San Francisco Giants Need to Learn from Mark Melancon Signing

ST. LOUIS, MO - SEPTEMBER 22: Mark Melancon #41 of the San Francisco Giants leaves the field after giving up the game-winning home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the tenth inning at Busch Stadium on September 22, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - SEPTEMBER 22: Mark Melancon #41 of the San Francisco Giants leaves the field after giving up the game-winning home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the tenth inning at Busch Stadium on September 22, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

With free agency in full swing for Major League Baseball, the San Francisco Giants need to keep the signing of Mark Melancon in mind.

A couple of offseasons ago the San Francisco Giants signed reliever Mark Melancon to a four-year, $62 million deal.

The deal paid him $9 million in 2017, a whopping $20 million in 2018, and $14 million over the next two seasons.

At the time the deal seemed like a no-brainer for the San Francisco Giants as they desperately needed bullpen help and Melancon had just posted a 1.64 ERA in 71.1 innings pitched with 47 saves between Pittsburgh and Washington.

However, in his two seasons with the Giants he has a 3.78 ERA in 69 innings pitched with 14 saves.

That is certainly not the type of production the Giants were hoping for when they signed the then 32-year-old reliever.

I am one who is never in favor of giving big money to relievers.

For one, you can typically find a great reliever in your farm system. A young arm that maybe won’t cut it as a starter in the big leagues, suddenly you put him in a bullpen role and his stuff is electric. We see it almost every year.

Second, relievers are unreliable from year-to-year. There are very few relief pitchers that are dominant for a four-year stretch. The lifespan of a great reliever seems to be really short, and it doesn’t help that the Giants signed Melancon for the back-end of his career.

I’m not saying it is a bad idea to every sign a free agent reliever. In fact, the San Francisco Giants need to sign a couple of relievers this offseason.

But I am completely opposed to giving big years and dollars to the top relievers. I would much rather that money be allocated to a bat or starting pitcher in the offseason.

Every year a reliever is going to emerge that contenders can trade for at the trade deadline for peanuts. It’s so much easier to build a bullpen during the season than in the offseason.

Hopefully the San Francisco Giants will learn from their mistake of signing Melancon and avoid the top free agent relievers this offseason.