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ESPN reports that Pittsburgh is actively shopping Andrew McCuthchen in the trade market. His numbers have tumbled each season since his 2013 MVP year, so it is difficult to know exactly what a team would be getting with him.
They may also need to search for a thirdbaseman because..
Quote:
Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang has been arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a DUI accident in his native South Korea, according to a report from the Yonhap News Agency.
Kang had a blood alcohol level of 0.084, above the Korean legal limit of 0.05, when he fled the scene of an accident near a Seoul subway station Friday at 2:45 a.m. Korea Standard Time
Bobby Evans making a big move. The Giants get their closer..
Quote:
The Giants agreed to a four-year deal with three-time All-Star Mark Melancon, pending a physical, a source confirmed to CSNBayArea.com. The deal will pay Melancon more than $60 million, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, a temporary record for a reliever. Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman, the other two closers the Giants chased, are expected to approach $100 million.
Melancon had 47 saves for the Pirates and Nationals last season, and he very nearly ended up in San Francisco at the trade deadline. The Giants believe their offer came up just short of Washington’s in July, but on Monday, they finally got their man.
The 31-year-old has a 2.60 ERA in eight seasons in the big leagues. Since becoming a closer, he has been as dominant as any reliever in the game. Melancon has a 1.93 ERA over the past three seasons with an MLB-leading 131 saves in 141 chances. He represents a huge upgrade at the Giants’ biggest position of need.
In Melancon's first two full seasons with Houston and Boston, he compiled 0.9 and - 0.5 WAR. Then at age 28 he moved to Pittsburgh just as they were launching their metric heavy defensive shifting and bringing in the game's best pitch framer, Russell Martin, to catch. In those two previous seasons Melancon had averaged 8.5 hits yielded per nine innings of pitching. Moving to the superior defensive environment that figure dropped to 6.8 hits per nine innings.
My argument is not that Melancon won't be valuable, but rather that some of his value is an illusion, the product of having a defense behind him which turned more batted balls into outs. San Francisco has a very solid defensive infield, but the outfield is aging and the Giants don't have the swift guys out there which the Pirates had.
Last edited by Grandstander; 12-05-2016 at 01:21 PM..
In Melancon's first two full seasons with Houston and Boston, he compiled 0.9 and - 0.5 WAR. Then at age 28 he moved to Pittsburgh just as they were launching their metric heavy defensive shifting and bringing in the game's best pitch framer, Russell Martin, to catch. In those two previous seasons Melancon had averaged 8.5 hits yielded per nine innings of pitching. Moving to the superior defensive environment that figure dropped to 6.8 hits per nine innings.
My argument is not that Melancon won't be valuable, but rather that some of his value is an illusion, the product of having a defense behind him which turned more batted balls into outs. San Francisco has a very solid defensive infield, but the outfield is aging and the Giants don't have the swift guys out there which the Pirates had.
Melancon is a solid pickup. From my point of view as a Giants fan it's difficult to see 131 saves in 141 opportunities as an "illusion"...
The Giants had 3 GG players on the infield last year, including Posey at catcher, yet they still had 30 BLSV. Heck Casilla blew 9 himself before being removed as the closer. So it would appear good defensive metrics, which the Giants had in 2016, don't necessarily translate into success from the BP..
I do agree the outfield is old. Span in particular was a disappointment. Seems to have lost at least a step and is a real pie thrower. Pence is a fixture but perhaps they'll do something about LF...though I wouldn't mind seeing what a platoon of Williamson/Parker could do..
Melancon is a solid pickup. From my point of view as a Giants fan it's difficult to see 131 saves in 141 opportunities as an "illusion"...
The Giants had 3 GG players on the infield last year, including Posey at catcher, yet they still had 30 BLSV. Heck Casilla blew 9 himself before being removed as the closer. So it would appear good defensive metrics, which the Giants had in 2016, don't necessarily translate into success from the BP..
I do agree the outfield is old. Span in particular was a disappointment. Seems to have lost at least a step and is a real pie thrower. Pence is a fixture but perhaps they'll do something about LF...though I wouldn't mind seeing what a platoon of Williamson/Parker could do..
Saves are not a very good way to evaluate a pitcher. Jim Johnson piled up a huge number in Baltimore, got over valued, and then was a ten million dollar mistake for the A's. Or how about 2007 when the AL was led with 45 saves by Cleveland's Joe Borowski who had a 5.07 ERA that year?
The illusion I speak of is that a portion of Melancon's improvement when he went to the Pirates was not Melancon getting better, it was Melancon getting superior defenders behind him. That cut down on the number of hits he yielded, but that wasn't an ability of Melancon's, that was a benefit which came his way.
Lefty Gomez, the great Yankees pitcher from the '30's was asked what the secret to his success was. Gomez replied "Fast outfielders." I recall a Bill James study in one of the Abstracts where he found that it was more important for a pitcher to have good defenders in the outfield behind him than it was for him to have good infielders. I suppose a lot of that depends on whether a pitcher is a groundball or flyball type.
I am a Giants fan, so I am hoping that Melancon is Superman, that he mows down every batter in sight, but the numbers suggest to me that he will not be quite as good as he has been the last several years because he is moving to an environment which won't help him as much.
Melancon is a solid pickup. From my point of view as a Giants fan it's difficult to see 131 saves in 141 opportunities as an "illusion"...
The Giants had 3 GG players on the infield last year, including Posey at catcher, yet they still had 30 BLSV. Heck Casilla blew 9 himself before being removed as the closer. So it would appear good defensive metrics, which the Giants had in 2016, don't necessarily translate into success from the BP..
I do agree the outfield is old. Span in particular was a disappointment. Seems to have lost at least a step and is a real pie thrower. Pence is a fixture but perhaps they'll do something about LF...though I wouldn't mind seeing what a platoon of Williamson/Parker could do..
This should stop opposing teams from singing when they see SF pen door open in the ninth:
The White Sox get Moncada for 6 seasons (maybe more) as opposed to 3 more for Sale.
Sale is a veteran with a high expectation of continuing to perform at elite talent levels for those three years.
Moncada comes with a high hope that he lives up to what is anticipated, but at this point has established nothing.
You factored the Moncada signing money into the trade and if you are going to take that approach, you could extend it further. Whether he plays or sits in 2017, the Red Sox will be paying Pablo Sandoval 17.6 million. If they ran Moncada out to thirdbase, that 17.6 million sits on the bench returning nothing for the investment. So, by getting rid of Moncada, they will at least be getting something for their money from the Panda.
Of course that assumes he remains healthy, maybe goes a bit easier on the Little Debbie products, and regains his productive status. The Sox better hope so, they sure as hell won't find any takers in a trade unless they agree to pay most of that salary for the next three seasons.
White Sox should completely blow it up. I think the only player that would be "untradeable" for them is Tim Anderson the SS/2b player. Everyone else (including Abreu) can be had for the right price. Robertson & Frazier have got to go at this point, no sense having them stuck on a less than 60 win team.
The Chicago Cubs have traded outfielder Jorge Soler to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for closer Wade Davis, the teams announced Wednesday.
Davis, who has a 1.18 ERA over the past three seasons, with three homers allowed, had arm trouble that forced him to the disabled list, and he was limited to 43⅓ innings in 2016. Davis, 31, made 10 appearances for the Royals after returning from the DL in September.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Davis' ERA as a reliever (1.51) is the lowest ever among all pitchers with at least 250 career innings in relief.
Davis is under contract for just 2017 at ten million, which is a lot cheaper than the 40 million a year Chapman thinks he can get.
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Cubs Replace Chapman
