Pittsburgh Pirates: Note on Melancon and another Team

Here is an interesting Pittsburgh Pirates news note on Mark Melancon. The Pirates could have made another deal for Melancon according to one specific general manager.

Mark Melancon made his homecoming last night as he returned to PNC Park. He blew this first game as a Washington National when Sean Rodriguez doubled off him in the ninth. With all that being said it was great to see him back in PNC Park. He was an excellent professional on and off the field while here as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirate. He has had continued success as a member of the Washington Nationals. So far he has an earned run average of 2.19, a FIP of 2.16, and has racked up 12 saves.

Meanwhile the San Francisco Giants have had an epic collapse in the second half of this season. This is in large part because of their bullpen. At the time of the Melancon trade it was thought the San Francisco Giants were in on the Pittsburgh Pirates former closer. The Giants general manager Bobby Evans has confirmed that the Giants were in on Melancon. He recently told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that he very well did try and acquire Melancon.

Schulman noted that the Giants discussed many relief options but:

“Melancon was more realistic. The Pirates wanted one big-league reliever and a prospect and accepted Washington’s offer of Felipe Rivero and minor-leaguer Taylor Hearn. Evans would not detail his offer but told The Chronicle the makeup was similar.”

Here of Evan’s comments to Schulman on Melancon:

"“It was very comparable to what they ultimately got,” he said. “You think about it. ‘Was there something else I could have done? Was there another name I could have pushed across the table?’ They ended up getting one guy who throws 100 and another who throws 98.“Those are just reflections. It’s just being candid in the moment. It’s hard to see us struggle and look back at things that happened at the deadline. Again, you can’t always control what other teams are doing. All I can do is think about how I handled it and how far I went.”"

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More from Rum Bunter

We here at Rum Bunter wonder whether or not relief pitcher Derek Law would have been part of the discussion with the Giants. He is a young, hard throwing, controllable reliever that would have been comparable to Rivero. On the day on the Melancon deal there were reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates had scout in attendance for the Nationals game that night. One of the National’s top pitching prospects, Reynaldo Lopez, was to pitch that night. Many thought the Pirates were scouting him. However, that was not the case. In fact, the Nationals were playing the Giants that night. It very well could have been the Pittsburgh Pirates were actually there to scout the Giants (who was the home team).

All in all the Pittsburgh Pirates seemed to have made the right deal. It is hard to tell what all Neal Huntington could have acquired from the Giants, but the trade has worked out. Rivero has been a stud so far, and Taylor Hearn very well could be a top ten prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization soon. Still it was an interesting note that the Giant’s general manager came out public on the matter and the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to make the deal with the Nationals instead.

Finally, All Stats are Courtesy of Baseball Reference

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