Reed reacted furiously to. Secretary Garestaer would flee to Turkey not long after the revelations, never officially suspending his campaign.

Reed continued his aggressive campaigning, trading victories with Senator Egazarian in the Super Saturday primaries. Reed made a notable promise on the campaign trail, promising not to launch attacks on other candidates in his rallies, in opposition to the adversarial rhetoric-leading to fights between supporters, between Sen. Gonzalez and Sen. Egazarian at the time. The move was largely considered to be naive, and one that would have negative effects on the Reed campaign-however, the two Senators almost exclusively continued to attack the other, with Reed left generally unscathed.

Reed won a series of primaries in small states, while pulling off a surprising, narrow victory in Michigan, with the populist vote split between his opponents. After Democratic Gov. Murray made promises to ban rifles in the United States, Reed's wife debated with him on Twitter, while Cal released a humorous pro-gun video, which became something of a viral sensation.

The next week of Super Tuesday II primaries was considered a decisive one. Senator Gonzalez had been slipping in the polls due to both a lack of distinction from Sen. Egazarian, and a lack of activity and funding, leading the primary to be considered by many to be a two-person race. In the week preceding the Super Tuesday II primaries, Sen. Egazarian made a variety of blunders, making significant errors in an interview on his budget plan, as well as claims on unemployment rated as egregious falsehoods by fact-checkers, leading to a comment from Reed. The primaries occurred rolling off of the week of consistent mishaps from the Egazarian campaign, allowing Reed to take a slim victory in Florida, and elsewhere, giving him winner-take-all delegates, and giving him a commanding lead, with Egazarian and Gonzalez both considered to have little real path to the nomination.

Some pressure was placed on both candidates to drop from the race-however, both refused to do so. A Breitbart article insisted that Reed had no chance of receiving the needed 1,237 delegates to claim the nomination, and both Senators continued to run their campaigns against the leading Reed, with Senator Gonzalez re-entering the race in force with heavy campaigning in Wisconsin.

At this approximate time, Reed, responding to accusations of infidelity by fringe Presidential candidate and former representative Jason Larson, challenged him to a charity boxing match, which the ex-pitcher infamously won in a single knockout punch.

Reed giving a presentation at a campaign rally

In the Arizona primary the refusal of Sen. Gonzalez to campaign in the state, and Sen. Egazarian's promises of amnesty allowed Reed to capture all of the state's delegates, while adding to his lead with a victory in the Mississippi primary re-election, after a controversy of voters turned away from the polls. Combined with wins in Utah and American Samoa, this formally mathematically eliminated Sen. Gonzalez from contention. This lead Gonzalez's primary backer, Governor Drumpf, to campaign with Reed in Wisconsin, rescinding his support-but both Egazarian and Gonzalez pledged to continue to run their insurgency campaigns.

With a decisive win in Wisconsin, mathematically eliminating Matteos Egazarian, Reed marked the formal conclusion of his primary campaign.

General Election

Despite the fact that his opponents were still technically running, Reed formally ended his primary campaign, and began to campaign for the General election, rallying in states that had already voted in the primaries, and refusing to continue to run in said races, while ignoring comments and attacks by his opponents. The strategy proved largely effective, with the Egazarian campaign struggling against heavy pressure to drop out, and only winning a handful of additional delegates before essentially ceasing activities, though refusing to formally drop.

Over the next months, with the Democratic primaries still contested, Reed took the advantage of time to lay out a platform, and establish a ground game for his campaign, attempting to integrate his current network with that of the RNC, without involving himself in or launching attacks on the Democratic candidates.

This strategy continued over the next months, without notable deviation.

One controversy brewed early in July, when Reed was suddenly accused of rape by a woman who claimed to have worked for American Dream. The story, however, fell apart rapidly once employment records were produced, and no charges filed. The attack, and Democrats, were condemned for using a false rape accusation for political gain, with Reed's reputation considered to be bolstered by the incident.

After the crash of the Japanese loan market, Reed flew to Japan for a meeting with their Prime Minister to discuss the problem, and possible solutions.

Reed engaging in a town hall interview

In mid-July, before the party primaries, Reed engaged in an unusually early first Presidential debate with presumptive Green nominee Ellen Walton. With the Democratic Party unable to decide on a nominee, none were sent to the debate. Reed delivered a strong performance, though some pundits believed the moderator did not press either candidate hard enough-neither candidate attacked the other significantly, and the debate was considered a solid showing for both.

