SF Giants are still paying for disastrous reliever contract signed in 2016

Thanks to the Evil Empire in Los Angeles, we have all learned a lot about deferred money these past few seasons. While it is something the Dodgers specialize in, the SF Giants have dabbled in it as well. In fact, they are still paying reliever Mark Melancon.

If one looks at the SF Giants payroll table for 2025 on spotrac.com and scrolls to the bottom, it shows that the Giants will be paying retired reliever Mark Melancon $1 million next season.

Many fans will remember the disaster of a contract the Giants gave Melancon prior to the 2017 season. Former SF Giants general manager Bobby Evans, who is now back in the building as an advisor to current president of baseball operations Buster Posey, gave the right-handed closer a four-year $62 million deal in free agency.

SF Giants are still paying disappointing closer Mark Melancon

The deal made sense at the time. 2016 was characterized by bullpen implosions for the Giants. Their season ended with a blown save in Game 4 of the 2016 NLDS in which manager Bruce Bochy cycled through reliever after reliever but just could not get three outs.

Melancon was coming off two straight All-Star seasons and recorded a total of 98 saves in 2015 and 2016. Unfortunately, things just did not work out for Melancon in San Francisco. He blew the save in his first appearance as a Giant on Opening Day in 2017 which set the tone for his tenure.

In 2017 he had a 4.50 ERA in 30 innings pitched, converting just 11 saves before going down with an injury. He turned things around in 2018 with a 3.23 ERA but he was not the team's primary closer.

After those disappointing seasons, Farhan Zaidi made a shrewd move and traded Melancon to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitchers Tristan Beck and Dan Winkler. Additionally, Zaidi got the Braves to agree to take on the rest of Melancon's $14 million in owed salary.

It would have been nice if the Giants had rid themselves entirely of Melancon at that point, but per Melancon's contract, he was set to receive $1 million from the Giants in deferred money each year on January 15th from 2021 to 2028. That's right, the Giants are going to keep paying Melancon until nearly the end of this decade, some 11 years after he first signed his contract.

It is ironic that Evans is a part of the Giants organization again because this was one of the worst deals he made during his tenure as GM. The Giants will have that nagging reminder of what a disaster the Melancon deal was for several more years.

Of course, they can take some solace in the fact that $1 million per year is not much compared to the $68 million per year the Dodgers will pay Shohei Ohtani in the decade after his deal with the Dodgers is done.

Yet, one could argue the Ohtani contract was already worth it since he helped deliver a championship to the Dodgers while Melancon did not even help the Giants break .500. But, the Giants still have bragging rights because they were handing out deferred money before it was cool.

As for Melancon, he was recently hired as a coach at San Diego State University. Whatever he will be making as a coach, he can at least count on a nice little $1 million bonus each year for the next few years courtesy of the San Francisco Giants.