The Fathers agreed to an agreement with the free reliever agent Mark Melancon, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter link) The deal with Melancon, an ISE Baseball client, will become official as soon as he passes a physical exam.
Melancon, 36 next month, adds a former All-Star closer to an already deep Friars bullpen. He will give Captain Jayce Tingler another option for the ninth entry job, joining Drew Pomeranz and Emilio Pagan as closest candidates in San Diego. Based on his recent work, Melancon may well jump to the front of the line as a favorite for defenders.
Melancon has just finished the last season of a $ 62 million four-year contract, which for a brief period was the record for a reliever. (Both Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen surpassed that mark weeks after Melancon’s signing.) The deal didn’t exactly pay dividends for the Giants, as Melancon struggled with injuries in 2017 and 2018, but he recovered with a strong showing in 2019 and was quite strong last season – more after a negotiation with the Braves.
Melancon threw 43 2/3 innings with Atlanta, accumulating 22 defenses by posting strong strikeout and walk percentages (26.3% and 6.2%, respectively). He is also one of the biggest pitchers on the ground, evidenced by a 61.4 percent mark in the past two years.
Despite the success in Atlanta, there are some red flags around Melancon. In addition to the fact that he will launch 2021 at age 36, last year’s 91.7 mph average fastball represented the second lowest mark of his career, while his swing hitting rate of 8.7% was the lowest of your career. He was still excellent at inducing weak contact and should benefit from a generally strong defensive internal defense, however.
The Friars no longer had only a full bullpen, but they were also relatively immobile (from the point of view of the squad’s flexibility). None of Pomeranz, Austin Adams, Pierce Johnson, Dan Altavilla, Craig Stammen or Javy Guerra may be optional for minors. Pagan has options, but he certainly doesn’t risk being expelled, and Tim Hill (who also has options) is one of the three lefties on the team. It may be difficult for the Padres to continue with Guerra out of options, a converted shortstop who has yet to see much success in Triple-A or Majors, but they may not want to give it up considering their warming averages better than 98 mph.
These, of course, are the kinds of decisions that playoff caliber clubs are forced to make when adding improvements, and the Fathers solidified just like that. After doing the postseason for the first time under newly promoted baseball operations president AJ Preller in 2020, the Fathers added names like Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove and superstar KBO Ha-Seong Kim this winter while also signing again Jurickson Profar. Melancon is the last, and perhaps the last, part of an active offseason that has deepened an already talented team that seems increasingly capable of giving World Champion Dodgers a run for their money at NL West.