Diamondbacks closer Mark Melancon took his fifth loss Saturday — a remarkable stat given that he entered the year with 30 losses in 13 prior seasons — and manager Torey Lovullo answered somewhat vaguely when asked whether the four-time All-Star would remain in the closer’s role (link via Jose M. Romero of the Arizona Republic). “We’re going to still have some more discussions about his availability,” Lovullo said while also accepting responsibility for some of Melancon’s struggles, which have come amid a heavy workload. Melancon spent a week on the Covid list from April 29 through May 6 and then made six appearances in a span of nine days following his activation. He yielded 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings during that time.
Signed by the D-backs to a two-year, $14MM contract over the winter, Melancon has surrendered 14 runs (11 earned) on 20 hits and five walks with just four strikeouts in 11 2/3 frames thus far. His fastball, which averaged 92.2 mph in 2021, is now sitting at just 90.8 mph. Melancon’s swinging-strike and chase rates are actually better than last season’s marks, though, and he’s been plagued by a sky-high .396 average on balls in play. If the Diamondbacks do go in another direction, veteran Ian Kennedy has ample experience and is second on the team with five holds, having been Lovullo’s primary eighth-inning option thus far.
Some more notes from the division…
- Dodgers lefties Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney could both be ready for bullpen sessions this week, manager Dave Roberts said at yesterday’s media session (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya). Kershaw felt some minor soreness while playing catch but could be cleared for a ’pen session by Wednesday. There’s no specific day set for a Heaney bullpen, but he’s also been playing catch. Kershaw has a 1.80 ERA through five starts and 30 innings this season but recently landed on the shelf owing to a hip issue that was treated with an epidural. Heaney has been out since mid-April due to shoulder trouble but opened plenty of eyes early in his Dodgers tenure. In 10 1/3 innings, Heaney allowed only an unearned run on four hits and three walks with a whopping 16 strikeouts. Brandishing a new-look slider in place of his former curveball and having all but scrapped his changeup, Heaney posted a mammoth 20.5% swinging-strike rate and 36.5% opponents’ chase rate prior to landing on the IL. He inked a one-year, $8.5MM deal with the Dodgers at the beginning of the offseason. Kershaw signed a one-year, $17MM deal to return not long after the lockout lifted.
- Kris Bryant is joining the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate for a pair of minor league rehab games this week, tweets Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette. If all goes well, he could be back in the lineup for the Rox by the weekend. Out since April 26 due to a back injury that the team hoped would require a minimum IL stay, Bryant will instead wind up missing three-plus weeks of action, at least. As Nick Groke of The Athletic writes, Bryant received a cortisone shot last week after an initial period of rest didn’t fully remedy his ailment. Bryant’s return could push the struggling Sam Hilliard to Triple-A, particularly with the out-of-options Yonathan Daza hitting well at the moment and thus giving the team a productive fourth outfield option. Utilityman Garrett Hampson is also capable of playing all three outfield spots, though he’s been primarily used as an infielder in 2022.
KB has been injury-prone over the past few years.
Yes, but “back issues” is the ultimate harbinger of a career circling the drain. For a player who struggles to stay healthy, I see this development as very ominous.
Totally agree. Back issues don’t just go away. Once a player develops them it becomes a matter of managing it going forward. This is also the case with Kershaw.
Except this is a hip issue, not back. Kershaw hasn’t had a back issue in years.
He’s having SI joint issues – connects the spine to the pelvic area. Can’t get much more back related than something attached to your spine.
Extra credit source – I have the same issues.
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones…
FWIW in the 6 non Covid shortened seasons of KB’s career he’s played in 144 or more games in 5 of those 6 seasons
Those types of facts do not matter to people that have already made up their mind about a player.
Melancon has been a wreck waiting to happen for years, but using him like that after COVID was dumb and wrong.
Good thing for Melancon is he has his own turf installation business so he’ll probably be financially set. At 37 years old and a dropped velocity his time might be winding down at the MLB level. He made a nice career for himself.
That’s what us giants fans said years ago.
Yeah, he’ll be financially set because of his turf business and not the $85M in career earnings he’s made
A guy with $85M in career earnings doesn’t need a turf-installation business to fall back on.
The turf business is strictly for the love.
Some people just love to sell turf and turf accessories.
he’s been fairly effective for the past several years but okay
I’m surprised Kennedy didn’t need neck surgery after last year. All he did In Philly was turn his head and watch the ball fly.
Why not use Mantiply as the closer?
“Melancon spent a week on the Covid list from April 29 through May 6 and then made six appearances in a span of nine days following his activation. He yielded 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings during that time.”
Before going on the Covid IL, Melancon had a 1.13 ERA and a 3.10 FIP. Lovullo had him face 25 batters and throw 86 pitches in that 9-day span with no more than a single day off between outings and twice using him two days in a row. And Lovullo is “accepting responsibility for some of Melancon’s struggles”?
There’s a reasonable chance Melancon isn’t back to 100% strength after having COVID.
Absolutely. It knocked out Rizzo for much of last year, and Eduardo Rodriguez missed the entire 2020 season with a heart condition, myocarditis, caused by Covid. ‘Speaking of the virus, he told reporters: “I’ve never been that sick in my life, and I don’t want to get that sick again.”‘
“but… it’s just like the flu, bro!!!”.
ever met a 30 something in good shape that gets the flu then has these problems for months afterwards?
yeah, me neither.
smart folks tried to tell people about this, but certain types didn’t want to hear it, now they’re paying the price for it.
ah well, faith over fear, according to the folks who worship a deity that says to fear it (while dying at a minimum 50-1 rate over those who accept reality over faith).
Do you count pneumonia that flu led to? If so, then yes, I know people that were in their 30s and got flu > pneumonia and delt with the problems for quite a while after. Flu can fk you up.
I do not know any things that have ever got the flu though.
“those who accept reality over faith”
It’s not a contest between faith and science for every believer. The author of the theory of an expanding universe, popularly termed the Big Bang theory, was a Catholic priest who was also a physicist and astronomer, Monsignor Georges Lemaître. Here’s a list of Nobel Laureates who’ve belonged to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences:
https://www.pas.va/en/academicians/nobel.html
Pneumonia has many possible causes, including viral and bacterial infections. Many times it’s difficult to impossible to know what caused it.
Long Covid is highly underestimated, and the impacts for many can be far worse than the initial viral symptoms. There’s a lot of unknowns about it as well, which complicates things.
pitchers are creatures of habit – that’s always said of SP, but it can be said about relievers as well. use them too much and they falter – use them too little and they aren’t fresh. in today’s game, managing a bullpen is perhaps the biggest in-game role of a manager, and it’s far from easy, but it’s also easy to see what it’s not being done well.
I honestly thought Melancon was toast in SF before turning it around in SD. Despite that I was surprised AZ gave him a 2-year deal.
“His fastball, which averaged 92.2 mph in 2021, is now sitting at just 90.8 mph.”
Before he went on the Covid IL, he only used his 4-seam fastball 8.4% of the time. He used his cutter 60.7% of the time and it sat at 90.4 MPH, ranking 15th in velocity with that pitch. He used his curveball 30.8% of the time. He had positive pitch values with the fastball and cutter and negative values with the curveball.
MM really parlayed that decent season with SD into a nice little career ending contract the diamondbacks are stuck with lol. It’s not a terrible amount of money in baseball terms, but if I knew I had 14 mil to play with and it’s the end of my career, I’d be a happy guy
DBACKS cease to amaze
Every time I see Melancon pitch, I want to hand him after shave. He’s uncomfortably clean shaven.
That’s it. That’s my comment.