2:55pm: Melancon spoke to reporters about his injury today and described the pain he’s feeling as similar to the pain he felt last season when a pronator strain limited him to 30 innings (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News). More troubling is the fact that the right-hander revealed he cannot throw from more than 30 feet without experiencing pain.
Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that Melancon said he felt pain all spring when pitching, but the discomfort increased substantially when he attempted to pitch on consecutive days. He’ll see a specialist when the Giants are in Los Angeles.
11:11am: The Giants announced that they’ve placed Mark Melancon on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26, with a flexor strain in his right elbow. San Francisco also placed Rule 5 pick Julian Fernandez on the 60-day DL to open the season, clearing a 40-man spot to select the contract of outfielder Gregor Blanco, who’ll officially return for another stint with the Giants. With Melancon on the shelf, the Giants will likely look to Sam Dyson and Hunter Strickland as potential ninth-inning options.
It’s not yet clear how long Melancon will be sidelined, though he missed a significant portion of the 2017 season — his first with the Giants after signing a then-record four-year, $62MM contract — due to a pronator strain in his right forearm. Melancon posted a 4.50 ERA in just 30 innings with the Giants last season, though his peripheral numbers were considerably better, and fielding-independent metrics were far more bullish than his more rudimentary ERA (3.22 FIP, 3.24 SIERA).
Blanco, 34, was a mainstay with the Giants from 2012-16 before jumping to the D-backs last offseason. He impressed with a .303/.405/.576 slash in 43 plate appearances this spring, but he’s struggled to a .234/.323/.333 batting line across the past two big league campaigns. He’ll give manager Bruce Bochy some depth across the board in the outfield and a potential left-handed complement to Austin Jackson, Hunter Pence and/or Andrew McCutchen when needed.
Blanco’s addition to the roster means the Giants prospect Steven Duggar will open the season in the minors, though the organization hopes that Duggar will force his way into the mix later this season and hold down a long-term spot in the outfield.
can anything else happen?
You could be a Rays fan?
Haha good one
I like the Rays! But still mad you guys took Duffy from us. I know he’s been injured a lot but he was a huge fan favorite.
He hasn’t done a thing for us… honestly I was pretty upset when that trade came in. If we could go back in time, I’d prefer to just keep Moore…
Yes the Giants can continue to make awful signings.
you could be a Orioles fan
You guessed correctly.
No worries, It’s an even year. (eye roll)
You could be Jose Urena
Troll JD. The idiot
Wait you think Urenas having a good day?
He can now add “Opening Day starter” to his resume. Not much, but that’s something.
Giants are imploding again…
Hey SlingingSammy my old man was friends with the real Sammy Baugh growing up in Roby, Texas. That’s all.
Nice. Hell of a quarterback.
Should have gone with a low end closer rather than the top3. And had to go with the cheap of the three, that’s what happens. Armando Benitez Part Duex
Melancon is not on Jansen or Chapmans level. He was the beneficiary of being in the market as the same time as them
His signing bonus should be all he gets. This guy was obviously injured before he was signed. Giants should sue for that back even. Melancon is a high priced scam artist.
They did a physical. It’s on them.
sad but true
Get out of here with that nonsense . Are you sure you even follow baseball ?
Ummm- the Giants knew about his forearm/elbow issues when they signed him. From a mercury news article from last year- regarding his need for surgery
” Melancon said his medical file shows notations going back to 2012 in which he reported similar symptoms, ”
Can you post a link to the article? Cant find it.
google is your friend
there are other sources out there as well- Giants have been sloppy, and it just cost them $62 million dollars- front office needs to go.
link to mercurynews.com
No..Google is YOUR friend. Don’t post evidence that you expect others to find for you
dude chill
I referenced the article and quoted- I don’t need anyone to find it for me- I already read it – if you can’t find it to read it , not going to spoon feed you
Unless you are in middle school (or lower) you’d know that we all have to cite our sources when we make claims, and especially when quoting. Your assertion that it is a “spoon feed” to do so is exactly why fake news is a thing.
Melancon had better numbers than either one of them. Even Chapman lost his role for a moment there last year
Oof…that contract doesn’t look very good at the moment.
In a season where the Giants need nearly everything to break their way to contend, the breaks have been bad. Not too concerned with this one though.
Well put, geg42. I agree wholeheartedly.
Even though this was expected it still leaves a bitter taste. Giants are down 2 SPs and a closer. But it’s an even year, so…….
The Giants don’t seem to have much of a plan. There’s gotta be a dozen minor-league free agents available better than Blanco. I understand Bochy is loyal to “his guys” but come on. I also know Bochy is getting up there and the Giants are a high-spending club with a bad farm system, so going all in is maybe the only option. Getting past-their-prime guys like Longoria and McCutcheon probably don’t move the needle much for the 2nd-worst team in baseball last year. They need to improve their win total from last year by 30 wins to be playoff contenders, and I don’t see them as having added 30 wins worth of players.
well I can go either way on the Giants-
If we disregard the Bumgardner, Shark, and Melancon injuries – This was the plan /hope to start the season:
Adding Mccutcheon and Longoria helps a lot- Longo is still very productive. Assuming you get a healthy Belt and Panik for the season- I would say Giants have one of the/possibly best infields in baseball.
