Two factors held the Giants back from replicating their even-year magic for the fourth consecutive time in 2016.
Firstly, they blew a league leading (and somewhat incredible) 30 saves, and were without a reliable closer for most of the season. Secondly, and just as important, San Francisco’s lineup struggled to produce consistently, finishing 20th in team OPS, and 19th in runs scored.
The frustrating nature of continuously blowing late leads at the end of games, brought the bullpen problems to the forefront, and lead general manager Bobby Evans to proclaim that acquiring a closer was priority number one during his end of season press conference.
It didn’t take him long for him to come through in doing so, agreeing to terms with closer Mark Melancon on Monday morning, who has lead the league in saves over the past three seasons.
The acquisition likely provides a great deal of relief for Evans, who has been trying to add a closer since the trade deadline, and who earlier in the season said he felt like a “knucklehead” for not getting a deal done. Though few would argue that Melancon was the strongest candidate with Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen also on the open market, signing him was probably the ideal move for San Francisco.
While Melancon’s 4 year/$62 million deal is technically record setting, it will pail in comparison the the $80-$90 million deals that Chapman and Jansen are likely to command. Don’t forget that the Giants already broke the bank last season, spending a combined $220 million on starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, and have committed a total of $313 million to free agents in the last two off-seasons. Reports are that San Francisco was never really in the market for a closer commanding what Champman and Jansen are, and the fact that they were still able to add the next best thing without completely shattering the bank, is a great start to the 2016 offseason.
Which brings us to the next issue. Though the bullpen was the frequent talking point, it was a lack of hitting that was more responsible for the club’s post-All-Star break free fall, with the Giants finishing 27th in runs scored and 25th in team .OPS during that stretch. For comparison, San Francisco’s bullpen actually had the fifth best ERA in the season’s second half.
Not a single team who finished in the bottom third of OPS made the playoffs in 2016, other than the Giants, and it’s hard to consider San Francisco serious contenders for another title if they don’t make some sort of improvement to their lineup.
With Angel Pagan’s exit all but certain, the biggest hole in the Giants’ lineup is in the outfield, something that made Evans’ comments on KNBR that the team would not be pursuing a free agent outfielder seem curious. Evans said specifically that the club would not be looking at anybody that would want a multi-year deal, citing (a) that the club spent a ton of meny last offseason, and (b) that they could only afford one big free agent this season, and that would be a closer.
Since then, however, multiple reports have come out contradicting Evans’ claims, including one from Joel Sherman of the New York Post directly after news broke of the Melancon signing, saying the Giants now had money to spend for a power left-field bat, based on the fact that Melancon was not a top-market closer.
#SFgiants did not go top of market for Chapman/Jansen instead do Melancon now will pivot to try to find power in LF
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 5, 2016
That logic makes sense, but if Evans was always planning on targeting Melancon in the first place, it would still contradict his earlier statements.
What seems most likely is that the Giants will look to trade for another bat, someone on a one-year-deal, part of the reason the Tigers’ J.D. Martinez’s name continues to be thrown around. Evans could also look for a bat in other areas, like third base, and move the recently signed Eduardo Nunez to left.
Regadless, San Francisco will have to do better than just rolling with Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker as their outfield replacements next season, if they really want to contend for their fourth title in eight years.
The Melancon deal is a great first step, but it won’t mean nearly as much if it’s the only move the Giants’ brass plans on making.