The Lunatic Fringe

Well, if you wanted a new closer, this was the offseason.

Sure, it was tempting to try and mess with the Dodgers…and Aroldis Chapman does have a ridiculous fastball….but for my money (and I’m a season ticket holder, so I’m sure my money was .001% of what he got), Mark Melancon was the guy to get.

It’s not all stats.  As I said early in the offseason, Melancon not costing a draft pick (as Kenley Jansen would have) was ideal.  And him not having a history with domestic abuse (as Chapman was) was very very important to me.

But aside from that, Melancon is a very good closer, a guy who won’t blow you away with something crazy, but also simply won’t be crazy.  He’s cool, he’s effective, and it seems that he loves the idea of San Francisco after Ryan Vogelsong told him about how his experience here was.

That said, big money closers can be iffy.  Baseball is particularly unstable when it comes to relievers, and Melancon’s $62M over four seasons was for a short while a record.  It’s also incredibly backloaded, with $14M each coming in 2019 and 2020, the years he’d be most likely to be less than effective.  Also, the Giants have a lot of closer-type prospects in the minors, some of whom might be up during Melancon’s contract.

In the end, though, I’m happy with this.  The Giants’ struggles last season, and in the postseason, were due to an unsettled bullpen all the way to the closer spot.  I’m upset Romo is gone, but the new-look bullpen is looking good.  Will Smith was an underrated pickup.  The young relievers like Derek Law and Josh Osich should begin coming into their own.  I expect you’ll see Ty Blach take a long-man spot, and Clayton Blackburn may vie for that position as well.  And if there are struggles, there are options in the minors.

The Giants went out and spent money to fix their biggest need.  As a Giants fan, I can’t be too Lunatical about that.