The price for premium relievers on the trade market is appalling. Everyone knows and accepts it, which is a shame, considering that’s a hole the Giants would love to fill. Even if they had a top-10 prospect, it’s unclear if they would actually trade him for someone like Andrew Miller. The scary thing is that other teams would. The scariest thing is that the Yankees might want even more.
So at these prices, the Giants are out. Very out. The outtest. And we know that if they’re not going to get a premium reliever, there’s no sense in paying through the nose for a sideways move. They would need some sort of miracle, a team thinking so outside the box they’re inside the box. Or something. The Pirates just might be that team:
Sources: #Indians, #SFGiants in mix for Melancon along with #Nationals. #Pirates want MLB reliever, 7th-inning type, as part of any deal.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 29, 2016
The Pirates aren’t giving up on their season, see. They’re just 2½ games behind the wild card leaders, which is something, considering how many things have gone wrong with their rotation. So they wouldn’t be the type of team that would sell at the deadline. In a normal season.
But right now, the Pirates are looking at the gobsmacking prices teams are paying for closers, and they know they can’t pass them up. They’re a team built on low-cost, long-term assets, and their closer, Mark Melancon, is neither. He’s a pending free agent, and the Pirates are extremely unlikely to re-sign him. They also have in-house options to replace him, with both Tony Watson and Neftali Feliz available. They could take a tiny step back in the bullpen, while adding a low-cost, long-term bullpen asset and prospects at the same time.
All they would need to do is find a team that would consider upgrading any of their low-cost, long-term bullpen assets. Like, oh, the Giants.
It’s a perfect match in a lot of ways. It’s not that the Giants are completely disgusted with their current relievers, it’s just that none of them are elite. Not a Flacco in the bunch. It’s a bullpen of B and B- guys, but they’re desperate for an A. The Pirates are one of the only teams offering an A, and the Giants would have that key component that allows them to straddle the buy/sell line.
It wouldn’t just be Hunter Strickland or Derek Law for Melancon, of course. It would be one of them plus prospects. Good prospects. You saw what the Yankees gave up for Aroldis Chapman, and Melancon is just about as good. The strikeout rates are much different, but Melancon has thrown 260 innings over the last four seasons with a 1.80 ERA and 2.27 FIP. He’s excellent, which means it would be Strickland and Chris Shaw and Phil Bickford, just to give one hypothetical example. That’s a lot for three months and 30 innings of a pitcher who might not be worth even a single win above replacement more than the reliever the Giants would give up.
We’re at peak reliever-mania, and the Giants don’t have to play along, you know. This is a weird baseball trend, and when it passes, the teams that traded for all these super-relievers might feel awfully silly.
On the other hand, the Giants have Strickland because the Pirates waived him to make room for Jonathan Sanchez, so maybe we owe them a solid or 12.
I’m increasingly wary of the new market for power arms, so I’m hoping the Giants tread lightly. If they want a super-reliever, though, there’s a way to do that. It’ll cost a whole mess of talent, but I didn’t even think there was a way they could get other teams to return their calls.
Here’s a way.