Trade Central: Nationals acquire new closer in Melancon

THE DEAL

With Jonathan Papelbon struggling mightily at the back end of Washington’s bullpen, the Nationals acquired All-Star closer Mark Melancon from the Pirates on Saturday in exchange for lefthanded reliever Felipe Rivero and minor league lefthander Taylor Hearn.

Melancon led the National League with 51 saves last season and was just named to his third All-Star Game in the last four years. The Nationals entered the day tied for the best bullpen ERA in the majors (3.05), and Melancon now shores up the closer spot. He is scheduled to be a free agent after this season.

It is also the first indication the Pirates could be sellers at the deadline despite entering the day only three games out of National League wild card spot.

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, it should be noted, said the deal is not an indication Pittsburgh won’t be pushing hard for its fourth straight postseason berth.

“We continue to push forward to be one of the five playoff clubs at the end of the season, and in the interim we’ve strengthened (20)17 and ’18 as well,” Huntington said in a conference call with reporters. “We’ve dealt from an area of strength, and strength in our future, without changing our goal for this season.”

PIRATES ACQUIRE
Taylor Hearn, lhp
Age: 21

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound southpaw was drafted in the fifth round out of Oklahoma Baptist in 2015 and entered this season ranked the Nationals No. 28 prospect. His first full season got off to a tough start when he broke his foot covering first base in his second start of the year for low class A Hagerstown in April and missed the next two and a half months recovering. After a rehab stint he returned to Hagerstown on July 4 and has pitched as the long man out of the bullpen since, recording 27 strikeouts against just six walks in 17 1/3 innings of relief since his return. He has pitched exactly three innings in five of his six relief outings, portending to an eventual return to the rotation, where he began the year. Hearn uses his 6-5 frame well to create a good downward angle on his fastball, which typically sits in 93-97 mph and reportedly touched 99 mph in instructional league last season. He uses a power slider as his main secondary pitch, and encouragingly has thrown strikes on 68 percent of his pitches this season. Some see his future in the bullpen unless his changeup progresses into a quality third pitch, but Huntington said the Pirates plan on developing Hearn as a starter for now.

“The Nationals were in the process of using him in a protected role in the bullpen, building him up (after his injury), and we will continue that plan,” Huntington said. “We do so see starter traits in Taylor, but we need to connect with him, to understand where he is in his program, where he is in his process, and we will look to continue to build his pitches and get him in a role that he believes he’s comfortable with and we believe we can maximize his potential. We are hopeful that we can get him stretched out as a starter.”

“We see a loose arm, we see a good athlete, we see a man that shows some feel on the mound,” Huntington added. “We see flashes of a really good breaking ball and we see flashes of really quality hand speed, which is the key to a good changeup.”

Club (League)	Class	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Hagerstown (SAL)	LoA	1	0	3.18	8	2	22.2	25	13	8	3	7	31

Felipe Rivero, lhp
Age: 25

Rivero was a four-time BA organizational top 30 prospect – three times with the Rays and once with the Nationals – before breaking into the majors for good in 2015. Despite being a lefthander, the 6-foot-2 Venezuelan actually has better splits against righthanded hitters in his career, holding them to a .190/.246/.322 slash line compared to .259/.329/.340 against lefthanded hitters. His four-pitch mix is headlined by a 95-97 mph fastball, with an upper 80s changeup and low-to-mid 80s slider his primary secondary pitches. His home run and walk rates are slightly up this year over last, but his strong peripherals indicate some bad luck has been involved with his current 4.53 ERA. Regardless, Rivero’s stuff has demonstrably played against all types of hitters, making him a valuable piece of Pittsburgh’s bullpen for years to come. For now, Huntington said they plan on using Rivero in the seventh inning to get to Neftali Feliz in the eighth and Tony Watson in the ninth.

“You get quality production in Felipe Rivero,” Huntington said. “We get this year and five more years of potential contribution…if everything comes together the way we believe it will, we’ve got six years of potential contribution from a very talented lefthanded arm.”

Club (League)	Class	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Washington (NL)	ML	0	3	4.53	47	0	49.2	43	26	25	4	15	53

NATIONALS ACQUIRE
Mark Melancon, rhp
Age: 31

Being traded is nothing new to Melancon, who was traded three years in a row in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The Pirates acquired him from the Red Sox in that final trade, dealing All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan and taking a chance on Melancon, who at the time was a middle reliever with a career 4.07 ERA. Melancon blossomed with the Pirates, posting a 1.10 ERA in four seasons and becoming one the majors’ elite closers. Melancon’s fastball velocity has dropped slightly, from 93-95 mph in 2013-14 to 91-93 currently, but his cutter and knuckle-curve – his two primary pitches – remain about where they were in the past, keeping him one of baseball’s top closers.

“You talk about a very difficult decision today, given the person Mark Melancon is,” Huntington said. “He’s poured his heart and soul into this organization and done tremendous work for us on the field. We traded an all-star closer for a young unproven major league reliever when we got him and 2012, and our goal in this move is to attempt to continue that chain.”