McCutcheon, Jackson/Slater / healthy Pence outfield- better than last year
Bumgardner/Cueto are above average- Shark could go either way and then hopefully fill two spots with 3 starters w/ potential
Bullpen- if Melancon and Smith get healthy – then a solid group, possibly above average if Strickland keeps his projections and Dyson gets back to form
So thats probably nets you a team that can compete for the wild card spot- not wining the division but competitive.
BUT- lose Bumgardner for 2 -3months, Shark out for a month, Melancon- gone for season , Smith a question mark – and you will know their destiny by May 10, if they get behind early this season then the reasonable course of action is try like hell to sell at deadline and restock the farm.
The big problem with this approach is the Giants have a proven track record of NOT being able to draft and develop players since 2011. They have completely failed on drafting and evaluating talent for an extended time- so I don’t see any reason to trust the current management of being able to restock/rebuild. So as Giants fan I appreciate the run we just had- one of the best of modern MLB history and realize its probably going to be a long drought as the bottom dwellers of the NL West.
Lol!
yep, I waited since 1954
Can’t argue with any of your points. A realistic front office would do just as you’ve recommended, but aside from the expected challenges of selling off veterans, this organization is literally married to its players, and they structured contracts to keep it that way. I think they’ll focus on keeping below the tax threshold, take the losses, and add more free agents next winter. This is their nature, and I don’t think that a year worse than even last will change their approach.
@petefrompp
I think you’re exaggerating a bit. Yes the drafts since 2011 haven’t been spectacular, but that’s partly due to their draft position. Since 2011 their highest picks have been: 29th, 20th, 25th, 14th, 18th, and 19th.
And the picks have not been that bad considering. Joe Panik, Chris Stratton, Christian Arroyo, and Heliot Ramos were first round picks. Another first round pick, Phil Bickford, got them Will Smith. They haven’t gotten anything from only Tyler Beede and Chris Shaw. And as to Beede, the Giants aren’t the first to wiff on a pitcher. Ask the Astros about Brady Aiken and Mark Appel, both overall number ones. They also drafted and developed Ty Blach, a 5th rounder, and Matt Duffy, an 18th rounder.
First of all they weren’t the second worst team in baseball, they tied for the worst team in baseball. Second for the cost and what they were looking for, Blanco was actually a pretty good option. The needle doesn’t need to go 30 games, more like 22, 30 games would put them 93 wins and a shot at the division 85-87 will probably be plenty to get a wildcard spot
Well, they aren’t going to win the division, because there are three teams that are better than them. I don’t think 87 wins gets them the WC either, but I also don’t think they added 22 wins, especially with their best pitcher out for a couple months.
There are not a dozen minor’league FAs, that can play CF, that are better than Blanco. Not even close.
Okay. But the Padres sent down a guy this week, Travis Jankowski, who is a clearly better player than Blanco. I’m guessing most teams have one guy like that. Heck, even Ben Revere is available, and he’s better than Blanco. The Giants could probably swing a trade for someone like Jankkowski or Almonte or some other player discarded this week. Blanco isn’t good.
True. However, the Giants are killing two roster spots with duplicate players in Blanco and Hernandez so the OP has a roundabout point. Blanco or Hernandez, fine. But there is no need for both. Look at last night’s game for example, you’re facing Kershaw and your first pinch hitter of the night is Gorkys Hernandez. Not a good look. This isn’t saying that Duggar is the right call there, but some option with an offensive upside is needed.
The guys like Duggar, Williamson, etc, are only getting called up if they are replacing a starter. Nothing at all wrong with Blanco being the fifth outfielder, while the younger guys can keep getting at-bats everyday in the minors.
Makes the trade for Rivero and Hearn from Washington for Melancon look extremely good now for the Pirates.
It was extremely good the second it happened. Didn’t need this to confirm it
This team is getting worse by the minute. And in a strong division too… Is the even year magic going to end?
It already ended.
(2016)
Mark Melancon: old, injured and signed to a 4 year $62 million contract.
Felipe Rivero: young, dominant and signed to a 4 year $22 million contract…with two team options after that.
Yet, when the Pirates made the trade with the Nationals, the clueless and vindictive Pittsburgh media cited it as Exhibit A that the Pirates are “cheap” and “don’t want to win.”
Now that it’s beyond obvious that it was actually one of the best trades in recent MLB history, does the local media ever revise or revisit their ignorant hot takes? Nope, they just reuse them for the Cole trade.
I agree with you Josh.I have seen other posting forums where no one has a good thing to say about Pirate ownership nor management.I do not think trading McCutcheon and Cole means a rebuild because they got major league ready players.There was no way that Cole would be resigning with Pittsburgh,so it was not wise to wait any longer.The Pirates lack imagination I think because they are so conservative but their good trades deserve to be celebrated as much as knocking any bad ones.
FWJBT, as usual everything you write about the Bucs is true. I do feel compelled though to add that they ALSO need to spend more. Not JUST spend more but IN ADDITION TO acquisitions like you reference. In my view it is not either/or. Go Bucs!