Melancon relieved to finally be pain free
Reliever says forearm issues are behind him
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> Halfway through one of the most lucrative contracts ever signed by a relief pitcher, Mark Melancon insists he’s healthy for the first time.
The pain that wreaked havoc in his forearm has apparently disappeared, leaving the right-handed reliever in excellent spirits heading into his third season with the Giants.
“I haven’t felt this good since I got here,” Melancon said. “Mentally it was a grind and physically
it was a grind. To have that (pain) gone is great.”
The Giants signed Melancon to a four-year, $62 million deal before the 2017 season to fix the back end of a bullpen that leaked oil for several months. Melancon was billed as the best possible mechanic for the job, but thus far, he hasn’t provided a workable solution.
After recording 98 saves from 2015-2016, Melancon has saved just 14 games with San Francisco. The veteran reliever ended the 2017 season out of commission and began the 2018 season that way too. Though a surgery in September 2017 released compression in Melancon’s pronator and was expected to leave him pain-free in a matter of three months, he says it took 16 months to feel normal again.
“The toughest part is, I kept asking is there anything else we can do?” Melancon said. “Are we missing anything? And then how long is this going to continue or is this just something I’m going to have to live with? So those unanswered questions, nobody had the answer to and that makes it tough.”
Forced to pitch in pain when he was available last season, Melancon finished the year with a 3.23 ERA in 39.0 innings. Though his strikeout rate plummeted and his hits allowed per nine innings matched his career high at 11.1, Melancon enters this spring with a serious chance of earning the closer job.
“Melancon feels great and he looks like he’s gotten over the hump with his situation, he’s excited about how he feels,” Bochy said.
The Giants return an impressive collection of relievers from a solid, if unspectacular bullpen, including left-hander Will Smith who held the closer role for the second half of the season. After returning from Tommy John surgery in May, Smith saved 14 games in 18 chances and posted a career-best 2.55 ERA.
“It was really cool to know that the hard work you put in is paying off,” Smith said of closing. “You’re just having fun again out there and it was fun to compete and play
again. To be able to close the rest of the season was a pretty cool feeling that your hard work is paying off.”
Smith proved that even if Melancon is healthy, the left-hander with a mid-90s fastball and a sharp breaking ball may be the team’s best option to close games. However, Bochy said Smith can provide plenty of value pitching in a set-up role and the longest-tenured reliever on the roster said he’s not concerned about how his manager uses him.
“I’ve always thought that in a bullpen, everybody is a closer,” Smith said. “You just happen to be the closer of the 6th inning or the 7th inning, the 8th inning, some guy just happens to throw the ninth inning.”
Melancon said he’s hopeful to lock down the closer job this spring, but the open competition for the title could take several twists and turns.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said the Giants are still engaged in trade discussions, and a handful of the team’s top relievers are obvious trade candidates. With Smith and hard-throwing righthander Sam Dyson — another pitcher with experience as a closer — set to become free agents in the offseason, Zaidi could deal one or both to improve another area of the club.
Though Smith’s name hasn’t been connected to trade speculation in recent weeks, a possible deal could open the door for a number of the Giants’ other relievers to seize an opportunity. During his strong rookie season last year, Reyes Moronta was discussed by the Giants as a potential closer of the future. Ray Black, a righthander with a 100-mile per hour fastball, is another candidate who could emerge if the Giants part with a veteran arm or two.
Regardless of how Zaidi, Bochy and the Giants coaching staff define relief pitcher roles this year, the number of quality arms gives the organization much-needed depth. Though the Giants may not have a closer picked out, they have several options.
“We’re a big team but it’s always nice that our little team, we sit together three hours a day and it’s nice to be considered a strong point of our whole team,” Smith said. “We’ve got some great pitchers down there.”