Going into the Republican National Convention, Reed had not yet picked a Vice Presidential nominee, raising speculation. Initial polling had Reed holding an overwhelming lead over his opponents, after Governor Danders was chosen by Democratic party leaders as the next nominee in a brokered convention, one unsurpassed in the post-War United States.

Reed formally accepted the Republican nomination at the National Convention, delivery a speech praised by pundits.

Post-Convention

Following the Republican National Convention, Reed, after the terror attacks in Madrid, gave a speech in Spanish in the nation's capital, urging strength in the face of hardship. He attended the 2016 Rio Olympics, as a spectator in his wife's events of woman's trap and skeet, before returning to the United States for a closed-door meeting with President Tsai Ing-Wen, alongside his two primary opponents in the race, Governor Danders, and Mayor Walton.

In the run-up to the debate, Reed campaigned primarily in the U.S. northeast, traditionally Democratic territory, as part of a professed strategy to work for the "entire nation."

Reed at the first post-Convention debate.

In early September, the first post-convention Presidential debate, Reed faced Walton in a standard-format debate at the University of North Carolina. Governor Danders failed to reach the threshold for entry, making the debate the first in over one hundred and fifty years in which a Democrat was unable to take part.

The debate varied between economic, foreign policy, and education issues, with most pundits and polls post-debate declaring Reed to be the victor.

Throughout September and October, Reed continued on the campaign trail, committing to campaign in all fifty states, a feat not achieved by any Presidential candidate since Richard Nixon. The months saw Reed on the campaign trail in both traditional Democratic strongholds in the northeast, and more deeply conservative states in the west, notably not focusing his efforts on swing states, as is typical among candidates.

The second Presidential debate was held in late October, with Robert Danders once again failing to qualify. In a debate that became somewhat more heated than the previous, particularly on the issue of a federal mandating of same-sex marriage acceptance by states, Reed was generally polled as the victor for the second time, though by a slimmer margin than previously.

.Election Day

The November 8th Election resulted in a landslide victory for Reed, receiving 505 Electoral votes to Ellen Walton's 33. Robert Danders received no electoral votes. Reed was also victorious in the popular vote, receiving 61.55% of the electorate, breaking Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 record. The election was considered consistent with pre-election polling, though with Reed taking an upset victory by a slim margin in California, the first Republican to carry the state since 1988. Reed's victory marked the return of a Republican White House combined with control of both chambers of Congress as was the case from 2003 to 2007 in the Shrub Presidency.

Reed became the first President elected without prior governmental or military experience. Of the 43 previous Presidents, 38 had held prior elected office, two had not held elected office but had served in the Cabinet, and three had never held public office but had been commanding generals.

Presidency

Calvin Reed was formally sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 21, 2017. Reed, for undisclosed reasons, chose to "affirm" rather than "swear" the oath, only the second President to do so, after Franklin Pierce. Reed's first speech as President, his inaugural address, had Reed commit to a renewed emphasis on Constitutionalism in the Presidency.

Reed moved into action quickly following his inauguration, immediately promoting and pushing for the passage of the "Balanced Budget Amendment", introduced by Democrat Edgar Brankers. The amendment would face some Republican opposition in the senate, most notably among first-term Senator Zachary Fowler and former Majority Leader Ryan Carter, but would successfully pass with the requisite two-thirds majority, including a number of Democratic votes, and would pass the House in a smoother process, though a significantly more party-line vote.

Reed signed the first bills of his Presidency, STATUTORY, a bill restricting performing sex-change operations on minors, and the Bill to Provide For Conjugal Visits Under Federal Jurisdiction on January 31, 2017.

Reed held the first meeting of his Presidency at Camp David with Governor Francis Dudley of Arizona, the architect of the "Dudley Strike." The meeting failed to negotiate an end to the strike, and Reed would back the passage of the "Dudley Tax", a carbon-tax proposal, in an attempt to break the strike. The bill would face some Republican opposition, largely driven again by Senator Fowler and Reed's primary opponent Matteos Egazarian, as well as Governor Brandon Kiser, but Fowler would later drop his opposition to the bill, which would pass by a broad bipartisan margin.

In early February, Reed had introduced the "American Right to Bear Arms Act", a significant liberalization of firearms laws and restrictions, including a tax credit for gun ownership. The measure was rallied against by Democrats and Progressives, including a rally held in Chicago by Representative Jared O'Leary, and a filibuster by Senator Reginaldo Alphonsey, but was broadly supported by Republicans, in addition to some Democratic Senators. Reed hosted a three-gun competition at Camp David in commemoration of the Act, and it overcame cloture and was passed by the Senate, subsequently signed on February 7th.

