Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/804369
23 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PLAY BALL littlebiteasier.Hecanthrowhim out there and say, 'Here's my guy, try to beat him.' He's going to be fun to wa tch. " THEREWASATIMEWHEN Melancon hoped to be used in the rotation. He knew that relievers usually didn't get drafted high or re ce iv e ja ckp ot con tr ac ts do wn the line. Huston Street was a rare exception as a first-round pick who was used as a college closer. Drew Storen was another. The Giants once took Rice closer David Aards - ma 22nd overall in the 2002 draft. But wherever Melancon went, his team had a need in the ninth inning. So he put team first, and pitched last. And he was too darn good to move. "I heard it from every pitching coach I had," said Melancon, who grew up in the Denver area. "They would always say, 'You know, I like how big your repertoire is, I like how you know how to pitch, I like the way you go about it, and I'd love to see you as a starter. But I just don't want to slow you down. I don't want you to be here longer than you need to. You're just progressing too fast." Melancon, 32, had to overcome a lost year to Tommy John surgery in the Yankees system, which wasn't much of a surprise. The only reason he had slipped to them in the ninth round of the 2006 draft (four rounds after current Giants teammate George Kontos) was because of elbow concerns. That interruption aside, Mel - ancon has been one of the most durable and in-demand relievers in the major leagues. He has been traded four times, from the Astros to the Red Sox to the Pirates, who dealt him to the Nationals at the Aug. 1 trade deadline last season. The Giants tried hard for him at the trade deadline — not hard enough, GM Bobby Evans later lamented — and they wanted to ensure they didn't miss out again. So after years of eschewing the big-dollar deals for a closer, they gave Melancon a four-year contract that set a record for relievers before Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen topped it later in the winter. It's the first time the Giants have given a multiyear deal to attract a free-agent closer since the winter before the 2005 season, when they gave Armando Benitez a disastrous, three-year, $21 mil - lion contract. But after the season the Giants had, the alternative to signing Melancon would've cost them even more dearly. Of their 32 blown saves, nine came in Sep - tember and two more came in their N.L. Division Series loss to the Chicago Cubs. They lost a staggering nine games in which they led entering the ninth inning, not counting the unthinkable: the three-run lead they blew to the Cubs while losing Game 4 to send them home. "It takes a tough club to bounce back and be resilient, and you have to be," Bochy said. "We can say all those things. But when you get enough body blows and lose enough games late, it will affect a ballclub. It does. It can shake their confidence and have them thinking, 'Hey, at any time, we can lose this game.' That's the last thing you want to be going through their heads." THE GIANTS MarkMelancon pitches for Pittsburgh in 2016. Previous page: Melancon practices with the Giants during spring training in February. JUSTINK.ALLER/GETTYIMAGES