All weekend, reports continued to surface that the San Francisco Giants were one of a handful of team’s strongly pursuing the services on free agent closer Mark Melancon, and that along with the Washington Nationals, are frontrunners to sign the 31-year-old.
Apparently, Bobby Evans and Co. were close to doing just that a couple times over the last few days, with Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area reporting that the Giants were “very close” to a deal with Melancon, and that the organization believes strongly he will be their closer next year.
A couple of times over weekend, Giants felt they were very close to a Melancon deal. Strong belief inside organization that it gets done.
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) December 5, 2016
As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported Saturday evening, the Giants, along with a handful of other teams, have offered Melancon a 4+ year, $60 million offer, which would break the record for a reliever contract set when Jonathan Papelbon signed a $50 million deal with the Phillies in 2011.
Should Melancon elect to go elsewhere, the Giants are not expected to pursue the services of top options Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen (who’s prices will be considerably higher) but rather former Kansas City Royals closer Greg Holland, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
The Giants were among a handful of team’s that attended Holland’s showcase last month. The right-hander was considered one of the best closers in baseball just two year’s ago, before undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery in 2015. Holland posted a 1.21 ERA with 47 saves in 2013 and a 1.44 ERA with 46 saves in 2014 making the All-Star team both seasons. No big league pitcher who threw at least 50 innings over that span had a lower ERA, and only Craig Kimbrel saved more games.
Holland struggled in 2015 before the surgery, but his agent, Scott Boras, believes Holland will be back to his 2014 form this season.
“The reaction should be pretty positive after (the showcase),” Boras told the New York Post. “He just had to illustrate that he was healthy because when he has been healthy, he has been elite.”