On February 8th, Reed announced the pardon of Edward Rainden, a controversial whistleblower or leaker. The pardon led to heavy criticism among the Republican Party, including an announced potential primary challenge from Senator Alois Kramer, and the accusation by Representative Greg Morton that the President was a "traitor", though Morton would retract and apologize for his comments the next day. Representative Amelia Yang, nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services, would reject the nomination after the pardon.

Following shortly after the pardon, Reed's first nomination to the Supreme Court was Judge Jessica Alstaff of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Justice was confirmed quickly by a largely partisan vote on February 13th, after an unexpected motion to proceed by Senator Alphonsey preempted a planned Democratic filibuster.

Reed's first overseas trip began on the second weekend of February, and opened with a series of visits to American military forces in Iraq. Reed was visiting Joint Base Balad at the time of the Valentine's Day Bombing in Manchester.

In Reed's first foreign policy meeting in Israel, negotiations on the restoration of aid to Israel suspended by the Taylor Force Act broke down upon Reed's insistence that Israel suspend its subsidization by government funds of abortion programs.

Reed's second diplomatic visit in office in mid February, to Saudi Arabia, was beset with controversy after Senator Kramer, criticizing the visit, and the First Lady's decision to wear a hijab, announced a primary campaign against the President. As Reed made the final foreign policy stop on his trip, in Canada, Kramer's primary campaign led to his holding a rally alongside Dianna Noble in Reed's hometown of Dillon, Montana, leading to a mass shooting in which Noble killed eight.

The day following the shooting, Montana Governor Douglas Stephens revealed that Reed's father, Howland Reed, was among the dead. Reed made no immediate public comment on the death, but was reported as cutting the diplomatic trip short, and returning to Dillon.

Shortly after the death of his father, at the end of February, Reed issued a series of executive orders, the most controversial of which repealed Executive Order 13672, which had made illegal federal discrimination in hiring on the basis of gender identity, and for federal contractors on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. A protest march was held in front of the White House within the week, on the third of March, in which Reed was criticized for the order, including a demand for resignation from Senator Alexander Breckenridge, and a call for impeachment by journalist Samantha Soberman, and leading to an assault on and the hospitalization of Majority Whip Villanueva de Peña. Reed would issue a national address the next day condemning the attackers and "bullying" of the LGBT movement, receiving mixed praise and criticism, March speakers among the latter.

Reed would sign a bill earlier passed by the Majority Whip banning sex, race, or disability-selective abortions, CREST, during her hospitalization, and would hold a non-political athletic event with members of Congress, the "Bipartisan BP" in late March. Reed submitted a second nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, Laura Boyd, in late March, after the failure of earlier nominee Emma Bellefontaine-Thibodeaux. Boyd would successfully be approved by the Senate.

Reed would nominate his second candidate to the Supreme Court, Representative Anna Rossi, in early April. The announcement of the nomination would lead to a contentious press conference between the President and media members in the White House, but was broadly praised by members of the Republican Party, and Senator Ella Enchanted of the Progressive Party, while receiving some left-wing criticism.

Following accusations of the use of anti-homosexual and racist slurs by Rossi while a student at Harvard, Reed would publicly condemn the allegations as a "disgusting smear" and "concocted", while calling for an investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee following Rossi's withdrawal of her name from consideration. Reed would nominate a new candidate, Annie Walker, for the open seat after the Judiciary Committee investigation was closed by Senator Ryan Carter without conclusions. Walker would be confirmed by the Senate by a 68-28 vote following hearings.

In Mid-May, Reed delivered a speech aboard the USS Owen B.K. Shrub announcing the end of Major Combat Operations against the Islamic State, and outlining future plans for the development of the region, while announcing the withdrawal of American troops from the Middle East. In early June, Secretary of State Abelard Bell was hospitalized in Iraq following a hemorrhagic stroke caused by a previously undetected arteriovenous malformation. Reed announced that the administration would be seeking an Acting-Secretary of State while Bell sought to recover.

Political Positions

Reed has been called, alternatively, a Conservative, a Libertarian, a Paleoconservative, and a Moderate. Several of his positions have been noted to be deviations from traditional Republican orthodoxy.

Social Issues

Abortion

Reed is considered to be strongly Pro-Life. While campaigning for President, Reed called abortion "murder" and "the single greatest evil facing this nation today", and expressed a commitment to "fight to end it." Reed further has expressed a desire to create a "culture of life", by both combating abortion and providing "real" womens' health services and family aid.

