I'll start with a disclaimer: he hasn't actually been named the closer, but with the Sox recent announcement that they'll try to make Daniel Bard a starter next year, for the moment this new guy is the leading candidate. His name is Mark Melancon, and apparently last year he was the closer for Houston. To get him Boston had to give up Jed Lowrie and Kyle Weiland (a prospect who made a few spot starts last season).I don't like this trade for a number of reasons, but they all center around Melancon just not being very good. I know Lowrie was never able to stay healthy, but I like him and he was really starting to hit last August when he managed to play everyday. Melancon blew 20% of his save opportunities last year (20 for 25), and he's been a major league closer for only one moderately successful season. ANYONE can have one decent year as a closer. As a general principle I think it's a really bad idea to give up anything for relief pitchers. For all we know Weiland could have been just as good as the closer or set up man as Melancon; and then Lowrie would still be around too.
Also, Melancon is a terrible name.
No comments:
Post a Comment