March 16: Manager Torey Lovullo today told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com that Melancon subscapularis strain in his right shoulder. He is getting a PRP injection and will indeed start the year on the injured list.
March 15: The Diamondbacks expect to be without veteran reliever Mark Melancon to open the season because of a shoulder injury, general manager Mike Hazen said this evening (relayed by Steve Gilbert of MLB.com). The issue’s severity isn’t clear but apparently will send him to the injured list at the start of the year.
It’s an unfortunate beginning to the four-time All-Star’s hope for a bounceback season. Melancon had a tough opening campaign in the desert. Signed to a two-year free agent deal over the 2021-22 offseason, the righty posted a 4.66 ERA through 56 innings. It was his worst run prevention mark in a decade, while his 14.2% strikeout rate was his lowest since his abbreviated rookie season in 2009. His 44.1% grounder percentage was the worst of his career. The D-Backs pulled Melancon from the closing role towards the tail end of the season.
Rough 2022 campaign aside, Melancon’s track record offered some hope he could improve his results this year. He’d allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine innings in each of the previous four seasons, including consecutive sub-3.00 showings in 2020-21. Melancon doesn’t sport the high-octane, overpowering arsenal of most elite relievers. Yet he’d consistently been successful keeping runs off the board for over a decade on the strength of pristine control and strong ground-ball numbers.
The Diamondbacks made a handful of additions to their bullpen over the winter. Miguel Castro, Scott McGough and Andrew Chafin all came aboard on low-cost free agent deals. Arizona also nabbed Cole Sulser off waivers from Miami. That group and in-house options like Kevin Ginkel and Joe Mantiply give skipper Torey Lovullo a little more flexibility in the late innings than he’s had in recent seasons.
Lovullo had already suggested he was prepared to take a closer by committee approach early in the year. Melancon, who has saved 262 MLB games in his career, could factor into that mix at some point. He’ll now first have to get healthy, with little public clarity about his overall recovery timeline.
The Diamondbacks just got better. Make the Sheriff the closer.
Ya, I hate to kick a guy while he’s down, but this may benefit the Snakes in the long run. Now they can actually begin the season with most deserving arms in the bullpen instead of making room for a big contract. If he comes back later and offers something, great. But for a team evaluating bullpen arms, this kind of works out.
I’m with you Don; it sucks that Martin went down with injury as well, but the average velocity in the bullpen goes up with Mark out. At least if Martin needs to hit the 60-day that creates space for Familia on the 40-man.
Castro, Chafin, Familia, Frias, Ginkel, Mantiply, McGough, and Nelson is not a terrible 8-man group to start the season. I’m sure one name gets dropped for a MIRP, but we’ve all been saying that the bullpen looks better without Melancon.
I’m hoping the best for him, but I live in reality lol.
Go forth and Mantiply.
Damn WBC hurting guys!
Oh wait, guys can get hurt in spring training too??
Thank you for this
we just need to cancel st too, can’t have guys getting hurt in meaningless games right.
69 Saves for McGough over the past 2 seasons in Japan. The D’backs should be fine
SSHHHHH
SHHHHHH
Yea, the Shark needs to put in an aquarium for retirement!
I don’t think anyone has heard much from Samardjzia in years.
You guys need to start including the age of the player when you’re giving a summary of them. That use to be a given with every article. Writers here have gotten lazy over the past few years, of the new ones haven’t been trained properly.
Click on the player’s name at the top of the article to access his BBRef page.
He never should have played in the WBC!!
/S
curse the wbc there injuries are spilling over into st where no one ever gets hurt, time to pack it in season is lost now will try again in 24
Watermelon time!