Reed's first nominee to the Supreme Court, Jessica Alstaff, was criticized by some Democrats, including Minority Leader Antonio De Nieto, for her vote upholding Texas regulations on abortion that would later be struck down in Whole Women's Health v. Kiser. The nomination Alstaff was broadly applauded by pro-life groups.

Firearms

Reed is a gun-rights supporter. He has stated approval of "furthering" the right to bear arms through legislation, and referred to rifles as "a symbol of this country", as well as stating that "the proud tradition of the citizen-at-arms must be protected." As President, he supported the passage of the Minuteman Act, liberalizing several firearms laws, and hosted a three-gun competition in commemoration of the act. Reed is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, and an avid hunter and recreational shooter.

Marriage

Reed believes that same-sex marriage is a question delegated to the states under the Tenth Amendment. Prior to his political career, Reed had voiced vocal support of 'traditional' man-woman marriage, and abstaining from sex until marriage.

Reed has promoted policies to "incentivize families and marriage", and has referred to marriage and family as an "ideal" that helped the United States win the Cold War. Reed has called the family unit the "cornerstone of society", and the "strongest weapon" in combating both poverty and crime, and has called for a mix of education, healthcare, and welfare reform in conjunction with aid to faith-based and non-profit organizations to promote the family.

Freedom of Speech

Reed has expressed support of First Amendment rights of speech and assembly applying to 'hate groups' including stating agreement of the ACLU decision to defend the assembly rights of a Nazi march in Skokie, expressing that America was built on "rights that are universal." Reed has said that "There are no free speech zones in America, America is the free speech zone."

Recreational Drugs

Reed has been a longtime advocate against the use and proliferation of recreational drugs, including marijuana, working through the American Dream charity to attempt to combat drug usage and addiction among teenagers and adolescents, as well as personally abstaining from alcohol and caffeine. Reed has called marijuana an "addictive, destructive substance." and a "gateway drug." Reed has expressed the opinion that the use of performance-enhancing drugs in athletics should result in a ban from the sport.

Crime

Surveillance

Reed has criticized perceived privacy violations by the National Security Agency, and expressed support for the SOLDIER Act limiting the power of the NSA. Reed pardoned leaker Edmund Rainden while in office, and stated support for the "revealing of corruption and abuse."

Sentencing

Reed is a critic of mandatory minimum sentences, and has supported their abolition, calling them "a blot on our system of Constitutional law."

Reed has spoken against "extreme sentencing" in overly-lengthy prison terms for drug offenses

Reed is a critic of 'overcriminalization' and an overly extensive legal code, saying 'the byzantine, overwrought system of today is fundamentally irresponsible', and criticizing the current code's length, complexity, and breadth.

Economy

Deficits

Reed is an advocate for balanced budgets, issuing a campaign promise never to sign an unbalanced budget. As President, he supported the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment through Congress.

Subsidies

Reed is an opponent of corporate subsidies, saying "the government has absolutely no place to pick winners and losers."

Regulation

Reed has promised to "stop the flood of new regulations", as well as to "cut the ones already on the books.", and has claimed excessive regulation has been tailored to favor "corporate interests."

Environment

Reed has been referred to as an "environmentalist." Reed promoted a carbon tax while campaigning for President, referring to it as a strategy that was "economically viable" and "harnessed the power of the markets". Reed would endorse and the sign the Rectify Dudley's Disservice Act into law on January 31, 2017.

Reed is a proponent of nuclear power, and thorium-based nuclear power, referring to it as "clean, effective, inexpensive, and secure" and a means to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Reed has referred to the Republican Party as the party of the "farmer, the outdoorsman, the hunter" that "loves this land" and the "men and women of the land." Reed claimed that destroying environmental protections is "betraying these people" and against the "beautiful land God has given us."

Reed has indicated a willingness to devolve some environmental responsibilities to states.

Reed has criticized companies that engage in dumping of pollutants, referring to them as "scam artists against the people" who will "not escape judgement."

Healthcare

Reed has criticized the ACA regulations requiring changes to medical plans, and has said "If you like your doctor, you can have them back!"

Immigration

Reed has expressed opposition to the construction of a physical wall on the southern border of the United States with Mexico, supporting instead a "wall of American citizens", via greater autonomy in local border control via removal of federal regulations. Reed opposes amnesty, calling it "a fundamental undermining of basic justice, and the rule of law."

