The Washington Nationals addressed their struggling bullpen by acquiring All-Star closer Mark Melancon from the Pittsburgh Pirates, the teams announced Saturday. Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered against Neftali Feliz in the bottom half. For those fans who worry about Papelbon’s pitch-to-contact approach, it will unfortunately be more of the same when Melancon takes the mound.
Advertisement
A two-time All-Star, the 30-year-old Lucroy is batting.300 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs.
Kemp has a $21.5 million salary this year and is owed the same amount in each of the next three seasons. Since joining the Pirates in 2013, Melancon has become one of the best closers in baseball.
Melancon woke up from a midday nap Saturday and saw he had three missed calls from General Manager Neal Huntington.
Melancon led the National League in saves last season, with 51, and has 30 this year with a 1.51 ERA. There’s a couple of things that got out of sync, but I’m not jumping on it right now.
Rivero is expected to join the Pirates (52-49) today. Melancon makes $9.65 million and although most of that has already been paid, the Indians couldn’t afford Chapman, who makes less than $2 million more.
Rivera is under team control through 2021 and hit 100 miles per hour on the radar gun regularly during an extended relief appearance against the Pirates this month. While they’ll like ly balk at that large of a move, the prospect of a trade with the Pirates should be much more amenable.
“Pittsburgh has a special place in my heart”, Melancon told reporters before heading to the airport.
“This was not an easy decision with what Mark Melancon has done for us in the clubhouse, in the community, and the person that he is”, Huntington said. The difference between Melancon pitching those innings for the Pirates and newcomer Felipe Rivero pitching them should be quite small in terms of runs allowed, even if we assume that there’s a big gap in skill between Melancon and Rivero. From where we started, to where we are now, it is an honor. The message running throughout the organization is that Pirates are still in contention so why would they trade their closer? It is an honor to be a Pirate. The experiences we’ve had are running through my mind. My teammates are best friends.
Rivero’s ERA ballooned to 6.82 for the season after a disaster of an outing on June 18 in San Diego, in which he allowed all six batters he faced to reach base on three hits, two walks (one intentional) and his own throwing error. Manager Dusty Baker wouldn’t say Saturday whether Papelbon still was his closer.
The 23 year old Rivero is 0-3 with a 4.53 ERA in 47 appearances this year for the Nationals with one save.
Advertisement
With current closer Jonathan Papelbon slumping in recent days and fellow National League rival the Chicago Cubs grabbing Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees, the Nationals were forced to make a move in their bid for a championship.
