Atlanta Braves trade deadline report card: bullpen rebuild complete
By Fred Owens
Deal #2: A closer at last
At 3:20pm on Wednesday afternoon, Buster Olney reported that the Braves had agreed a deal for Tigers Closer Shane Greene. The Tigers received LHP Joey Wentz and outfielder Travis Demeritte. Greene seems to like the idea.
Shane Greene doesn't look too unhappy about the trade to Braves. https://t.co/D914tjEo3y
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) July 31, 2019
MLB Pipeline ranked Wentz Atlanta Braves number 7 prospect. Demeritte dropped out of the top 30 after the draft reassessment.
According to Mark Bowman, Wentz’ inclusion became necessary when the competition grew more lively.
The Braves were initially talking about sending Alex Jackson and Travis Demeritte to the Tigers for Shane Greene. When the Dodgers and Nationals got more involved this afternoon, the cost increased. So, Wentz was added and Jackson was removed.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 31, 2019
Greene’s having his best year as a closer for the Tigers and was arguably the best of the relievers that was actually dealt this week.
| Year | Age | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR |
| 2018 | 29 | 5.12 | 66 | 32 | 63.1 | 68 | 39 | 36 | 12 |
| 2019 | 30 | 1.18 | 38 | 22 | 38 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 |
| Year | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | WP | BF | ERA+ | FIP | WHIP |
| 2018 | 19 | 1 | 65 | 3 | 3 | 279 | 87 | 4.61 | 1.374 |
| 2019 | 12 | 1 | 43 | 1 | 0 | 151 | 403 | 3.7 | 0.868 |
He’s had some periods of total dominance and in recent days hasn’t been quite as sharp, though is clearly a major step upward from the current bullpen.
Deal #3: Veteran setup-man
Shortly after that Jeff Passan reported that the Braves acquired Mark Melancon and cash from the Giants for Tristan Beck and Daniel Winkler.
Melancon closed for the Pirates until being traded to the Nationals in 2015. The Nats let him walk after that season the Giants gave him a four year, $62M contract that almost immediately went bad.
Related Story. Veteran setup man Melancon joins the Braves. light
He lost the closer job in 2017 but started to slowly recover his form last year while working as a setup man. He continued in that role this season. He’s stingy with runners on base, allowing only 27% (4 of 15) to score.
He’s currently pitching to a 3.50 ERA, 3.33 FIP, 3.57 SIERA with 44 strikeouts and 16 walks in 46 1/3 IP. Melancon had to waive his no-trade clause before the trade could go ahead.
Melancon said he had “about 12 seconds” to make a decision about waiving his no-trade clause. Grateful to Giants, wish he had been heathier, excited to join a division leader with so much talent in Atlanta.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) July 31, 2019
The Braves clubhouse apparently liked the move.
A lot of cheering and smiles in the Braves clubhouse, especially when Melancon deal was shown on tv.
— Gabe Burns (@GabeBurnsAJC) July 31, 2019
“Ok Alex, I see you!” exclaimed one position player. https://t.co/GBevUrQc6e
— Gabe Burns (@GabeBurnsAJC) July 31, 2019