Photo by Chris Mezzavilla/KNBR
SAN FRANCISCO–Mark Melancon is pitching hurt.
He knows it, his teammates know it, and now, anyone who’s watching Melancon take the mound should know it too.
“I don’t think it’s complicated,” Giants trainer Dave Groeschner said. “You guys have seen him pitch and he looks pretty good. We know he’s dealing with some discomfort and he’s manning up. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”
Melancon was placed on the disabled list on May 9 (retroactive to May 6) for the first time in his career with a pronator strain. After returning to the Giants on May 17, Melancon pitched in 11 games before he was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season. The pronator in his pitching arm continued to bother him, and Melancon admitted he rushed back from the disabled list early.
After heading to the disabled list for a second time on June 28, Melancon took more than a month off from pitching. He needed the rest, and with the Giants already out of contention, there was no reason for them to have the highest-paid reliever in team history on the mound.
Melancon made three rehab appearances before San Francisco activated him on August 12, and on Thursday evening, the Golden, Colorado native threw for the third time since his return to the club. He allowed one hit and no runs over a scoreless seventh inning, and helped preserve a one-run lead in an eventual 5-4 Giants victory.
But the elephant in the room has become too great to ignore. Even though Melancon looks fine when he’s on the rubber, he’s not 100 percent. Melancon is pitching in discomfort, and it’s not as if the Giants are in a playoff race. So why pitch?
“It’s a good question,” Melancon said. “I want to make sure that guys understand that you know, first of all I want to be out there and show them it’s important to battle back and to fight through and I think we have a lot to prove this year still. Even though we’re not going to the playoffs, you know, these next six, seven weeks blend into next year and it takes us, we set the tone now for next year. I think it’s really important to continue that and to work toward next year and set the foundation.”
Melancon’s leadership is admirable, and his desire to help his club in any way, shape or form he can contribute offers the Giants a tough-minded, hard-nosed approach that they need more of. Regardless, there’s a large faction of fans who want to see Melancon shut down until Spring Training. And even within the Giants organization, there’s probably a contingent of stakeholders who want to see the team’s marquee offseason acquisition begin his rehab process early. That’s inevitable.
But at the same time, Melancon wants to pitch, and in the moment, the Giants believe it’s unlikely he’ll make the injury worse by throwing an inning every so often.
“He (Melancon) pitched last night because he could pitch,” Bochy said before Friday’s game. “When you talk to your training staff every game and you check with the players — who’s available, who’s able — that’s how this works. Mark, sure he’s dealing with something but he’s able to pitch, which isn’t so uncommon in our game. There’s players with other things going on but that’s why we’ve been taking care of him too. We pitch him, and we’re going to every other day. It’s something I checked with the medical staff, training staff and with all these players.”
Even though his pronator strain may not worsen, there’s a possibility that Melancon will injure himself in another way. Because his pronator is “manageable” and not back to normal, Melancon has the potential to compensate for the injury by tinkering with his mechanics and hurting another part of his body. He’s considered this, and he understands the risk factors.
“It’s difficult because whenever you compensate, there’s always a risk,” Melancon said. “You see it time and time again, guys try to compensate for one thing and maybe the knee or the hip goes bad, or the elbow and the shoulder goes bad, it’s a chain. Everything is connected. It is something that I think is extremely important to pay attention to, something I’m very cognizant of.”
Though a potential exists for Melancon to hurt himself any time he takes the mound, there’s a heightened risk right now. There’s also a belief that complications from the injury may subside. On Friday, Melancon said he’s dealt with this injury frequently in the past, even if it hasn’t required trips to the disabled list..
“I’ve had discomfort every day of this season,” Melancon said. “And dating back to 2012, this has been an issue at some point every year. But it’s always subsided. So it hasn’t been an issue, so to speak. It’s something that always seems to subside. But this year, not as much.”
Groeschner said Friday that the Giants will hold out hope that the injury will subside, but the team has already discussed the possibility of a corrective procedure, or surgery, should the issue linger past September.
Though Groeschner, Bochy and Melancon were all reticent to discuss details from conversations about a potential surgery, they all acknowledged that the idea is on the table.
“I don’t think we’re ready to discuss that (surgery) right now,” Groeschner said. “I mean, that’s between Mark and the staff and we’ll talk about it and figure it out. I think we have a good idea. But until we’re ready to do something, he’s pitching.”
As the Giants prepare for the final month of the season, the facts are the facts: Melancon is hurt. He handles discomfort every time he pitches. The Giants have a massive amount of money invested in him through 2020. The Giants have been out of the playoff race for two months. And on top of all of this, there’s very little to gain by having Melancon on the mound.
The Giants know all of this, and they know that it’s imperative Melancon begins the 2018 spring with a clean bill of health. That means that regardless of Melancon’s desire to pitch and contribute, San Francisco should step in and stop him from doing so if the Giants believe any of his August and September appearances will impact his ability to take the mound next season.
The franchise knows what’s riding on Melancon’s contract, and they know there are far too many risk factors to allow a pitcher who is clearly in discomfort to jeopardize his future. This case isn’t similar to Madison Bumgarner’s shoulder injury, because Bumgarner was completely healthy when he returned to the mound. Melancon is clearly not healthy, and even still, the Giants are willing to stick their neck out for a player who hasn’t even been with the franchise for a full season.
If Melancon’s injury doesn’t subside, San Francisco ought to think about shutting him down at some point in September. If offseason surgery will force Melancon to miss any portion of Spring Training, or even worse, the regular season, then the Giants will have made a huge mistake. If Melancon doesn’t return to form in 2018, the organization will be forced to shoulder the blame, because it knew Melancon was pitching even when it wasn’t in his or the team’s best interest.
The Giants are taking a calculated risk with Melancon, and they know it. If this doesn’t work out, the consequences may not be pretty. But if it does, they’ll have gained the full trust of a closer they value, and they’ll have a leader who has the respect and admiration of his teammates.
It’s a big gamble, and the Giants have already decided the dice are worth rolling.