If it’s time to find a scapegoat, Mark Melancon says “bring it on.”
The 2017 season has been nothing but a disappointment for a San Francisco Giants team loaded with veteran players and players who have demonstrated they know how to win at the Major League level, yet the team is 24 games under .500 and has yet to reach the halfway point of the season.
Naturally, a season that’s gone awry will ultimately be blamed on someone, or something, and on Monday morning, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports published an article citing sources who suggested Melancon “rubbed some teammates the wrong way” upon his arrival with the club this offseason.
After San Francisco experienced historic bullpen woes last year, the Giants signed Melancon to a four-year, $62 million contract to put an end to late game chaos. Instead, Rosenthal’s report suggested Melancon played a significant role in adding to the mess.
The report indicated Melancon’s desire to change Giants’ relievers’ pregame stretching routine and follow his own personal routine became a point of contention in the Giants’ clubhouse, and on Monday afternoon, Melancon had a chance to respond.
“I think from a time management standpoint it’s been really good,” Melancon said of the stretching routine Giants pitchers have followed this season. “I think guys would agree with that. I’m shocked. But honestly, if this is the thing that we can point at and say this is the reason for the bad year so far, then please bring it on. We’re talking about stretching right? Stretching. I feel like Allen Iverson talking about stretching. Yeah, we’re still talking about stretching. I don’t want to talk about stretching, but if we’re talking about stretching, we can do it. That’s about it.”
A season after converting 47-of-51 save opportunities, Melancon has already blown four saves in the first three months of the season with the Giants. His performance has dropped off, and he’s already suffered through a stint on the disabled list.
In 21 games this season, Melancon has posted a 4.58 earned run average, which is nearly two full points above his career ERA of 2.68. Melancon acknowledged that he knows he needs to pitch better for San Francisco to turn its season around, but said if someone has to accept the blame for the way the team has performed, he’s more than willing.
“I understand if you lose this many games, there’s got to be someone and something to blame and like I said, I’d be happy to take that blame on because we’ve got a lot of good guys here and a lot of veteran guys that know how to win and that’s why there’s still hope in this clubhouse,” Melancon said. “Because there’s so much positive talent and to be honest, I don’t think anybody has given up. So that’s pretty good to say when we’ve lost this many games.”