Melancon, Giants Reach $62M, 4-Year Deal Pending Physical

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and MLB Network was first to report Melancon was close to a deal with the San Francisco Giants.

With Mark Melancon off the market, the New York Yankees have lost the ability to squeeze out a terrific deal for an exemplary closer. Maybe too much. Maybe way too much. The Giants had nine in September alone. He is primed to take over as the Giants’ closer, a role they had a hard time filling effectively at the end of the previous campaign. The only steady piece in the Giants’ bullpen is Will Smith, the expensive addition they got at last year’s trade deadline. That alone would have been enough to bump Rivera, edging his $15-million mark by $500,000. Instead, he was going to find them from the cheaper talent he already had.

Even Bruce Bochy, bullpen ninja, was unable to save the Giants’ ninth innings from themselves. Josh Osich and Steven Okert are still young, and will fill the left-handed specialist role left by Lopez. Cory Gearrin just signed a first-year arbitration deal. Harper, who earned $5 million in 2016, is eligible for salary arbitration. The rest is history, as Melancon (like so many other pitchers) blossomed under pitching gurus Ray Searage and Jim Benedict while spending three and a half seasons in a Pirates uniform.

Whether they end up acquiring one of those veterans or take a chance on one of their inexperienced in-house options, the Nationals will enter 2017 with yet another new closer.

The Cubs gave their long-suffering fans a World Series championship last season, and now fans are going to have to give the Cubs something: more money.

Now things are back in proper alignment.

As one might expect for a pitcher that recently entered his 30s, Melancon’s velocity isn’t quite what it once was. The free agent re-signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for three years and $48 million.

It probably doesn’t have to happen, either.

After being shipped to our nation’s capital in a midseason trade, the 31-year-old split last season between the Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates. If you’re a Giants fan, you can more than live with that. But that record isn’t expected to last long with fellow closers? Who knows how it might have changed their season? They had the winning bid on Monday, and league sources indicated that the Nationals finished second this time around. The Cubs won the game and the series with a 6-5 victory. From a budget standpoint, the Giants are fine. They have a potent lineup, lead by perennial All-Stars Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford, backed by Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence. It makes flawless sense to maximize that core by adding a dominant closer to that mix.

The Giants entered the offseason with a clear need to revamp their erratic bullpen.