Education

Reed is considered a major advocate for School Choice programs, promoting a family voucher system.

Reed has been a critic of public-sector teacher unions, criticizing "union bosses" and "corrupt political unions", including the American Federation of Teachers, saying they "hamstrung" good teachers, and has advocated for right-to-work for teachers' unions.

Government

Reed has consistently praised the Constitution of the United States, calling it "the glue that kept the United States together" and calling for a "resurgence" in the Constitution, and a return to "Constitutional bedrock."

Reed is a supporter of states' rights and locality rights, saying "the great principle of federalism" has fueled the success of the United States.

Reed is a harsh critic of eminent domain used for private use, saying "We are going to do everything in our power to bring the Kelo decision down."

Reed is a supporter of term limits.

Personal Life and Family

Calvin Reed is the fourth-youngest of twelve children, with seven brothers and four sisters.

Cal and Aubrey Reed at their wedding, 2013.

Reed met his wife-Aubrey Harrinton, in 2011, in Toronto, Canada, noting her in attendance at a game his was participating in against the Toronto Blue Jays, and meeting her afterwards. The couple soon became publicly known, and a target of tabloids, accentuated by Reed's noted chastity. The couple were married suddenly in a private ceremony in Montana in 2013, considered by several commentators to essentially be an "elopement"

Reed, a Baptist Christian, has been outspoken in his faith throughout his professional career, both in involvement with American Dream, and in the MLB. He has given sermonic speeches at various churches in his work at American Dream, and has personally supported various missionaries and evangelists. Reed had been vocal in his beliefs on personal chastity, and maintaining abstinence until marriage, drawing attention early in his MLB career. Reed has stated that both he and his wife Aubrey were virgins when they consummated their marriage. Reed publicly praised Rockies General Manager Bill O'Dowd for his focus on "character" in signing players for the team during his time in Colorado.

Reed has three children, all daughters. The first, Mia Jem Reed, was born on December 1, 2015. In June 2016, Aubrey announced that she was once again pregnant, with the sex of the child unknown. The children, twin girls, Laura Catherine Reed and Emma Sidney Reed, were born prematurely on July 20, 2016

In his playing career, alongside his anti-drug activism with American Dream, Reed was a vocal opponent and critic of the use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) in baseball, calling for stricter testing and enforcement, and harsher penalties. He has stated his belief that known PED users should be banned from inclusion into the Hall of Fame. Reed was one of only two players to agree to be interviewed for the Mitchell Report, along with Frank Thomas. Reed's opposition to steroids extended into team life, as he had a public falling-out with teammate and friend Brian Roberts after the second baseman admitted to a one-time use of steroids, and reportedly getting into a clubhouse fight with Rafael Palmeiro in 2005 after the veteran's failed drug test and return from suspension. Reed similarly refused to speak with Miguel Tejada on his return to Baltimore.

Reed accumulated a number of nicknames in his MLB career, the most prominent being "The Whip." Others included "The Frontier Flinger", "Reedy Ready", "Cannon Cal", "Creed", and "The Little Unit."

Considered a marketable player, with good on-air charisma, Reed endorsed or served as a spokesman for several products during his MLB career, including Citizen Eco-Drive watches.

Reed has expressed interest in unarmed martial arts, and is graded as a Blue and White in Muay Thai. Having picked up the practice upon moving to Denver, Reed's interest in the martial art became a liability during the 2014 season, as Reed injured the wrist of his throwing hand while sparring with a partner, and would pitch ineffectively for much of the following months. Reed would state that he did not intend to give up the practice, but stated he would be toning down his involvement during the season.

Reed is an avid recreational marksman, having first learned to shoot at the age of five under the instruction of his father. Reed would regularly use firing ranges and perform recreational during the off-season and on occasional road trips, and would do so much more frequently during his courtship of and eventual marriage to Canadian Olympic shooter Aubrey Harrinton. 

Reed regularly participates in charity sporting events, and is an oftentimes triathlete, including his competing in the Trirock Triathalon during his election campaign. He was the victor in the 2016 Hawaii Charity Marathon, running against other politicians, timing in at slightly over 2.5 hours.

Reed is fluent in Canadian French, a skill he attributes to his Québécoise wife. Reed is proficient in Spanish, a language he studied in college, and often used to communicate with Latin American teammates in his MLB career.

Reed lives in the former Baltimore Harbor Light, which he purchased for $220,000 in 2006 upon its for auction. The Reeds' former residence in Denver is now owned by his nephew.