Washington Nationals Top Five Offseason Priorities

Re-Sign Mark Melancon

As Jonathan Papelbon continued to struggle in the role, it became clear that if the Washington Nationals were going to have any chance of advancing deep into October, they would need a reliable closer. Several potent relievers were dealt before the trade deadline, and the Nats nabbed one of them from the Pirates in the form of Mark Melancon.

After notching a league-leading 51 saves in 2015, the right-hander was clearly one of the best in the business. He lived up to his billing, converting 17 of 18 save chances for the Nats with a 1.82 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 9.00 K/BB. He also tossed 4.1 scoreless innings in the playoffs and earned a save.

Melancon will enter the free agency pool next month, where he will join some of the other top closers in the game in Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen. To ensure that they end up with one of them, the wisest move for the Nationals might be to engage Melancon early about signing a new contract. Even if they don’t complete a deal before he officially hits the market, they will already have done some valuable legwork, which will be important amid the feeding frenzy that will undoubtedly develop around the available closers.

Chapman and Jansen are great relievers as well, but waiting to play the entire field might work against Washington here, as none of these guys will lack for suitors and some teams are going to be left out in the cold. Since Melancon is a couple years older, he might also come a bit cheaper in terms of money and/or years. He looked good in the nation’s capital, and why mess with something that works?

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