Colorado Rockies Rumors: Losing Ground on Mark Melancon?

It wasn’t that long ago that a report surfaced that the Colorado Rockies and free agent closer Mark Melancon had “mutual interest” in joining forces for the 2017 season. However, it now seems that the Rockies may be losing ground in their quest to sign Melancon.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports is reporting that the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals are now the frontrunners for Melancon’s services in 2017. Both teams have been in the running to sign Melancon for quite some time. Melancon met with the Giants in recent weeks and Washington was where Melancon finished last season after the Nationals acquired him in a trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Colorado was thought to possibly have a connection with Melancon since he is a native of the Denver area. However, the Rockies would need to be willing to open up the checkbook as Melancon is projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to earn $52 million over the life of a four-year contract.

Melancon will turn 32 in March so a four-year contract will not only potentially be costly for the Rockies but also a long-term commitment to an aging Melancon being the missing piece to a Colorado bullpen that has struggled mightily in recent years.

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We talked about Melancon and where he might land in our exclusive podcast with Chris Cotillo that you can hear by clicking here.

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